Hakko Soldering Station , needs more heat to melt solder

[einhander]

hi eevblog members , I bought a Hakko Soldering Station around 2016 and it suddenly won't melt solder at 185c. The solder is Kester and has a melting point of 183c.

If I ramp up the Hakko to 225c it will melt solder. I bought my Hakko from element14 so no knockoff here.

Can I do something to restore it back to full working order myself ? or do I need to buy a replacement Soldering Iron to plug in to the Hakko ?

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/american-hakko-products-inc/FX8801-02/6228837



chat soon

[Gyro]

I'm rather surprised at the "suddenly". Trying to melt solder with the tip at 2'C above the stated melting point is pretty much an impossibility. You won't get perfect contact between the tip and the end of the solder and there will be some heat loss through conduction down its length.

Normal soldering temperature for 63/37 solder would be around 320'C in order to allow reasonable soldering dwell time and for the flux to do its work.

[BrokenYugo]

You don't calibrate a soldering station with solder melt point, you use a soldering iron thermometer, e.g. Hakko 191 (cheap copies available on eBay). I doubt your iron is suddenly running 40 degrees cold though, likely nothing wrong with it.

[einhander]

thanks guys for the info and knowledge , it helped a lot in my situation.