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Offline CraigHB

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New Soldering Station
« on: March 12, 2013, 09:43:23 PM »
Ordered one these soldering stations;

http://www.hmcelectronics.com/product/Hakko/FX888D

My Weller WESD51 is getting flakey, it has a ton of mileage on it so it's time for a new one.  Looking forward to using this one, looks really nice.  Ordered a bunch of the T18-BL tips for it.  They look nicer than the ETS tips I was using on the Weller.

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2013, 10:02:43 PM »
Ordered one these soldering stations;

http://www.hmcelectronics.com/product/Hakko/FX888D

My Weller WESD51 is getting flakey, it has a ton of mileage on it so it's time for a new one.  Looking forward to using this one, looks really nice.  Ordered a bunch of the T18-BL tips for it.  They look nicer than the ETS tips I was using on the Weller.

I'm sure you did put a lot of mileage on your Weller. It served you well.
Before I bought my Weller, I was thinking of buying the Hakko. I hear it is a good station but I seen them phase out older models and was worried about buying parts in years to come.

Offline CraigHB

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2013, 04:25:57 AM »
I don't get too concerned about parts other than the tips.  As long they're readily available I'm good.  I bought the Weller around 6 years ago.  I think that's actually pretty good considering how much use I got out of it.  It didn't die, it's just getting tired.  I'll use it as my second iron, comes in handy for removing SMD components.  The one I'm using now for a second iron died so I figured I'd replace it with the Weller and get a new one.

In any case, I'll post what I think of the Hakko.  Looks really nice anyway and it was amazingly inexpensive for a digital soldering station.  I'm kind of a snob that away about my soldering stations, have to be digital.  I can actually tell an error as little as 20F when soldering PCB components.  I want the precision.

Offline fsors

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #3 on: March 13, 2013, 12:06:41 PM »
Looking forward to seeing how you like it Craig!  :popcorn:

Offline vaperkarma

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2013, 06:48:45 PM »
Nice station  :thumbsup:

Offline kortt

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2013, 12:24:59 AM »
I'd like to have one of those.  Mines an el-cheapo...it get's the job done but not much adjustability and I spend more time waiting than using it lol.  Oh well, one of these days.  Interesting to hear what you think of the Hakko.


Offline Dznutz

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2013, 10:01:30 PM »
Yes I cant wait to here you review of it, I also have a weller but have only been using it about a year so I feel I still have some good time left :)

Offline CraigHB

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2013, 10:18:03 PM »
Actually, the best way to solder SMD components is with a hot air pencil using soldering paste.  Was looking at those when I went to replace my station, but boy are they expensive, at least $800.  I could justify the expense since I assemble PCBs a lot, but still it's hard to spend that much when a $100 station will do the job.

I'm also using an inexpensive analog scope that I should replace with a digital storage scope, but again, it does the job even though I can get a Rigol DSS for $400.  The one thing I didn't skimp on is my DMM.  Thats a a top of the line Extech, MM570A.

It's hard to spend the money on higher end tools and equipment when less expensive stuff can do the job.  I've been burned pulling that before though.  I've bought less expensive stuff only to find it didn't cut the mustard.  Then I've ended up up shelling out for the good stuff anyway.  That's a real pisser when that happens.

Offline kortt

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2013, 10:27:14 PM »
For me, modding is a hobby.  The only soldering I'd done before this was on guitar electronics and I'd done a fair amount of that but that doesn't really require much precision.  I suspect as this hobby grows for me I'll end up gong a bit nuts with it as has happened in the past.  I got into RC trucks for a while and ended up with a few nice ones, including a Traxxas Tmaxx with about 3k invested in it. lol

It's probably a good thing my "hobby" budget is low at the moment or I might get myself into trouble.   Doh:

Offline CraigHB

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #9 on: March 15, 2013, 10:34:57 PM »
Yeah, it's probably easy to do that with just about any hobby.  Usually, the sky's the limit.  You have to set your own boundaries.

Offline CraigHB

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #10 on: March 21, 2013, 11:09:44 PM »
Received my FX888D today.

To start in conclusion, I have to say, "wow, I can't believe this unit was only $92."  I payed $130 for my Weller WESD51 and this one is way nicer.

I thought it used a plastic enclosure from the photos.  It does not.  Everything is metal with a really nice blue and yellow finish.  Looks powder coated, very nice.

Now, I do have to say the interface is bit kludgey having only two buttons, but it's okay once you get used to it.  There's actually two operating modes, preset and normal.  Operation is much quicker in preset mode, but the factory default is normal mode.  It has 5 presets it can store and they're easy to modify on the fly.  Really no more difficult than setting the temperature in normal mode.  Preset mode should be the default since it's a better interface.

The user manual it came with is lacking the section on how to get into the setup menu which is pretty critical.  Though, there's nothing there you'll really want to change other than the operating mode.  If you get one of these stations, be sure to download the manual from https://doc.hakko.com

The factory calibration was way off, by 120F.  It's easy to calibrate and you don't have to go into the setup menu to do it (which they call setting parameters in the manual).  I just used the melting temperature of my solder.  63/37 solder melts at exactly 361F so I used that as a calibration point.

The unit comes with a fat chisel tip so I ordered a bunch of T18-BL tips with it.  These tips are beautiful.  Much nicer than the Weller tips.  I had a lot of trouble with inconsistency in the Weller tips.  I need a super fine tip for soldering small SMD components and some of the Weller tips were so far off, I couldn't use them.  The Hakko tips look much nicer.  The tip is a bit finer and the consistency looks really good.

It uses a quick change tip similar to the Weller so nothing negative to say there.  Seems well designed and solid.  The pencil itself is pretty nice.  It's a bit fatter and shorter than the Weller, but pretty comfortable.  I don't like that it's fatter, but I do I like that it's shorter.  The Weller pencil always seemed a bit long.

One nice thing about the Hakko stand is it has a steel wool port as well as a sponge.  The Weller just has a sponge.  That should be handy.  Sometimes you have to hit the tip with an abrasive when the sponge doesn't do the job.

Heating is really fast with the Hakko.  I was actually kind of surprised.  It's probably twice as fast as the Weller.

Really happy with this purchase and for anyone looking for a station, this is the one to get.  The same unit in a non-digital version sells for $75 on that site, but I think it's worth the extra $17 for the features the digital unit offers.

Offline redwolfe

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #11 on: March 22, 2013, 02:00:02 AM »
Nice review Craig. I have the analog/non digital version of the FX888. I love it. Heats up in less than 5 seconds. It should bring countless years of care free soldering. The day I ordered it was the day the FX888D came out. I would have gotten that one but unfortunately it was a bit out of my limit at the time. Had I instead went with it, I wouldn't have been able to get solder and flux.

Offline CraigHB

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #12 on: March 22, 2013, 06:36:30 AM »
It's probably not a big deal you don't have the digital version.  It's not like a huge advantage.  It's just nice to have the precision.

Something unexpected happened when I went to work with the Hakko.  I'm not getting good results soldering PCB components with it.  I think the long fine T18-BL tips I'm using are losing too much heat at the end of the tip.  They still don't work well even if I crank up the temperature.  I'm going to try the T18-SB and the T18-I tips.  Those should work better since they're a lot shorter.  I hope that's the problem otherwise the Hakko will end up being relegated to a secondary station.

I actually spent some time with the temperature probe on my DMM checking the tip temperature at 600F which is the temperature I normally use to solder PCB components.  It compares well with the Weller.  Calibration is not the problem.  I'm 90% sure that tip is just too long, it's losing too much heat without compensation from the power unit.  Never had that problem before so it's a new one.

So, don't buy the T18-BL tips, they don't work well.  I'll post when I figure out which tip works best for fine PCB work.  I'm not too happy about this because now I have to see if the vendor will take back the extra tips I got, they're not exactly cheap. 

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #13 on: March 22, 2013, 07:26:33 AM »
Great review Craig. Can't wait for my Weller to crap out  :laughing2:
I see that the BL tips are 8mm longer than the other tips. You are probably right about length sucking up the heat. How is the diameter?, do they fit as snug as the shorter tips.

Offline CraigHB

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #14 on: March 22, 2013, 02:57:41 PM »
The fit seems to be fine so I don't think there's any issue there.  Here's what the long tips look like, they don't work well at all.


Offline CraigHB

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #15 on: March 30, 2013, 04:05:11 AM »
Got some more tips for the Hakko.

I'm getting much better results with the T18-SB and T18-I tips.  Those T18-BL tips pictured in the previous post are no good for fine work.  They're too long and lose too much heat at the end of the tip. 

The T18-SB tip works best but the tinned part is really short, too short.  The T18-I tip has a liberal length on the tinned section bit it loses more heat than the T18-SB tip.  Don't have that problem with the Weller, the ETS tip I use with that one is just right. 

So, I think I'll stick with the T18-SB tip on the Hakko and just use the Weller when I need a longer tip.  Was hoping the Hakko could do it all, but the tip selection is a problem for me.  Here's photos of the T18-SB followed by the T18-I.

   


Offline kortt

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #16 on: March 30, 2013, 04:15:16 PM »
It makes sense that the longer tip isn't going to hold it's heat I guess. I wonder what application they had in mind for it if it's not that efficient?

Offline yogi

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #17 on: March 30, 2013, 05:14:27 PM »
That's a bummer about the long tip. Too bad. You would have thought that the station would adjust and compensate for it.

Offline CraigHB

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #18 on: March 31, 2013, 12:44:46 AM »
I'm using it for soldering small SMD components so if just soldering wires, any ol' tip will work well for that.  The problem with the long tip is the very end loses too much heat before the iron responds.  I have to really crank up the heat to get it hot enough but then it's too hot further up.  Just doesn't work well like that.

I'm actually going to try yet another tip, the T18-BR02, photo below.  That one looks like it has just the right length on the tinned part.  I think the bend will be helpful too.  I actually run into clearance issues with the shorter tips.  The bend should resolve those issues.  That happens even with the Weller ETS tip on occasion and it's a lot longer.  Of course, the BR02 is the most expensive tip.  Not too happy about that.  Getting pretty frustrated with finding a good tip for this iron.  I've pretty much negated any savings with poorly performing tips about now.







Offline kortt

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #19 on: April 04, 2013, 09:49:36 AM »
Thanks for taking one (or several) for the team Craig, lol.  The info you've provided on the station and especially the tips is great and will likely benefit a lot of people.   :thankyou:

Offline CraigHB

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #20 on: April 04, 2013, 04:31:47 PM »
Well, tip performance is pretty subjective since it depends on the type of soldering you're doing.  The tip that ships with the station should work fine just for soldering wires or doing through hole components in breadboards.  I use my stations for the finest PCB work which is really sensitive to the tip configuration.  In any case, these latest tips should be here this week so I'll post in this thread how well they work for me.

I've done some PCB work already with the T18-SB tip and it works pretty good, but not as well as the Weller ETS tip.  The problem with the T18-SB is the tinned area is too short in some situations and because the overall tip length is so short, I can have trouble getting the clearance I need at times.  The bend in this latest tip should resolve that and it has a longer tinned section as well.  From the photo, it looks like that tinned area is comparable to the ETS tip which is just right.

Offline rhay80

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #21 on: March 17, 2014, 05:16:20 PM »
Hello peeps, sorry if this is in the wrong section, but what sort of soldering tip would be recommended for soldering the types of connections on these boards and associated parts?

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #22 on: March 17, 2014, 06:01:47 PM »
Hello peeps, sorry if this is in the wrong section, but what sort of soldering tip would be recommended for soldering the types of connections on these boards and associated parts?

I moved your post to a related topic

Offline CraigHB

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #23 on: March 18, 2014, 02:19:01 AM »
For fine PCB work, I like a .4mm conical tip, but that reduces the effectiveness for heavier connections.  Probably for soldering wires to boards and other heavier work a .8mm or 1.2mm "screwdriver" tip would be best.  Some people prefer those flat tips even for fine PCB work.  I would tend to agree, but for the smallest parts like 0402 caps and resistors or chips with .5mm pin pitches, you do need that pin point.  If there's no need to do fine PCB work at any time, go with the flat screwdriver tip.  Also if there's an option, a shorter tip works better than a longer tip.  Long ones lose too much heat.  Of course, you can always run a number of different tips, the stations are designed so the tips can be changed quickly and easily for that reason.

Offline rhay80

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #24 on: March 18, 2014, 04:57:20 PM »
@ breaktru, thanks for moving to a better thread :)

@craig thanks for the advice, I'll pick up a selection to try and see how I get on :)

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Re: New Soldering Station
« Reply #25 on: March 18, 2014, 07:31:20 PM »
I've got the previous generation hakko (the 936 I think)  But it takes the same tips as the new ones....

I've had mine at least 5 years and I'm really pleased with it and wouldn't hesitate to recommend hakko to anyone..

I've also got 3 or 4 Weller pencil irons and a couple 100 watt American beauty irons (real old ones with wood handles and cloth cords)  along with a 400 (!)  watt American beauty  and an old "made in Easton PA" Weller gun..

And some old torch heated irons that I've never used

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