Universal Soldering Controller 5.2 - Kit and General Construction Questions!

[vulkan35]

Unisolder + JBC        

https://youtu.be/-9ToURbpEdM

[Shock]

Unisolder + JBC

About 3 seconds it looks, just tested the Pace ADS200 and got the same at 300C on the 1/128" Conical Special (0.20mm) standard tip. People will see that video and think it's amazing until they use it to solder a large ground plane heheh.

I like though that the Unisolder tracks more accurately than the JBC station, it makes it look super responsive. The firmware needs a little tweak to add an option to switch off the temp bobbing around set temp, that would get annoying after a while.

[vulkan35]

People will see that video and think it's amazing until they use it to solder a large ground plane heheh.

Unisolder + JBC C210-020 Conical (0.1mm).

https://youtu.be/P6qSktUEUMs

Unisolder + 2245-SK3.0 (cutter 3mm, clone china).

https://youtu.be/4VizCWBZDJA

[Shock]

Unisolder + JBC C210-020 Conical (0.1mm).
https://youtu.be/P6qSktUEUMs

At 5 seconds you can see it display 2 degrees, that doesn't seem right.

[vulkan35]

display 2 degrees, that doesn't seem right.

what 2 degrees are you talking about 

[Shock]

display 2 degrees, that doesn't seem right.

what 2 degrees are you talking about 

Slow the video down the first displayed measurement appears to be 2 degrees C. On the other iron it measured 10 degrees C. Unless this is not a measurement and something else, but it looks like a bug.

[vulkan35]

Slow the video down the first displayed measurement appears to be 2 degrees C. On the other iron it measured 10 degrees C. Unless this is not a measurement and something else.

what measurement are you talking about, on the video at what point in time is happening?
since 0.31 or later, specify the exact time.

[SiliconWizard]

Yes, 2°C is the very first displayed temp measurement value that we can see at about 5s.

I don't know whether it's just a display problem, an initialization problem or whether the measured tip temperature is really off at room temperatures.

[vulkan35]

Yes, 2°C is the very first displayed temp measurement.

Input power initialization code 21 AC or DC, not temperature.

[SiliconWizard]

Not what we were talking about...

[vulkan35]

Not what we were talking about

seems to understand what you mean, 4-5s set degrees begins.
scale set from 0 to 350 degrees. 

[SiliconWizard]

I suspect a few possibilities:

- that the controller doesn't do any kind of cold-temperature compensation (haven't looked closely at this project, so this may actually be obvious), in which case the measured tip's temperature can't really reflect room temperature when it's at room temperature...
- that they have implemented some kind of low-pass filtering of the temperature readings, with the low-pass filter initialized to zero °C, so this would just be the low-pass filter settling,
- that the temperature sensing is not properly calibrated,
- that it's a bug.

It's likely one of the first 2 or 3, or even a mix of all these.

[vulkan35]

- that the controller doesn't do any kind of cold-temperature compensation

from this temperature begins the set, therefore the number 2 can be seen at 5 s.

[marchtmdsmiling]

I want to represent the other side of this a little bit, as noone else has. This project is definitely complex, and can end up costing more than you bargained for if you make some costly mistakes, however it is also an extremely rewarding project upon completion. Partly because you get to count yourself amongst the people who did it successfully and partly because you now have a top notch tool that you yourself made, although did not design.

I took longer than id like to admit to finish the project, about a month.  If i had correctly identified my problem in the beginning it would have been a week. My problem was that i somehow put a 1% 10k resistor in the adc instead of the specced 0.1%. I blame lcsc and all their 0’s and 1’s jumbling together and not my dumb ass.  Anyway. If you are careful assembling the board, very very careful, you can get it right the first time and not need to do any troubleshooting.

 O and you can search the 200 pages of forum posts using google site search to not have to read it all. And in my experience, you can thermal cycle the hell out of alot of components without damaging them, right away at least. Especially with 2 oz copper it seems.

[sparkybg]

Just to inform you that the development continues.

New:
- Added 1/2 and 1/4 power for small irons - no need of lower voltage transformer on small irons - drives them all from 24V toroidal transformer.
- Added JBC C105/C115 nano iron
- Added JBC Nanotweezers (allthough not tested - waiting it to arrive)
- Added PACE TD200 iron
- JBC C210 and microtweezers works on 1/4 power MUCH more smoothly
- Added support for SH1106 display controller
- Added holder sensor filtering
- Added wake up by key or sensor
- Revised almost all iron profiles (due to malfunction in my controller some of them were incorrect)

Here is Git repo with really good notes and explanation for everything:
https://github.com/valerionew/unisolder-notes

Here is my repo (linked to the above), where I upload latest firm ware etc.
https://github.com/sparkybg/UniSolder-5.2

There are various places on the web where PCBs, sets of parts, and even ready assembled board can be purchased, Tindie for example.

P.S: Small movie driving JBC C105 (these are TINY ):

[Shock]

Hey Sparkybg welcome back and congrats on the update! Awesome to see you into your project again. Was a bit of a coincidence as a few days ago I was going over your old videos admiring your Blackjack cases again and noticed the new video up (which I watched of course).

Couple of questions if you don't mind. Can the detection resistors be easily added into dongles/adapters so you don't need to modify the handpieces at all? What do you think the current BOM cost is (rough cost of everything but the transformer and case)? How is calibration of individual tips currently dealt with?

This last one is more a cosmetic question (so an after thought) but I was thinking about a slightly larger display and if you had considered some optional software smoothing to reduce the idle temp jitter (but better than how JBC CDB stations do it). How easy it would be to implement in the current firmware/software?

[sparkybg]

Idle temp jitter is already filtered more then you can imagine. I am just showing the real temperature. Many controllers dont - they show the set temperature if the real one is close enough. I tried this - it sucks IMHO.

The cost of assembled PCBs in Tindie is $99. With slightly larger display.

There are working displays upto 2.5 inch I think. You will have to find this in the thread at dangerous prototypes.
http://dangerousprototypes.com/forum/index.php?topic=10358.msg70400#msg70400

Just ask the user what display it uses.

The ID resistors can be anywhere, as long as they are connected to the wires needed. It is your choice is you make dongle, cable adapter to the original connector or resistors in the very connector as I did.

[Chris56000]

Hi!

There doesn't seem to be any new B.J. type soldering stations for sale at the moment when I checked a fortnight ago, but I managed to win a good used one from Spalding in Lincolnshire (my favourite "Police Interceptors" series!!), so my UniSolder will begin when I find where I've put the PCBs!

Member SparkyBG has come back at just the right time, I can use his very latest firmware and code now!

Chris Williams

[sparkybg]

There is:
https://www.circuitspecialists.eu/soldering/hot-tweezer-stations/bk-3000-multipro-blackjack-solderwerks-75w-professional-digital-solder-station/

...but a guy here even sold some completely finished stations:
http://dangerousprototypes.com/forum/index.php?topic=10358.msg70400#msg70400

And some other guy made a dedicated case for it:
https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/40735-unisolder-52-case-wip

Just to be clear - I have nothing to do with either of these. I made it for BlackJack case just because I had one. I just admire everyone that adds something from themselves in this project.

[ov_darkness]

Wow, thanks @sparkybg!
I just found this project, and I was terrified by amount of problems people have. But with this update and even an printable enclosure (I was planning to design printable one myself) and Pace costing near 450EUR in Poland i think I'll give it a try.

Is there any possibility to use larger 2.42" OLED? They are mainly using SPD0301 controler.
I like large displays, as my vision is not as good as 20 years ago

[sparkybg]

There are some people that are using 2.47 display. SPD0301 seems compatible with SSD1306 the project was made for, so you should be able to use a display with SPD0301. Although there are displays with SSD1309 with is also compatible.

The problems come when someone was not prepared for soldering a project with this kind of complexity, or did not read at least the first page of the thread carefully.

There are maybe thousands made already (500 at least), so definitely there are no problems with hardware for a long time, and there are no major problems with firmware that were't fixed shortly after they are reported.

Here is it with larger display:

[ov_darkness]

Reading The Friendly Manual is always good practice
As is triple checking solder joints.

[Jane]

Is it possible to use that controller with JBC nano-tweezer AN115-a ?

[sparkybg]

Yes, it is. It drives C105/C115 tips, and it can definitely drive AN115.

Although there is no profile for nanotweezers in the firmware for the moment, it will be available soon - I am waiting for my nanotweezers to arrive.

[Jane]

Great. Do you know the timeline when you will be able to confirm it will work with AN115( when profile for nanotweezers in the firmware will be available)?

Do you think it will not be a problem ( regarding lifetime) in comparison with the original JBC station?

(In the past I built a station from  one soldering kit -  built for  Weller -  but the problem was that the original Weller  tip was burnt in a short time.

Are there any users that already uses  C105/C115 tips?