Considering a soldering station (Hakko FX888/888D?)

[tooki]

Unlike the full blown i-Tool iron, I'd be willing to bet there's zero electronics in either the Nano or Pico. My reasoning for this is twofold.

• First, the Nano and Pico are only meant to be used with the irons that come with them. So there's no need to use a serial ROM to store a tool ID string or any other data (i.e. temp. offsets).
• Second, the base units don't use motion for setback settings, so no need for an accelerometer either.

I mention this, as the photo of the full-fledged i-Tools' PCB only appears to contain a ROM + accelerometer. FWIW, Weller uses the same approach with some of their irons as well (irons for the WX stations for example).

Ersa says that the i-Tool Pico iron stores calibration data in the handle, which would of course necessitate a PCB. But to be perfectly honest, the bullet points there seem kinda cut-and-pasted, so I would take it with a grain of salt. (The page for the i-Tool Nano says nothing at all, but I assume that it would not have less capabilities than the Pico.)

Ideally, both units need to be tested side-by-side under real world conditions from independent sources (aka EEVBlog members  ). But AFAIK, Ersa's the only entity that's done side-by-side testing and they're not revealing the whole story (after all, marketing isn't exactly known to be completely truthful    ).

Well, I already have the Nano. If you're willing to send a Pico and a "big" i-Con station my way, I'd be more than happy to do whatever tests you like! 

Regarding using the same tip for both lead and lead-free solder, no need to panic.  Just rinse them off well with the next alloy before using it on any joints (keeps you from mixing the alloys which would give you some very strange properties, mechanical in particular that could cause you all kinds of aggravation when fault finding). Also, best to stick with no-clean or rosin based fluxes as organic/water soluble can corrode a tip and joints if not cleaned off properly (still active at room temp).

OK cool, thanks! Yeah, I know to avoid the water-soluble fluxes. I've always bought ordinary rosin-core so far and it's always served well. As for separate flux, I used to use rosin paste, now I have homemade liquid rosin (more of an experiment than anything else) and purchased no-clean flux liquid in a Bon-kote.

What recommendations regarding tips for the Nano? I was thinking chisel-tips (1.6 or 2.4 as an allround and one thinner and one thicker). I will mostly be doing through-hole with the occasional SMD.

It comes with a 1.6mm chisel, which is a great tip for everyday through-hole work. When I got the Nano, I also bought a 0.4mm chisel (turned out to be useless) and a 2.3mm drag soldering tip (A-MAZING!!). I then bought a 3.2mm chisel, which has been handier for things like solder lugs on potentiometers, and I just ordered a 2.4mm chisel kinda for shits and giggles. The Wick-tip tips (big wide things for using solder wick on a whole side of a device) look really interesting, but are kinda expensive.

I notice some overlap with nanofrog's recommendations above!

I strongly suggest that you get an extra tip holder (the little ferrule and threaded plastic nut) for each tip you get. The tip holders are hard to separate from a tip, and having a tip holder for each tip means you can easily change tips even with the iron hot. It comes in black and green, in case you run separate tips for leaded and lead-free solder and want to color-code them:

Black (3IT1040-00)
Green (3IT1045-00)

(Sadly, the green ones aren't actually nearly as vibrant a green as the pictures.)

[wraper]

Regarding the plastic shell components for the irons, the cost per unit would be rather small (plastic is cheap + NRE for the molds isn't high when divided out).

Unlike the full blown i-Tool iron, I'd be willing to bet there's zero electronics in either the Nano or Pico. My reasoning for this is twofold.
First, the Nano and Pico are only meant to be used with the irons that come with them. So there's no need to use a serial ROM to store a tool ID string or any other data (i.e. temp. offsets).
Second, the base units don't use motion for setback settings, so no need for an accelerometer either.
I mention this, as the photo of the full-fledged i-Tools' PCB only appears to contain a ROM + accelerometer. FWIW, Weller uses the same approach with some of their irons as well (irons for the WX stations for example).

There is PCB in pico, and according to the writing on it, it is the same as in nano. Photo of highly abused pico PCB, guy was hacking it to make his own station working with pico irons. There is MCU on it BTW. There is time divided mix of analog and digital signal over single wire going between the station and the handpiece, minute 23 on the video.

[nanofrog]

I strongly suggest that you get an extra tip holder (the little ferrule and threaded plastic nut) for each tip you get. The tip holders are hard to separate from a tip, and having a tip holder for each tip means you can easily change tips even with the iron hot. It comes in black and green, in case you run separate tips for leaded and lead-free solder and want to color-code them.

I'm a fan of this.  Faster tip changes and fewer burns in the process IME (don't need one per tip though, so I only have 4 total). 

There is PCB in pico, and according to the writing on it, it is the same as in nano.

I'm genuinely surprised with this. Thanks for the photo & video links.

[marber]

The Hakko 888 stand is one of the main reasons it is on my bench, over a couple of other irons that are fairly similar in other ways. The iron goes in very easily and doesn't wiggle/droop in the stand. Working under lamp/scope, you don't have to stop and look to put down or pick up the iron. Along with tip selection/quality, the holder is probably the most important feature in an iron, AFAIC.

And it's not plastic. It's die cast zinc/aluminum alloy, as far as I can tell. The two different colors, yellow and blue, are two separate cast parts. The yellow iron holder slides/mates into the bottom blue half. I have dropped this holder many times, and it doesn't break. Nor does it get bent or gouge the floor like a sheet steel metal holder might. It's all curves/rounded edges. It's just big enough to do what it needs to do and be completely stable. It's made to work by itself, to be placed exactly where you need it, for the particular job at hand. It has integrated wool holder and sponge. If you ever get a hakko clone with the same tips/handle shape, you might want to buy an 888 stand. The stand is a work of art.

Yes, it's nice, fully agreed on all the above. I like that holder slightly better than my new "professional" Metcal MX-W1AV stand, which is somewhat bulkier, not as easy to reinsert the iron into, and looks plastic-y.

[KL27x]

The one flaw is the two halves can work loose when you're jamming the iron in/out. Or maybe that's because I've dropped mine so many times. My stand is epoxied together, now.

[ez24]

After reading this whole post - my conclusion is to flip a coin 

[GreyWoolfe]

After reading this whole post - my conclusion is to flip a coin 

Or cast auguries with bones?

[marber]

The one flaw is the two halves can work loose when you're jamming the iron in/out. Or maybe that's because I've dropped mine so many times. My stand is epoxied together, now.

I haven't had that happen yet, but I don't think I've ever dropped my stand indeed.

[pallee]

Thanks guys for pointing me in the direction of the I-con nano!

I just received it (and 2.4+3.2mm chisel tips) from amazon.de (took longer than expected due to an error at the postal service). Very impressed by its size/power ratio. The iron feels/handles almost like using a DMM-probe, and is similar or slightly larger in size. Managed to repair the power supply of an old TFT-monitor in no time at all just for kicks and to verify it was not DOA.

As of now I could not be happier, but time will tell how well it ages...

[GreyWoolfe]

Good for you, pallee.  There is a joy to using a good soldering iron.  I enjoy my Hakko FX-951 and Metcal MX-500P II.  Far superior to my old Hakko 936.

[nanofrog]

Good for you, pallee.  There is a joy to using a good soldering iron.

+1 

[tooki]

Thanks guys for pointing me in the direction of the I-con nano!

I just received it (and 2.4+3.2mm chisel tips) from amazon.de (took longer than expected due to an error at the postal service). Very impressed by its size/power ratio. The iron feels/handles almost like using a DMM-probe, and is similar or slightly larger in size. Managed to repair the power supply of an old TFT-monitor in no time at all just for kicks and to verify it was not DOA.

As of now I could not be happier, but time will tell how well it ages...

Glad you're happy with it too!

The only thing that's proven to be an annoyance for me is the power switch on the back (whose brilliant idea was that?!?). But that was easily circumvented by using a power strip with individually switched sockets.

[Alfons]

To complete the confusion: Ersa has the I-Con1 updated: new firmware, slightly different label placed on the front and is now presenting a new (old) soldering iron. This soldering iron looks exact same as the soldering iron of the Nano, of course, has a female connector to connect it to the I-Con. I could buy the station brand new from private for low and was a bit confused because of this soldering iron. I emailed to Ersa therefore, who responded immediately. This is so correct, they would no longer produce the soldering iron with the gray rubber ring at the end iron-grip. These would be worn out too quickly. They apologized, that they had not yet adjusted the product images.

Now there is the soldering iron of the Picco and the Nano, sharing the PCB. The soldering iron of the Nano divides shares the heating element and the housing with the Iron of the I-Con1 now.

Anyway, I'm very happy with the station. Here in Germany they often get cheap from private to buy.