DIY Soldering Station

[sg-o]

After watching the recent videos Dave made about solder stations I have decided to build my own soldering station based on the Hakko FX-2028 soldering iron. After doing some research I found a STM32 based (great for possible DIY software) temperature controller that has a 1.3 " OLED display and is really cheap.

The controller has an input for a soldering iron detection switch to activate a sleep mode. The original design for this detection uses a vibration switch to detect wether the iron is in use or not. I don't think that this design will work too well. After thinking about alternatives I initially came up with two solutions. I could put a switch in the stand, or put a reed switch inside of the iron and a magnet inside the stand. I have work with tools using both designs and both have failed on me before.
After thinking about this problem a little more I came up with the idea of using a small coil inside the stand and measuring the inductance. When the iron is put in the stand, the inductance should go up.
I quickly designed a simple circuit using a TI inductance measuring ic and ordered some PCBs. I don't know if this will work but it's worth a shot.

At this point in time I have ordered all of the parts for the station and I'm waiting for them to arrive from China.
I also have modeled the enclosure for the control unit for 3D printing. I'll print it once all of the parts have arrived and I've checked all of the dimensions of the undocumented parts.
I'll update this post when I have some news.

[Doctorandus_P]

Why not simply start with a TS100?
Was that a deliberate choise, or did you missed that.
Bit too late probably since you already ordered the parts for your project.

As far as I know the TS100 also has an STM32. You might want to study / resuse parts of it's source code for your own project.

[sg-o]

I'm aware of the TS100 and I have decided against it as I prefer dedicated soldering irons. Until now I have mostely been using a Weller Magnastat and WEP70. I handsolder a lot of tiny SMD parts down to 0402 and high pin count QFN/QFP.

If I deside to do a custom firmware I will definitely look into the source code for the TS 100.

By the way here is a first model for the housing of the soldering station.

[fireworks]

  Interesting project.
  What kind of tips will you use ?
  What power ?
  What's the heating time from room temperature to 350C ?

[sg-o]

I'll use a Hakko FX-2028 (https://www.hakko.com/english/products/hakko_fm2027_2028.html) handle with T12 / T15 tips.
These usually have a power consumption of 70W at 24V. The total available system power is 120W to allow for future modifications
I can't tell you the actual heating time as I don't know that, yet. I expect it to be around 15 to 20s.

[sg-o]

I have added an optional vacuum pump system to the design. It is intended to be used with a vacuum pickup system. Maybe this will also allow the station to be used with a desoldering iron.
Here are some renders of the station with the vacuum system integrated:







I also uploaded the BOM for the station (without the vacuum stuff):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rp-PcYl3coTH1McEFvl38aBJKab2e6qCvW4Kwljn5aE/edit?usp=sharing

[sg-o]

I reverse engineered the schematic of the soldering iron controller board this project is centered around.
There may be some mistakes, but I'm positive, that I've got it mostly correct.

[KL27x]

There may be some mistakes, but I'm positive, that I've got it mostly correct.

I'm gonna use this on my next firmware update for a client.

[sg-o]

There may be some mistakes, but I'm positive, that I've got it mostly correct.

I'm gonna use this on my next firmware update for a client.

Btw it's not meant to be used to recreate the board. I reversed it for the possible creation of a custom firmware.

[sg-o]

I just finished building and programming the soldering iron detection circuit and it works. It uses a TI LDC1612 inductance to digital converter and a Cypress PSoC 4 that outputs a signal when the iron is in its stand. The PSoC circuit could be removed if the main controller includes the code for interfacing with the LDC. This design allows this iron detection to replace almost any switch based solution.

[sg-o]

Now I'm almost finished. There are only minor cosmetic things to do like sanding the enclosure. It works great. The inductive soldering iron detection works really reliably.
The heat-up time from room temperature(22°C) to 350°C(measured with a FG-100) is 9.6s.

The next things I'll do are writing some documentation and publishing all of the design files on GitHub.

Here are some pictures from the almost finished station:

[ass20]

hi

It is nice solder station

In china shop (ali express) avaliable new design of soldering station on t12 tips. new design have iron t12 and Hot Air Fan
But price is Very VERy high....
But avalible photo of soldering controller without any components and with solderd chips
This photos is good for reverce schematic of soldering station.

[Kalvin]

@sg-o,
Nice project! Where did you get the soldering iron holder? I have been trying to find something similar for some time now ...

[sg-o]

@sg-o,
Nice project! Where did you get the soldering iron holder? I have been trying to find something similar for some time now ...

I've bought the iron holder from Banggood (But there are other stores, where you can get similar holders). The product is called "CXG Bakelite Soldering Iron Stand". If you want to know about the other items I used in this project, you may want to check out the BOM I've uploaded: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rp-PcYl3coTH1McEFvl38aBJKab2e6qCvW4Kwljn5aE/edit#gid=1504555439