Pace ADS200 soldering station

[tooki]

I've never seen a soldering iron where tips are not replaceable. What's cool about cartridge-heater systems like this is how easy it is to hot-swap.

Neither have I, but so far I've only been replacing tips when they get too old, and not as a routine thing.

Well, at the latest with modern SMD components and heat-sucking multilayer boards, the days of a one-size-fits-all soldering tip are over. So you either swap tips as needed, or you have to swap entire irons.

I think berke means heating up metal tweezers so they can desolder.

Yes that's what I meant.

I can’t imagine anyone would think that’s a viable thing to even bother testing! 

Well why not?  At face value it sounds plausible to me.  This idea was suggested in this very forum.

Most tweezers are stainless steel, which is a terrible conductor of heat (28 times worse than copper, which is what soldering iron tips are made of). And stainless can’t easily be wetted with solder, further compromising heat transfer. So it’d be really hard to get good heat transfer to the joints.

Ok, so you get brass tweezers: it’s wettable and only 3 times worse a thermal conductor than copper. But now that thermal conductivity is sinking all the heat away into the tweezer grip, cooling the tips and burning your fingers.

I just don’t see any way this could work in practice. Maybe you could do it with a blowtorch and blacksmiths gloves, but not with a soldering iron as a heat source.

In my experience the best ways to remove SMD chip passives are:
1. Preheat the board (ideally with infrared preheater, otherwise by generously preheating the board (over a much larger area than the component to be removed) with a broad nozzle, from both sides) at a lower temperature, so that you can then go in with a smaller nozzle and very low airflow to melt the solder on the affected component.
2. Use a soldering iron tip large enough to cover the entire component, flow a bunch of solder onto the tip, and melt both sides at once. The component then gets pulled off onto the iron tip. This works great for parts that aren’t too closely crowded. Don’t do this if you want to reuse the part.

I’d sooner recommend spending money on a good preheater than on desoldering tweezers. With modern multilayer boards, where the internal ground and power planes suck heat away, a preheater is essential for gentle board repairs — plus they just plain make your life easier.

[Shock]

Pace sell a few different smd removal tips for the TD 200 handpiece as well. I'd still go with the MT 200 tweezers though if you have a big enough usage case and want to be flexible on package sizes as the TD 200 removal tips are fairly specific.

[pope]

Hello,

I'm in Europe and after some research online I decided to get an ADS200. Not many sources available in EU unfortunately but so be it.

However, I do have some question so I would really appreciate it if somebody could help me!

- What's included in the box? I believe the main station, the iron and the stand . I think I read somewhere that 3 tips are also included. Is this correct and if so, do you know which ones?

- Do things like the removal tip tool, the removal silicon pad, the sponge, etc.. are included or I should buy them separately?

- I do only THT soldering. I might also do some SMD soldering once in a blue moon but 99.9% is THT. Do I need to purchase some ultra-tips or whatever they're called or these are focused mostly on SMD soldering?

Sorry for the basic questions but I couldn't find much info online and I thought I'd ask here.

Many thanks!

[ataradov]

- What's included in the box? I believe the main station, the iron and the stand . I think I read somewhere that 3 tips are also included. Is this correct and if so, do you know which ones?

They have different configurations. There is a version with 3 tips and a version without. There is also a version with an active stand (reduces temperature when iron is in the stands) and a passive stand.

- Do things like the removal tip tool, the removal silicon pad, the sponge, etc.. are included or I should buy them separately?

All included in all configurations as far as I know.

You can look at www.tequipment.net, they have all the configurations and descriptions of what is in the box.

- I do only THT soldering. I might also do some SMD soldering once in a blue moon but 99.9% is THT. Do I need to purchase some ultra-tips or whatever they're called or these are focused mostly on SMD soldering?

It really depends. I would not say that some tips are particularly more suited for SMD vs THT, apart from the miniwave one. You may have preferences on straight vs bent and on a diameter. Id look though the catalog and order tip you think may be useful or similar to what you use now.

[pope]

- What's included in the box? I believe the main station, the iron and the stand . I think I read somewhere that 3 tips are also included. Is this correct and if so, do you know which ones?

They have different configurations. There is a version with 3 tips and a version without. There is also a version with an active stand (reduces temperature when iron is in the stands) and a passive stand.

- Do things like the removal tip tool, the removal silicon pad, the sponge, etc.. are included or I should buy them separately?

All included in all configurations as far as I know.

You can look at www.tequipment.net, they have all the configurations and descriptions of what is in the box.

- I do only THT soldering. I might also do some SMD soldering once in a blue moon but 99.9% is THT. Do I need to purchase some ultra-tips or whatever they're called or these are focused mostly on SMD soldering?

It really depends. I would not say that some tips are particularly more suited for SMD vs THT, apart from the miniwave one. You may have preferences on straight vs bent and on a diameter. Id look though the catalog and order tip you think may be useful or similar to what you use now.

Thank you Alex!

I'm used to work with 1.6mm and 2.4mm chisel on my hakko. The chisel 1.59mm seems to be available in the ultra-tips series, which is nice but unfortunately the 2.4mm isn't available at all.

Have you noticed a big difference between the standard and the ultra series?

[ataradov]

I don't have any Utra tips. I use 1130-0035-P1 for 99% of the work. I sometimes switch to 1130-0042-P1 for fine stuff, but very rarely.

[Shock]

As best I can tell the Ultra tips make mostly a difference on larger tips where the thermal throughput takes advantage of having more mass in the tip. It's to negate the heat sinking effect.

It's not essential though and turning the temp up a little would have a similar effect of counteracting it.

With the station you get the silicon pad, the tip tool, brass wool and sponge. The tips aren't typically included unless mentioned.

I suggest getting the station that includes the instant setback stand, you can always remove the cable later if you don't like. The instant part of heating up when you pick it up and going to the setback temp when you put it in the stand is hassle free.

The stations all have an additional setback feature which doesn't need the stand as well as auto off (sleep mode) that requires interaction with the station to wake it up.

[pope]

As best I can tell the Ultra tips make mostly a difference on larger tips where the thermal throughput takes advantage of having more mass in the tip. It's to negate the heat sinking effect.

It's not essential though and turning the temp up a little would have a similar effect of counteracting it.

With the station you get the silicon pad, the tip tool, brass wool and sponge. The tips aren't typically included unless mentioned.

I suggest getting the station that includes the instant setback stand, you can always remove the cable later if you don't like. The instant part of heating up when you pick it up and going to the setback temp when you put it in the stand is hassle free.

The stations all have an additional setback feature which doesn't need the stand as well as auto off (sleep mode) that requires interaction with the station to wake it up.

Thank you Shock.

I am planning to get the IBS version indeed.

Some PCBs I work with have large ground planes so I think I'm gonna purchase the ultra-tips anyway. The price difference is very little so why not...

BTW, do you or anybody else know when the (latest?) firmware 1.4 was introduced? I'd rather avoiding getting the station and realising that I somehow would have to update the firmware. AFAIK, you need to replace the whole chip, which is... meh

[grantb5]

BTW, do you or anybody else know when the (latest?) firmware 1.4 was introduced? I'd rather avoiding getting the station and realising that I somehow would have to update the firmware. AFAIK, you need to replace the whole chip, which is... meh

It's been a few years, but mine came with 1.3 and I updated it to v1.4. It's a 44-pin PLCC in a socket so it's a bit delicate to change. Probably all of the old versions are out of the supply chain by now.

Edit:They may have even changed MCU's by now.

[pope]

BTW, do you or anybody else know when the (latest?) firmware 1.4 was introduced? I'd rather avoiding getting the station and realising that I somehow would have to update the firmware. AFAIK, you need to replace the whole chip, which is... meh

It's been a few years, but mine came with 1.3 and I updated it to v1.4. It's a 44-pin PLCC in a socket so it's a bit delicate to change. Probably all of the old versions are out of the supply chain by now.

Edit:They may have even changed MCU's by now.

When did you get yours and how does it work if you want to update? Do you have to give more money to PACE to send you one?

[Shock]

The 1.4 firmware has been out for several years now and it's fine, should be on all new stations. At the time Pace offered to send forum members 1.4 if they wanted, but that has long since past and there were only a small quantity of stations on the older firmware.

Pace keeps a fairly long product life cycle (based on their previous models) so my guess is they will sell it for another decade at least. My two stations are soon 5 years old.

[Hydrawerk]

I bought my PACE ADS2000 from Farnell on 9th March 2022. There is a 1-5 firmware as shown on the LED display.

[pope]

I bought my PACE ADS2000 from Farnell on 9th March 2022. There is a 1-5 firmware as shown on the LED display.

Interesting. you don't know what the changes are, do you?

[Hydrawerk]

Pace ADS200 was introduced to market in 2018 so it is a mature product now.

[pope]

Pace ADS200 was introduced to market in 2018 so it is a mature product now.

No doubt. Still, I would like to know what are the firmware updates in 1-5.

[JohnWW]

Hi Folks

My PACE TD-200 hand piece losing the black plastics that go's around the blue aluminium. Just noticed that a new hand piece is $300 Aussie Peso's.

Has anyone else had this problem of the black plastic falling of the hand piece?

Thanks

[Shock]

Mine are holding up quite well, I suggest you reach out to Pace via email.

An idea I had if gets bad you could consider removing it and using appropriately sized non adhesive heatshrink which if shrunk down slowly and trimmed could make quite an effective low profile grip. The handpiece cable is removable, avoid misplacing the inner oring. Something like plastidip could work as well.

There is also a TD200 handpiece for sale in buy/sell/wanted at the moment.   

[Electro Fan]

Mine are holding up quite well, I suggest you reach out to Pace via email.

An idea I had if gets bad you could consider removing it and using appropriately sized non adhesive heatshrink which if shrunk down slowly and trimmed could make quite an effective low profile grip. The handpiece cable is removable, avoid misplacing the inner oring. Something like plastidip could work as well.

There is also a TD200 handpiece for sale in buy/sell/wanted at the moment.

Mine are holding up quite well, I suggest you reach out to Pace via email.

An idea I had if gets bad you could consider removing it and using appropriately sized non adhesive heatshrink which if shrunk down slowly and trimmed could make quite an effective low profile grip. The handpiece cable is removable, avoid misplacing the inner oring. Something like plastidip could work as well.

There is also a TD200 handpiece for sale in buy/sell/wanted at the moment.

Shock,

Maybe given the age of the ADS200 and the opportunity to make a few enhancements (such as for the black plastics around the blue aluminum) you could suggest to your friends at Pace that it's time to introduce the ADS201 with some favorable introductory pricing like they had back when they introduced the ADS200. 

[labjr]

I think Pace handpieces are more expensive than most competitors.

[tooki]

I think Pace handpieces are more expensive than most competitors.

I think you’d be wrong. They’re right in the middle of the pack. The iron, the TD-200, is $142. That’s half (!) of what Weller’s 120W (WXP 120) iron costs, and double what JBC’s (T245) costs.

[labjr]

I think you’d be wrong. They’re right in the middle of the pack. The iron, the TD-200, is $142. That’s half (!) of what Weller’s 120W (WXP 120) iron costs, and double what JBC’s (T245) costs.
[/quote]

I don't consider Weller to be competitive with major brands anymore. Reviews have shown that Pace doesn't compete well on performance with JBC or Metcal. Both offer less expensive handpieces. IMO Pace has now overpriced their stations and accessories.

[2N3055]

I think you’d be wrong. They’re right in the middle of the pack. The iron, the TD-200, is $142. That’s half (!) of what Weller’s 120W (WXP 120) iron costs, and double what JBC’s (T245) costs.

I don't consider Weller to be competitive with major brands anymore. Reviews have shown that Pace doesn't compete well on performance with JBC or Metcal. Both offer less expensive handpieces. IMO Pace has now overpriced their stations and accessories.
[/quote]

Pace prices went up. I didn't like that.
But performance is on par with JBC in most cases.
Reviews are not that easy to do and not really accurate.. If JBC lies of temperatures and overshoot then you cannot compare at nominal temps..
Metcal RF based stations have better performance per Watt. in the end all of them will solder fine.

Metcal and JBC tips are several time more expensive even with PACE prices going up.
JBC handle is tiny piece of crap plastic that gets hot in use. Pace handle is solid piece of aluminum that is dead cold after 10 hours of soldering...
So yeah it is not that simple...

But PACE pissed me off big time with doubling the prices.. Thermal tweezers never got purchased by me. They are too expensive.

[pope]

I had decided to buy the ads200 and I saw a huge price increase a couple of days before placing the order. I will most likely look elsewhere now...

[ataradov]

I had decided to buy the ads200 and I saw a huge price increase a couple of days before placing the order. I will most likely look elsewhere now...

I would agree with that. I have ADS200 from when it first came out and very happy with it. But at the old price.

With the new price, it is not worth it anymore.

[labjr]

Pace doesn't seem like good value anymore. Seems as if they tried to make a splash out of the gate with intention of jacking up prices later.

I've used Pace, Metcal, Hakko and Weller. If I needed stations for a production situation I'd be using something from Metcal. Their stuff just works well, they have longer warranties than most others and they're pretty good at handling problems, exchanges etc.