Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Oh, it gets better. If you want to send them an email to ask where they actually were when they let go of the package, you have to fill in a huge list of information wholly irrelevant to the question. You have the tracking number. Why do you also need my address? You should have my address. It's the point of sending a package. If you don't have my address, why didn't you ask before we got to this point?

It will get even worse yet, I had to go down this route when a courier was supposed to have delivered an internet radio to me and I had allegedly signed for it. I did see the courier drive passed my house twice on the day in question but never once did he stop and ring my doorbell. I was in all day on that occasion as I was expecting the delivery and to make it worse still it was a gift for my mum who was confined to her bed and was in the last few weeks of her life.

I started all the usual procedure about where was my parcel, who was it delivered to etc and the driver came round and told me that he said it was delivered to a house a few streets away and that he was going to get it for me and bring it back and then nothing happened. When I progressed it again I was told that as I was not the person who had paid them to deliver the parcel, they could do nothing about it and that I should get the seller to take it up.

This I did and the seller could not get any info from them either so I had no option but to purchase another radio because that was the only form of entertainment my mum could have, being unable to see a TV.

[Mr. Scram]

Yes, we get the "you're not the customer, you're just the recipient" a lot here too.

Apparently my non US address won't do, so I can't send them an email. Looks like I'm getting the full experience.

[mnementh]

It depends on what you paid for it. That base is all the components I linked to preassembled with a preassembled handle. The problem is these kits are almost always poorly assembled with careless soldering and technique the focuses on turnover rather than proper function, and if I'm going to have to take it all apart and assemble it properly myself, I'd just as soon build it myself the first time. Typical cost on these should be $US50-70 delivered.

The problem I've found is that all the kits come with that horrible, POS bodge handle (because it's soooo cheap; the handle itself is meant for the old style 907/937 Hakko clones) and yes, the T12 tips stick out too far because they're not made for this handle. What you want is the handle the T12 cartridges are made for; the FX-9501 or the FM-2028. These have the connector socket all the way at the end of the handle where it belongs, and the iron is a joy to hold.

I prefer the smaller, more rigid feel of the FX-9501, but the FM-2028 is the one that comes on the FX-951 nowadays. The difference is that the FM2028 has a separate handle part that snaps into the socket base; the yellow part is intended to stay on the T12 tip (you can buy extras by the dozen) to facilitate quick tip swaps. The FX-951 doesn't have this; instead they make a piece of silicone rubber mat to grip the cartridges and change them out while they're hot.

I've bought this FX-951 FX-9501 handle and can attest that it is of decent quality; it comes pre wired (so the motion sensor works) for the blue T12 OLED controller I have. You'll just want to make sure it is wired the same as your controller.

You can buy the FM-2028 handle ready-to-use handle on AliEx and eBay, but they're wired for the Hakko FX-951 controller. You'll have to put the aircraft connector/motion sensor (and maybe the cable) off that POS handle on it if you want to use that style; Hakko doesn't use the little ball/mercury switch the T12 OLED controller uses to detect when you pick up the handle.

Of course for the best fit/feel with the T12 system, genuine Hakko is definitely a mark above these clones; I can say that for a fact. But I don't believe the difference in qwal-i-tee is equal to the difference in price.

I'll be glad to help you figure it out once things get to you. They're really pretty simple once you understand how they work; there's just one extra wire for the motion-sense.

mnem
*Hot*

Right then, I paid £38.75 (52.19USD) for the unit shipped which I didn't think was too bad, should have been £38.20 if I ordered it using the mobile app (not sure why the price difference) but when I got to the paying stage the app froze and said to try again later, which I did and was successful. I checked "my orders" tab and it had ordered it twice. I then clicked on cancel order and it cancelled both so gave up on the mobile app and went to my computer which worked flawlessly but the price was slightly more, why I have no idea as both systems are automated?

I went down the pre-assembled route because they were warning people to beware that they could not provide warranty on parts because they could not tell if the customer had wired something wrongly and caused damage. At least if they do the assemble, they have to test it and also provide warranty. When it arrives, I'll do my usual check of the internals to ensure that it looks neat and tide and is correctly connected etc anyway. I have not anything so far from China that I would consider to be dodgy in the connection and assembly area, even the ground connections have been rock solid, maybe I've been lucky, who knows?

They are awaiting stocks in about 10 days time so I'm hoping and praying that they can get it to me before Christmas.

So which handle system should I go for as an extra then, the FX951, the FX9501 or the FM2028?

Sorry... the FX-951 is the soldering station; that was a typo.

I've had successful warranty claims on both AliEx and Banggood; the process is tiresome but the buyer will usually prevail and most often all that is required is photos and/or a short video demonstrating the problem. I've NEVER had to send back a faulty item, which is where they both are actually better than fleaBay.   

You did good getting the fully assembled kit with power supply and 5 tips for that price, even if you pay for a new handle. Do yourself a favor and throw that hack 907 handle in the trash (after you remove the cable and motion sensor from the PCB frame inside) and never look back. I've had 3 of them from 3 different suppliers and every one of them has been an unmitigated POS. The offset of the tip is all wrong as you've already noted, and the contacts inside are much too thin and flimsy and will inevitably jam and break.

Which handle you choose is entirely up to you; they both work with the OLED T12 controller and the connector socket inside is the same. The Ayima FX-9501 handle I linked to comes prewired for the OLED T12, so that's a plus. But some folks prefer the silicone foam grip of the FM-2028, and the fact you can just unplug the yellow part with the T12 when you want to change cartridges. I have not yet found one which comes prewired for the T12 OLED controller, so that will mean you HAVE to DIY, so that's a mark against the FM-2028 for some.

I prefer the smaller grip diameter of the FX-9501, and the fact it has a more pronounced raised rim/hilt area the FM-2028 handle doesn't have. Also, I don't need to buy additional yellow collars for every T12 cartridge I buy. But I do have to keep my little silicone rubber "potholder" mat handy for tip changes, which can sometimes be a bit of a pain to find on a busy bench.


Cheers,


mnem
Hot snot!

[djos]

I wouldn't pick a fight with a Trinitron.

Actually really the biggest hazard of those is implosion. I emptied a lab out of those monitors many years ago when they got replaced with shitty TFTs and Sun Ultra 5's. Someone dropped one in the skip a bit hard and it took the case off. We decided that the obvious thing to do was to get a chunk of wood and knock the gun with it. Kaboom! Never heard anything like it. You can hit the front of the tube with a sledgehammer and it'll just hiss at you. If you hit the back, different story!

That actually scares me more than the odd mains zing.

Hehe, yeah we used to throw a brick at the gun while it was in the skip - the bloody loud bang was always entertaining. 

[neo]

Yes always play safe, never said other wise. I just said the fun is in the risk, doesn't imply you have to throw caution to the wind it's just  a statement of opinion.

Polymer tantalum it is then.

If it isn't a bit dangerous, it isn't fun!

The strange part is that we do things every day that are statistically much more likely to kill us, but we consider those utterly mundane or even excruciatingly boring.

To truly live you must first know that you could die in an instant. Even with something labeled as mundane or excruciatingly boring, if you know the risks it becomes a lot more interesting. If only because you pay attention to it.

Yes i might be slightly nuts, aren't we all? Yes i might be slightly nuttier than the rest of you, no argument 

The one i burnt my fingers on came complete with unconsciousness and pearly gates.

Bloody good job St Peter had that day lost the key to those gates then

A key! Here i was thinking it was the second shock that saved my life, perhaps it was both? 

I was replacing an outlet and the breaker was off, little did i know that the people who had wired the house were cheeky buggers who wired this one outlet directly to the main breaker.

[Specmaster]

Sorry... the FX-951 is the soldering station; that was a typo.

I've had successful warranty claims on both AliEx and Banggood; the process is tiresome but the buyer will usually prevail and most often all that is required is photos and/or a short video demonstrating the problem. I've NEVER had to send back a faulty item, which is where they both are actually better than fleaBay.   

Which handle you choose is entirely up to you; they both work with the OLED T12 controller. The Ayima FX-9501 handle I linked to comes prewired for the OLED T12, so that's a plus. But some folks prefer the silicone foam grip of the FM-2028, and the fact you can just unplug the yellow part with the T12 when you want to change cartridges. I have not yet found one which comes prewired for the T12 OLED controller, so that will mean you HAVE to DIY, so that's a mark against the FM-2028 for some.

I prefer the smaller grip diameter of the FX-9501, and the fact it has an actual raised rim/hilt area the FM-2028 handle doesn't have. Also, I don't need to buy additional yellow collars for every T12 cartridge I buy. But I do have to keep my little silicone rubber "potholder" mat handy for tip changes, which can sometimes be a bit of a pain to find on a busy bench.


Cheers,


mnem
Hot snot!

OK then, I too have had successful claims with both Banggood and Aliexpress before but one of them has a particular override with regard to this soldering station kit so I'm guessing that they have lots of claims with regard to them, possible due to confusion with poorly written instructions?

So what I'll do then is to wait and see how I get with the supplied handle and look at the FX9501 after Christmas.

Why do they call the tips cartridges, is it just a tip or does it also contain the heater element or what?

[Specmaster]

A key! Here i was thinking it was the second shock that saved my life, perhaps it was both? 

I was replacing an outlet and the breaker was off, little did i know that the people who had wired the house were cheeky buggers who wired this one outlet directly to the main breaker.

You did the cardinal sin, you should isolate before undertaking any work on electrical installations and then you double check the circuit you are working on is in fact dead and safe to carry on working with. So many times do you come across situations like this because unskilled people will take short cuts and all to often I have seen sockets wired to lighting circuits, cooker circuits, immersion heaters and so on, in other words the quickest and easiest route with the least cost involved.

This where your test meters should have come into play to double check that you had isolated the right circuit etc.

Well I guess thats another lesson learnt know then, the hard way. We've done similar in our time, I cut through a live cable (T&E) that my apprentice told me he had isolated, I should have checked myself but on previous occasions he had done so correctly, so I took it for granted that was the case this time as well. There was a massive flash and bang as I cut though this cable and the jaws of the side cutters just evaporated and I was so glad of the plastic insulation on the handles that day I can say.

[neo]

A key! Here i was thinking it was the second shock that saved my life, perhaps it was both? 

I was replacing an outlet and the breaker was off, little did i know that the people who had wired the house were cheeky buggers who wired this one outlet directly to the main breaker.

You did the cardinal sin, you should isolate before undertaking any work on electrical installations and then you double check the circuit you are working on is in fact dead and safe to carry on working with. So many times do you come across situations like this because unskilled people will take short cuts and all to often I have seen sockets wired to lighting circuits, cooker circuits, immersion heaters and so on, in other words the quickest and easiest route with the least cost involved.

This where your test meters should have come into play to double check that you had isolated the right circuit etc.

Well I guess thats another lesson learnt know then, the hard way. We've done similar in out time, I cut through a live cable (T&E) that my apprentice told me he had isolated, I should have checked myself but on previous occasions he had done so correctly, so I took it for granted that was the case this time as well. There was a massive flash and bang as I cut though this cable and the jaws of the side cutters just evaporated and I was so glad of the plastic insulation on the handles that day I can say.

My only mistake is not being thorough enough, i plugged a lamp into every outlet in the room to ensure i had mains off, every outlet except that one was off and that one appeared to be because it didn't light. Somehow neutral went away with the breaker off, so then what was present was ground, hot and the idiot with a screw driver (me).

I tell you i'm damn glad i don't live there anymore that house, in hindsight, was a death trap.

[mnementh]

Sorry... the FX-951 is the soldering station; that was a typo.

I've had successful warranty claims on both AliEx and Banggood; the process is tiresome but the buyer will usually prevail and most often all that is required is photos and/or a short video demonstrating the problem. I've NEVER had to send back a faulty item, which is where they both are actually better than fleaBay.   

Which handle you choose is entirely up to you; they both work with the OLED T12 controller. The Ayima FX-9501 handle I linked to comes prewired for the OLED T12, so that's a plus. But some folks prefer the silicone foam grip of the FM-2028, and the fact you can just unplug the yellow part with the T12 when you want to change cartridges. I have not yet found one which comes prewired for the T12 OLED controller, so that will mean you HAVE to DIY, so that's a mark against the FM-2028 for some.

I prefer the smaller grip diameter of the FX-9501, and the fact it has an actual raised rim/hilt area the FM-2028 handle doesn't have. Also, I don't need to buy additional yellow collars for every T12 cartridge I buy. But I do have to keep my little silicone rubber "potholder" mat handy for tip changes, which can sometimes be a bit of a pain to find on a busy bench.


Cheers,


mnem
Hot snot!

OK then, I too have had successful claims with both Banggood and Aliexpress before but one of them has a particular override with regard to this soldering station kit so I'm guessing that they have lots of claims with regard to them, possible due to confusion with poorly written instructions?

So what I'll do then is to wait and see how I get with the supplied handle and look at the FX9501 after Christmas.

Why do they call the tips cartridges, is it just a tip or does it also contain the heater element or what?

Yes. The T12/T13/T15 cartridge system is a complete unitized heater and temp sensor hermetically sealed away from the atmosphere inside a stainless steel envelope. This addresses the eternal problem that eventually faces all of the old-fashioned slug-in-a-metal-tube type irons; slow response caused by oxidation between the tip and the heater, and inaccuracy caused by oxidation between the tip and the thermocouple/PTC temp sensor.



My MLiNK S4 is an awesome station that highlights this to the extreme; when the handle and tip are fresh and new it solders like a dream. It uses a high-frequency (switch-mode) power supply and a handle based on the now-defunct T-200 soldering head technology that can deliver 90W actual to the tip, plus has sleep mode and a crisp backlit LCD display with set and actual temps all inside a nice extruded AL case with metal face and back.



Tip and heating element are modular plug-in, which is convenient. But as the tip and the temp sensor age and get crusty response time gets worse, overshoot gets worse, everything runs too hot or too cold until you replace the tip and scrub the temp sensor clean with steel wool. Eventually the sensor gets to a point where it crusts up in a matter of hours and you just have to replace the whole handle; the heater is modular but the temp sensor is not.

I wouldn't wait on ordering the Ayima FX-9501 handle; it's on sale right now, and you'll want a spare handle even if your deal falls through and you order a different kit that comes with the right handle. The hack 907/937 handle that comes with is hazard to the controller; if the contacts jam and bend inward, which they eventually always do, they can short out the main power to the heating element. I was just lucky with mine.


mnem
Lessons learned the hard way...

[Specmaster]

Yes. The T12/T13/T15 cartridge system is a complete unitized heater and temp sensor hermetically sealed away from the atmosphere inside a stainless steel envelope. This addresses the eternal problem that eventually faces all of the old-fashioned slug-in-a-metal-tube type irons; slow response caused by oxidation between the tip and the heater, and inaccuracy caused by oxidation between the tip and the thermocouple/PTC temp sensor.



My MLiNK S4 is an awesome station that highlights this to the extreme; when the handle and tip are fresh and new it solders like a dream. It uses a high-frequency (switch-mode) power supply and a handle based on the now-defunct T-200 soldering head technology that can deliver 90W actual to the tip, plus has sleep mode and a crisp backlit LCD display with set and actual temps all inside a nice extruded AL case with metal face and back.



Tip and heating element are modular plug-in, which is convenient. But as the tip and the temp sensor age and get crusty response time gets worse, overshoot gets worse, everything runs too hot or too cold until you replace the tip and scrub the temp sensor clean with steel wool. Eventually the sensor gets to a point where it crusts up in a matter of hours and you just have to replace the whole handle; the heater is modular but the temp sensor is not.

I wouldn't wait on ordering the Ayima FX-9501 handle; it's on sale right now, and you'll want a spare handle even if your deal falls through and you order a different kit that comes with the right handle. The hack 907/937 handle that comes with is hazard to the controller; if the contacts jam and bend inward, which they eventually always do, they can short out the main power to the heating element. I was just lucky with mine.


mnem
Lessons learned the hard way...

Ok, thanks for the info, I never really thought about the oxidising affecting the response time, if anything I would have expected it to get more precise as the oxidizing is black and black is supposed to attract heat so I just naturally thought it would help in this respect. Handle will be ordered soon if the other one is a hazard then it will be a back if the other one fails.   

[djos]

Awesome info mnem, I wonder if the T12 FX-9501 Handle could be retro-fitted to my ZD-917 Station? 

EDIT: It uses a 4 pin connector so maybe not.

[mnementh]

Awesome info mnem, I wonder if the T12 FX-9501 Handle could be retro-fitted to my ZD-917 Station? 

EDIT: It uses a [urlhttp://www.doss.com.au/zd415-spare-soldering-iron-for-zd917/]4 pin connector[/url] so maybe not.

Not likely, unless it already uses a T12 type cartridge. Most of the common "metal-slug-in-a-tube" type soldering irons use a temp sensor (thermocouple or PTC Resistor) and heater on separate circuits; the temp sensor is monitored continuously. The T12/T15 system uses a thermocouple wired in series with the heater element; the shell of the cartridge is ONLY Earth GND. AC voltage is applied across the circuit to power the heater; as the voltage swings across zero, the FETs are turned off and the controller reads the voltage from the thermocouple. This makes adapting to older type controllers VERY problematic.

Believe me; I'd have made the mod on my MLiNK S4 if it were possible. I'm working on adapting a Weller PES51 handle to it; we'll see how that works out, or even as much as I love it when it's working, I'll probably make it into an OLED T12 unit too.

mnem
To OLED or not to OLED?

[beanflying]

Would it be wrong to buy a 3rd Agilent/HP device in a week 

[neo]

Would it be wrong to buy a 3rd Agilent/HP device in a week 

This TEA, theres nothing wrong with that here, at least if you can afford it. 

[xrunner]

Would it be wrong to buy a 3rd Agilent/HP device in a week 

No Hell no. 

[djos]

Awesome info mnem, I wonder if the T12 FX-9501 Handle could be retro-fitted to my ZD-917 Station? 

EDIT: It uses a [urlhttp://www.doss.com.au/zd415-spare-soldering-iron-for-zd917/]4 pin connector[/url] so maybe not.

Not likely, unless it already uses a T12 type cartridge. Most of the common "metal-slug-in-a-tube" type soldering irons use a temp sensor (thermocouple or PTC Resistor) and heater on separate circuits; the temp sensor is monitored continuously. The T12/T15 system uses a thermocouple wired in series with the heater element; the shell of the cartridge is ONLY Earth GND. AC voltage is applied across the circuit to power the heater; as the voltage swings across zero, the FETs are turned off and the controller reads the voltage from the thermocouple. This makes adapting to older type controllers VERY problematic.

Believe me; I'd have made the mod on my MLiNK S4 if it were possible. I'm working on adapting a Weller PES51 handle to it; we'll see how that works out, or even as much as I love it when it's working, I'll probably make it into an OLED T12 unit too.

mnem
To OLED or not to OLED?

Turns out you you can get the OLED equipped T12-952 with the 9501 handle for $70 AUD including 5 tips ... I'm seriously tempted to sell of some Bitcoin and grab one! I've always wanted a station with the JL02 style tip for drag-soldering SMD chips.

[Cubdriver]

Would it be wrong to buy a 3rd Agilent/HP device in a week 

Wrong?  Sounds like a good start to me.   

-Pat

[beanflying]

Thinking about a second one of the first item but I have been offered an Agilent Signal Generator too 

[Carl_Smith]

As an aside, does anyone else get incredibly frustrated trying to edit posts on an iPod, like to the point where you find yourself yelling at it and come close to flinging it into a wall like a frisbee because if you want to select the text it will offer to do anything but that; if you want to place the cursor it wants to replace a nearby word (for instance, trying to add a line break after an image tag), etc., etc., etc?  I wish they'd add some bloody arrow keys to move the frigging cursor!!

-Pat

Reminds me of a recent experiment.  On one of my orders of cheap Chinese electronic junk I threw in a couple short adapter cables that go from normal USB to micro USB.  I don't even remember why I bought them.  They would allow you to do something like plug a USB flash drive into the micro USB port on a smart phone.

So one day I wondered what would happen if I put one of these adapter dongles on a mouse and plugged it into my Android phone.  Sure enough, I was presented with a normal mouse cursor on screen and I could point and click on stuff.  It worked fine.

So the next step was to try a full size USB keyboard.  That worked too.  The phone was even smart enough to know that it didn't need to pop up the on screen touch keyboard anymore.  I felt quite silly typing on a full size keyboard connected to a 5 inch phone.

I thought about getting out a USB hub to see if I could connect both at once, but it started to exceed my attention span and I didn't bother.

I did however try my USB DVD drive and USB 3.5" Floppy drive.  It didn't recognize either.   

I don't know if a USB keyboard would work with your iPad though, as it's probably not approved by Apple.

[djos]

Turns out you you can get the OLED equipped T12-952 with the 9501 handle for $70 AUD including 5 tips ... I'm seriously tempted to sell of some Bitcoin and grab one! I've always wanted a station with the JL02 style tip for drag-soldering SMD chips.

Ok I caved and bought the single tip set for $56 plus the 10 tip pack for $30, for $86 delivered it was too cheap to pass up. 

[bitseeker]

Reminds me of a recent experiment.  On one of my orders of cheap Chinese electronic junk I threw in a couple short adapter cables that go from normal USB to micro USB.  I don't even remember why I bought them.  They would allow you to do something like plug a USB flash drive into the micro USB port on a smart phone.

Yep, OTG cable.

So one day I wondered what would happen if I put one of these adapter dongles on a mouse and plugged it into my Android phone.  Sure enough, I was presented with a normal mouse cursor on screen and I could point and click on stuff.  It worked fine.

So the next step was to try a full size USB keyboard.  That worked too.  The phone was even smart enough to know that it didn't need to pop up the on screen touch keyboard anymore.  I felt quite silly typing on a full size keyboard connected to a 5 inch phone.

I thought about getting out a USB hub to see if I could connect both at once, but it started to exceed my attention span and I didn't bother.

Also works great with Android tablets. Quite nice for traveling.

I don't know if a USB keyboard would work with your iPad though, as it's probably not approved by Apple.

Hmm, I don't know if iPad even supports OTG operation. Plus you'd have to find a cable to fit. Heh, I've never even tried to do with my iPad all the things I use Android devices for.

On the other hand, I've used an Apple Trackpad with my Nexus 7.

[Mr. Scram]

As an aside, does anyone else get incredibly frustrated trying to edit posts on an iPod, like to the point where you find yourself yelling at it and come close to flinging it into a wall like a frisbee because if you want to select the text it will offer to do anything but that; if you want to place the cursor it wants to replace a nearby word (for instance, trying to add a line break after an image tag), etc., etc., etc?  I wish they'd add some bloody arrow keys to move the frigging cursor!!

-Pat

Reminds me of a recent experiment.  On one of my orders of cheap Chinese electronic junk I threw in a couple short adapter cables that go from normal USB to micro USB.  I don't even remember why I bought them.  They would allow you to do something like plug a USB flash drive into the micro USB port on a smart phone.

So one day I wondered what would happen if I put one of these adapter dongles on a mouse and plugged it into my Android phone.  Sure enough, I was presented with a normal mouse cursor on screen and I could point and click on stuff.  It worked fine.

So the next step was to try a full size USB keyboard.  That worked too.  The phone was even smart enough to know that it didn't need to pop up the on screen touch keyboard anymore.  I felt quite silly typing on a full size keyboard connected to a 5 inch phone.

I thought about getting out a USB hub to see if I could connect both at once, but it started to exceed my attention span and I didn't bother.

I did however try my USB DVD drive and USB 3.5" Floppy drive.  It didn't recognize either.   

I don't know if a USB keyboard would work with your iPad though, as it's probably not approved by Apple.

Yes, all that should and does work. It's called an OTG cable in the phone world. You can connect up a keyboard, mouse and depending on the phone a thumbdrive. I have a hub and it all works like a charm.

Because the old Xbox controllers used the USB protocol with a proprietary plug, you can solder a USB plug on them and plug them into your phone. I did this, and I can play emulator games just fine.

[Specmaster]

Turns out you you can get the OLED equipped T12-952 with the 9501 handle for $70 AUD including 5 tips ... I'm seriously tempted to sell of some Bitcoin and grab one! I've always wanted a station with the JL02 style tip for drag-soldering SMD chips.

Ok I caved and bought the single tip set for $56 plus the 10 tip pack for $30, for $86 delivered it was too cheap to pass up. 

Just had confirmation that my solder station and the 9501 handle has been dispatched, cant wait till it gets here 

[mnementh]

Would it be wrong to buy a 3rd Agilent/HP device in a week 

Wrong?  Sounds like a good start to me.   

-Pat

I was just thinking that if you can swing it, it would be wrong NOT TO...! 

Turns out you you can get the OLED equipped T12-952 with the 9501 handle for $70 AUD including 5 tips ... I'm seriously tempted to sell off some Bitcoin and grab one! I've always wanted a station with the JL02 style tip for drag-soldering SMD chips.

Ok I caved and bought the single tip set for $56 plus the 10 tip pack for $30, for $86 delivered it was too cheap to pass up. 

Just had confirmation that my solder station and the 9501 handle has been dispatched, cant wait till it gets here 

That sounds like an AWESOME DEAL for those who don't want to be bothered to build it themselves. I got into all this soldering iron tech because I WANTED NEEDED TO KNOW how it worked; the Nuts & Volts of it all is what makes me HAPPY. Guess it's part of being born with "The Knack"; I don't mind figuring it out myself. 

For those who already have a plethora of appropriate power supplies and who don't mind  building it themselves, you can get it all for ~$40 like I did.

Just be aware guys that this is the first I've seen of the Quicko store on AliEx; like everything China-Direct, these vendors come & go. Everything I linked to was because I could personally vouch that the quality was at least half-decent. There were plenty of purchases (like the hack 907/937 handles and a couple over-rated regulator modules) I purchased during the my journey that turned out to be utterly craptacular.

The blue Hakk0 (Yes, seriously) labeled T12 OLED board is pretty well-known to be of decent quality; it was originally developed as an open source upgrade/repair project for folks who had one of the cheapo Hakko 937 clones where the controller board burned up but still had a good 24-28V transformer/rectifier bridge sub-assembly inside the case. Yes, this is a pretty common failure on many of them; even the better ones like the Aoyue. However there are oodles of similar boards out there like the Quicko that are based on the same open source design but you don't know where a particular manufacturer may or may not have cut corners. It does appear to use the same open-source Menu-driven PID loop firmware as the blue Hakk0 controller, though.

Bottom line is that y'all are trail-blazing with this brand; I don't have any direct hands-on with it. If it proves decent and reliable, I want to know so I can recommend it. 

That said... do yourselves a flavor and open it up and carefully inspect all the solder joints inside your unit and handle BEFORE you power up. This is a practice I learned to follow the hard way long ago with all my China-direct purchases; in most cases, it's a LOT less hassle to touch up a poorly-wetted solder joint or remove an accidental bridge than it is to get warranty satisfaction from these guys half a world away.


Cheers,


mnem
Hmm. Something new under the sun.

[Specmaster]

Yep. I do that with stuff I get from China, but so far I have to be honest and say that I've found the quality to be of a reasonable standard, yes some of the traces have been a bit heavy with solder but then that was on a bench power supply so it was to be expected in some areas because of the current involved. Infact I have a HP scope that was made in Germany and some of the joints on it were far worse, in some cases it was like the waved the fumes of the iron over the connections, there was so little solder there to carry the currents and setting up hot spots that over the years have caused some nasty problems.

I've seen some nasty photos on line of genuine items and the counterfeit Chinese items where in many cases they have cut corners and in some cases clearly used parts salvaged from other gear, but I have never seen this in the flesh on the items I have purchased. Could it be that the photos I have seen are some years old and that China has improved in leaps and bounds since then? Many well known western companies have their products made in China, I've said it before, Apple for one does but not many people would be willing to say that Apple's products are craptastic.