Atten 936b - another Hakko clone

[romovs]

Got an Atten 936b (another Hakko clone) from eBay last week for 40USD.
Build quality is heinous, but frankly can't tell the difference with Hakko when soldering...
Driver is similar to that in Huakko 936c clone, just different opamp (LM358N) and triac (BT137-600E).



Top


Fuse


Driver PCB front


Driver PCB back

[saturation]

Thanks for the tear down, can you check how quickly it heats and regulate correct temperature?

[romovs]

I tried measuring by attaching thermocouple with a piece of copper wire to the tip (conical that came with the station).
It heated up to 350C in ~60 seconds..
And recovered back to 350 from 240 in 43 seconds (average from 4 tests) when soldering 1/4W through-hole resistor to a protoboard.

[amyk]

That sounds a bit on the slow side... the real 936 (60W) should take around 40s, so maybe yours is just 40W. Measure the power consumption to be sure.

[saturation]

Thanks for the report.  Yes, concur with amyk its a bit less power but adequate for your need, clearly; it shows the difference between the real Hakko and at least this copy; the original 936 does ~ 40 sec and is a good number to remember when comparing other irons; I think I checked that during the winter when room temp was 20^oC, I recently rechecked it 24^oC doing repairs this summer in an air con room, and its 23-25sec.

You have to consider room temperature to since it requires more time, considering fixed power, to heat from ambient.

It could also be the heating element in the clone, rather than the station itself. 

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/genuine-vs-fake-hakko-936-ceramic-heater-a1321/msg240453/#msg240453

 

I tried measuring by attaching thermocouple with a piece of copper wire to the tip (conical that came with the station).
It heated up to 350C in ~60 seconds..
And recovered back to 350 from 240 in 43 seconds (average from 4 tests) when soldering 1/4W through-hole resistor to a protoboard.

[ddavidebor]

Yeah difference from hakko is in the heating element and in the quality of the soldering iron (poo poor)

[abyrvalg]

Try touching some big solder surface. All 936 clones that we had behaved funny in such conditions - melting a small area around the tip for a moment, then sticking to it (thermal capacity of the tip is enough to melt, but thermal conductivity heater->tip is not enough to sustain melting).
Or just check how easy the unscrewed tip slides on the heater - ours had a significant gap there so the tip was falling off with it's own weight