Fake Hakko tip: size and relative quality?

[lpc32]

Does this fake Hakko 900M look to you par for the course as far as these things go?




It's also a bit longer than an authentic T18, so maybe the heating element ends up being further away from the tip:



Interestingly, also with the original T18 the outer tube covering the tip, heating element, and shaft, doesn't reach all the way to the base of the shaft where the threading is.

[nukie]

Hi,
From my experience, tips like this fake or real don't have very good thermal buffer or thermal response, but it is suitable for SMD soldering on thin copper pcb. Actually the Hakko 936/888 system has a loose coupling between the tip and thermal sensor so it isn't terrific to begin with.

Don't worry too much as long as it consist of mostly copper you will be fine. Tips like this are cheap and you don't really have to worry about the coating either as long as it wets nicely which means good heat transfer.

You don't want the outer sleeve to reach all the way to the bottom of the shaft. If it rests on the bottom the tip will be loose. The purpose of the outer sleeve is to ensure that the tip is making good contact with the heating element and the screw nut is there to 'tension' the outer sleeve.

[lpc32]

If you mean the specific tip shape/size, yeah, this is a 900M-T-I style. I thought it might come in handy for small SMDs.

I'm not sure what's it's made of. The hollow part is barely magnetic, unlike the original Hakko. But the tip part is magnetic, I think all the way up along the straight edge to the first corner. But I meant quality in terms of finish: it's grooved and pitted.

Beyond holding the tip in place, I'm not sure the outer sleeve (what Hakko calls "element cover") helps with heating element contact, because of the lip the tip element stands on. Even in the original tip the hollow part is longer than the exposed length of the heating element, so it just rests on the lip and cannot be pulled further down by tightening the outer cover:




Original tip's hollow part longer than needed?

And because of that lip, the fake tip's extra length means that the the business end of the tip is further away from the heater.

I have a different fake tip incoming from the same seller, I'll see how that one is.

[nukie]

If you are worried about the heat transfer, then you can always desolder the heating element and reposition it so it extends a little further to reach the end of the tip.