Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

There are a few blade tips in the T12 also a curved one that a lot of the bloggers seem to use for smd work.

Get too many tips and you'll spend more time changing them than soldering.
A 2.4mm chisel or hoof will do most bench soldering excepting real tiny SMD stuff.

If you can't access normal SMD components with them, then some A-hole hasn't laid the PCB out for hand soldering or rework. 

Oh well bang goes my TEA repairs then, instead in the future I'll be spending my time swapping over the 5 tips I've already got, plus the 10 I just ordered to take advantage of the 20% discount from Ebay yesterday and then there's the pending complication of a 2nd T12 soldering station arriving with another tip, yes you read that right, another one. I'm in serious danger here of turning into mnementh because I suspect that he already owns several soldering stations 

I think its a bit late for me now, already owning a few 240v irons and a Hakko clone 936D and now I've gotten the T12 bug.

[djos]

The size of the enclosure on the Quicko T12-952 iron certainly has changed but I'm not sure if I got an early one or a later model but here are the photos of the insides and the first one is the version I have and you'll see how the there is no free space and the PSU is the same in both photos.




This is the photo that is current displayed on the vendor's web page of the supposedly the same model.

Fascinating, mines sitting in my parcel locker back in Melbourne and I'm on holidays 950 kms away in the central coast of NSW - argh I really want to see what mine looks like now! 

[bd139]

Mine has no surprises in it as there’s no switcher

[Specmaster]

Mine has no surprises in it as there’s no switcher

Arh, yes but you're thinking about getting a switcher model as well, so what one do you think will you get?

[Specmaster]

Fascinating, mines sitting in my parcel locker back in Melbourne and I'm on holidays 950 kms away in the central coast of NSW - argh I really want to see what mine looks like now! 

Whatever yours turns out to be, I'd seriously recommend changing the connections between the IEC mains power socket and the PCB and also carry out proper earthing for casing.

To complicate matters now, I'm debating what parts or system should I go with for my second model, stick with Quicko and their 4 pin system or go for another make with the more normal 5 pin system which means I can prewired handles that will work without any modifications...problems ... problems...

[djos]

There are a few blade tips in the T12 also a curved one that a lot of the bloggers seem to use for smd work.

Get too many tips and you'll spend more time changing them than soldering.
A 2.4mm chisel or hoof will do most bench soldering excepting real tiny SMD stuff.

If you can't access normal SMD components with them, then some A-hole hasn't laid the PCB out for hand soldering or rework. 

Yeah the only time I deviate from my 2.4 mm chisel tip is when I'm soldering something like a PLCC socket in place of a QFN EEPROM chip for easy removal etc, that's when 1 mm round tip is it useful.

Edit: pic added

[djos]

Fascinating, mines sitting in my parcel locker back in Melbourne and I'm on holidays 950 kms away in the central coast of NSW - argh I really want to see what mine looks like now! 

Whatever yours turns out to be, I'd seriously recommend changing the connections between the IEC mains power socket and the PCB and also carry out proper earthing for casing.

To complicate matters now, I'm debating what parts or system should I go with for my second model, stick with Quicko and their 4 pin system or go for another make with the more normal 5 pin system which means I can prewired handles that will work without any modifications...problems ... problems...

Yeah will do, I've been following your posts so I'll come back and check them again when I get  my hands on mine.

I'm not sure I can be bothered getting another just for the 5 pin connector, as long as it works well and is rendered safe I'll be happy.

[Specmaster]

It sounds like you ordered the Ayima FX-9501 handle that's prewired for the "Blue" OLED T12 Controller. On that, the white wire is connected to what looks like a 1N4148 switching diode but is actually a thermistor; it is meant as a redundant safety to shut down the controller in case of thermal runaway or if the connectors get crusty and threaten to melt down. If you're feeling froggy, I can try and trace out which pin on the processor that connects to; I'm 98% positive all of these use the same open-source firmware as the original open-source "blue" Hakk0 OLED T12 controller.

This whole family of products is based on an open-source bare-PCB hardware/firmware project released on github a few years ago; of which the Hakk0-branded "Blue OLED T12 controller PCB" is directly manufactured from the original gerbers released with the project and silk-screened with the clone name "Hakk0" as seen here.

These are by far the most popular as they have been around longest, but obviously once some OTHER enterprising individuals in China got hold of the idea and decided to make a ready-to-use PRODUCT, they had to make their version materially different so folks would be tied into their ecology. So they omitted the secondary thermistor, which meant you couldn't just buy the ready-made handle from one of the other guys (Like the Ayima handle I recommend) and plug it in.

You have how the iron works completely wrong however; there is no separate pin for heater/temp sensor. The T12 cartridge has 3 contacts. One is the bare SS shell; it is ONLY EARTH GROUND. The other two contacts are the heater and thermocouple in series. The principle is simple: AC or pulse DC from power supply; as that voltage swings across zero, the voltage of the thermocouple is read against a comparator. If low, the FET/TRIAC is switched on and kept on until the tip reaches temp and thermocouple voltage exceeds threshold. This unusual arrangement is part of why the Hakko FX-951 soldering station was so hard to clone for so long; at least until the open-source "Blue OLED T12 Controller" arrived on the scene.

The OLED T12 controller leverages that technology with a modern PID controller firmware and easily programmable menu for sleep temp, time and multiple temperature profiles. The ball switch for "wake" and the secondary safety thermistor each connect to a ADC pin on one end and the EARTH GROUND wire in the handle on the other end; it's really pretty simple.


mnem
 

Perhaps you might be so kind as to give me a list of the parts that you think I should either purchase and put together or a complete pre assembled unit that uses the 5 core wiring which seems to be the norm but being mindful that I wish to retain the following features (some of them I don't think do, especially the 3 digit variety) 1/ menu driven calibration, 2/ Auto sleep, 3/ Auto PowerOff, 4/ Boost Duration, 5/ Boost Degree, 6/ Wake Up method, handle & or control knob and 7/ Buzzer and I also would want to retain a metal enclosure. 

[Specmaster]

Fascinating, mines sitting in my parcel locker back in Melbourne and I'm on holidays 950 kms away in the central coast of NSW - argh I really want to see what mine looks like now! 

Whatever yours turns out to be, I'd seriously recommend changing the connections between the IEC mains power socket and the PCB and also carry out proper earthing for casing.

To complicate matters now, I'm debating what parts or system should I go with for my second model, stick with Quicko and their 4 pin system or go for another make with the more normal 5 pin system which means I can prewired handles that will work without any modifications...problems ... problems...

Yeah will do, I've been following your posts so I'll come back and check them again when I get  my hands on mine.

I'm not sure I can be bothered getting another just for the 5 pin connector, as long as it works well and is rendered safe I'll be happy.

I was also thinking the same but then again mnementh was saying we'd be trail blazing these Quicko ones on our own as he has never used them and so has no experience, so that got me to thinking, I'd like to do a comparison between a typical system that he'd put together (apart from his style of enclosure as I have zero means of doing the metalwork that he does) and the Quicko. The costs are reasonable and I've just got my Birthday and Christmas money in the budget so I thought why not. Like multimeters, you can never have too many soldering irons. Well you can but they take up so little space and are energy efficient so...

[Specmaster]

I’ll order one when this one turns up and let you know if they have changed it or not. I want to make sure i understand how it all works before I invest any more.

I’m slightly excited really because I was trying to fill a board with the weller yesterday and it was difficult. Need a blade tip really which you can’t get for the TCP. There are 93 SMD parts on these boards and they take approx 1.5 hours each to fill by hand and test which is doing me in. Reckon I can blast the larger packages with the T12.  Need to do one more turnaround I reckon before I have not screwed up this design

Interestingly the Kicad “hand soldering” foorprints are harder to solder by hand than the normal ones. Grr.

Going to have to shelve TEA for a bit as I’m doing RSGB foundation then intermediate then advanced stuff. Might be quiet for a few weeks. However the result will result in more TEA! 

You know, I never knew that you was interested in being a ham, will it be an indoor or a shack at the bottom of the garden type of station?

[bd139]

Living room and mobile. I’ve been a lurking ham for a number of years having built 4 receivers now and repaired a few commercial ones. Decided to build a transmitter and that requires a license.

I am actually going to go on air for the first time with 100% home brew kit. Slightly daunting but if you’re going to do something, do it in style!

[Specmaster]

Cool, clever cloggs you. How big is the mobile rig then, normal car radio sized or will it be a header unit with the main unit in the boot?

[BravoV]

BUSTED on DEEP METH .. 

Visited local surplus store and got an offered these meters, even though keep telling my self that I don't need it ... 

3 Japanese made (2 Yokogawa and 1 Yamaki) and 1 Galvanometer probably made in China, all for $15, couldn't help it not to grab them. 

[bd139]

Cool, clever cloggs you. How big is the mobile rig then, normal car radio sized or will it be a header unit with the main unit in the boot?

Portable docking transceiver.  Here's the receiver prototype which was a "so is 40m interesting or not?". It was! AoE for scale - it will be slightly larger when a TX is added - about 30% longer (already have the larger Takachi box in the cupboard)



Behind the relatively neat outside is a tentacle monster trying to get out so I'm going to spare people the insides. It's going to be destroyed in the next few weeks entirely. It's a deadbug deathtrap. It's had about 20 revisions since I built it 6 months ago. It was a direct conversion receiver and is now a dual conversion superhet. The switch was added later to switch an audio filter in and out hence is unlabelled. This now switches in USB/LSB BFOs. Attenuator is now a volume control. Despite the appearance, it works very well even with 50 feet of wire slung out of the window into a tree.

Tuning is horrid. It's stable as anything but the tuning is non-linear due to a varactor and it's impossible to work out what frequency you're on because there is no readout. Also coarse is too coarse and fine is not fine enough. Need to rethink this. Probably 10 turn pot added. The current design doesn't have any ICs in it at all and I want to keep it that way; all discrete and is based on a heavily modified bitx20 receiver described here with different VFO, added AGC, different (10.7MHz) IF and discrete audio amp (3x BJTs + 1.2k:8R transformer): http://www.phonestack.com/farhan/bitx.html

I'll detail it in another thread when (if ever) it's done

Edit: one motivation for the T12 is the Weller is difficult to get inside rats nests like that without ending up scorching cheapo chinese PVC coated wires

Edit 2: going back in time, you can see my designing audio filters for it here in this thread: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg1302680/#msg1302680

[Mr. Scram]

Looks like the USBasp programmer and the Atmel ICE can't be easily used side by side with the Arduino IDE. That's annoying. The USBasp is quicker and I don't mind blowing it up as much, while the ICE has debugging features.

I think it has to do with the hacky drivers, but I'll need to investigate.

[Specmaster]

Cool, clever cloggs you. How big is the mobile rig then, normal car radio sized or will it be a header unit with the main unit in the boot?

Portable docking transceiver.  Here's the receiver prototype which was a "so is 40m interesting or not?". It was! AoE for scale - it will be slightly larger when a TX is added - about 30% longer (already have the larger Takachi box in the cupboard)



Behind the relatively neat outside is a tentacle monster trying to get out so I'm going to spare people the insides. It's going to be destroyed in the next few weeks entirely. It's a deadbug deathtrap. It's had about 20 revisions since I built it 6 months ago. It was a direct conversion receiver and is now a dual conversion superhet. The switch was added later to switch an audio filter in and out hence is unlabelled. This now switches in USB/LSB BFOs. Attenuator is now a volume control. Despite the appearance, it works very well even with 50 feet of wire slung out of the window into a tree.

Tuning is horrid. It's stable as anything but the tuning is non-linear due to a varactor and it's impossible to work out what frequency you're on because there is no readout. Also coarse is too coarse and fine is not fine enough. Need to rethink this. Probably 10 turn pot added. The current design doesn't have any ICs in it at all and I want to keep it that way; all discrete and is based on a heavily modified bitx20 receiver described here with different VFO, added AGC, different (10.7MHz) IF and discrete audio amp (3x BJTs + 1.2k:8R transformer): http://www.phonestack.com/farhan/bitx.html

I'll detail it in another thread when (if ever) it's done

Edit: one motivation for the T12 is the Weller is difficult to get inside rats nests like that without ending up scorching cheapo chinese PVC coated wires

That's really neat looking but I see what you mean about the difficulty in tuning it in. Are you going to be making the readout digital or analogue?

Just been watching some Youtube builds of T12 kits, so far none of them have been like the Quicko, which so much more refined then the very basic ones (digital read out via 3 x 7 segment LEDs so lack the programming aspect of the Quicko as regards sleep, power off time etc

[mnementh]

Fascinating, mines sitting in my parcel locker back in Melbourne and I'm on holidays 950 kms away in the central coast of NSW - argh I really want to see what mine looks like now! 

Whatever yours turns out to be, I'd seriously recommend changing the connections between the IEC mains power socket and the PCB and also carry out proper earthing for casing.

To complicate matters now, I'm debating what parts or system should I go with for my second model, stick with Quicko and their 4 pin system or go for another make with the more normal 5 pin system which means I can prewired handles that will work without any modifications...problems ... problems...

Yeah will do, I've been following your posts so I'll come back and check them again when I get  my hands on mine.

I'm not sure I can be bothered getting another just for the 5 pin connector, as long as it works well and is rendered safe I'll be happy.

I was also thinking the same but then again mnementh was saying we'd be trail blazing these Quicko ones on our own as he has never used them and so has no experience, so that got me to thinking, I'd like to do a comparison between a typical system that he'd put together (apart from his style of enclosure as I have zero means of doing the metalwork that he does) and the Quicko. The costs are reasonable and I've just got my Birthday and Christmas money in the budget so I thought why not. Like multimeters, you can never have too many soldering irons. Well you can but they take up so little space and are energy efficient so...

Well, the "Blue" OLED T12 Controller I use (US$14-17) comes as a kit intended to convert one of the old clone Hakko 936 stations by recycling the transformer & rectifier already inside the unit. They come with with the controller, a smoked acrylic faceplate (that fits on the end of these extruded cases (US$9-10) OR can be fitted to an external box), the 5-pin mini aircraft connector and the thermistor + ball switch as seen in the photo below.

If you get the Ayima FX-9501 handle (US$9-10), it is prewired for the "Blue OLED T12 Controller" and will plug right in; the included thermistor, ball switch & female aircraft connector become spare parts. Depending on where you shop, you can get 1-20 pieces of assorted T12 clone tips with the controller or as a side order; After a lot of searching, I settled on the most common 10-piece assortment as the best combination of useful tips vs cost (US$22-25). This assortment is available from a number of vendors on AliEx.

Some folks will prefer the FM-2028 modular handle (Clone versions US$10-15); these use a foam-covered grip that stays on the tip to facilitate quick convenient swaps. They are what currently ships with the genuine Hakko FX-951. So far, I haven't found the FM-2028 in a version that's prewired for the OLED T12 Controller; these usually come with an 8-pin DIN connector to plug into the genuine Hakko FX-951 station. This means you'll have to rewire per the schematic diagram below.

I wanted to build another one that could be powered with anything from an old laptop power pack to a 4S LiPo, so I intended to use a 150W Boost converter (US$3-8 depending on where it's coming from and how fast) inside the box to run it at regulated 24-28v no matter what the input voltage; that was what the extruded aluminum enclosure was for. I have an RFQ in for 2 of them from a listing by a wholesale electronics vendor (US$17-28), but confidence in said vendor is not high as no response after 3 days.

My 3rd choice is this plain black enclosure from Amazon (US$17); it would go well with the smoked acrylic front panel that comes in the kit. But as you can see, sortof like stepping down from a Delorean to a Ford Ranger for almost the same money; so I'm loathe to throw in the towel on the extruded enclosure just yet. Once I get caught up on some bills I may try and just place an order to see if they show up, cost be damned; but right now I'm deep in a hole due to Christmas and emergency dental bills.

Banggood.com has a 100-220VAC-24VDC/4A SMPS that will fit inside any of these enclosures (US$7-12 Depending on where it's coming from). It has grounded screw hole mounting and fused input, so the non-fused power plug on their extruded shell is a non-issue.

The last part of the equation is the stand; I have a couple of these clone FX-951 stands(US$10-12). One came with my MLiNK S4 and I liked it so much that I bought another to mod to make a sleep cradle for my MetCal. They're all stainless rod and epoxy-coated cast aluminum; the design is very flexible in that you can get one of the brass scrubbers in a can and put it in the round recess or put a sponge there. I put a brass scrubber in the well under the tip and a sponge in the round recess.

The only caveat so far is that I've gotten a few of the T12 tips that were warped or slightly mismolded and needed some trimming of the plastic around the slip rings so they'd make good contact reliably.

One thing I did notice is that Banggood.com is offering a 10% off coupon code ( WELDTOOL ) good on all non-special-offer soldering gear; so you can save a few dollars on the stuff they have, like this nifty T12 Tip/Tool Stand made from machined HDPE (US$7-12).

Hope this rundown is enough info for you to make your decision,


mnem
*Toddles off to ded*

[TheUnnamedNewbie]

Update on the current state of my lab. HP8657A on it's way to be added later.
Idea is that I am going to build a bunch of 19" wide racks on top, 4 or 5U high, and have above that be shelves. That way big rack gear can sit in a rack safely, and I have shelving above it to put smaller stuff, parts bins, etc.
Really happy how this turned out, massive depth (1m30 iirc). about 1m05 high so I can work while standing up. The thing is so deep my girlfriend can't easily reach any gear ('tis not a bug, its a feature!).

[bd139]

Nice. I wish I had that space!

Cool, clever cloggs you. How big is the mobile rig then, normal car radio sized or will it be a header unit with the main unit in the boot?

Portable docking transceiver.  Here's the receiver prototype which was a "so is 40m interesting or not?". It was! AoE for scale - it will be slightly larger when a TX is added - about 30% longer (already have the larger Takachi box in the cupboard)



Behind the relatively neat outside is a tentacle monster trying to get out so I'm going to spare people the insides. It's going to be destroyed in the next few weeks entirely. It's a deadbug deathtrap. It's had about 20 revisions since I built it 6 months ago. It was a direct conversion receiver and is now a dual conversion superhet. The switch was added later to switch an audio filter in and out hence is unlabelled. This now switches in USB/LSB BFOs. Attenuator is now a volume control. Despite the appearance, it works very well even with 50 feet of wire slung out of the window into a tree.

Tuning is horrid. It's stable as anything but the tuning is non-linear due to a varactor and it's impossible to work out what frequency you're on because there is no readout. Also coarse is too coarse and fine is not fine enough. Need to rethink this. Probably 10 turn pot added. The current design doesn't have any ICs in it at all and I want to keep it that way; all discrete and is based on a heavily modified bitx20 receiver described here with different VFO, added AGC, different (10.7MHz) IF and discrete audio amp (3x BJTs + 1.2k:8R transformer): http://www.phonestack.com/farhan/bitx.html

I'll detail it in another thread when (if ever) it's done

Edit: one motivation for the T12 is the Weller is difficult to get inside rats nests like that without ending up scorching cheapo chinese PVC coated wires

That's really neat looking but I see what you mean about the difficulty in tuning it in. Are you going to be making the readout digital or analogue?

Just been watching some Youtube builds of T12 kits, so far none of them have been like the Quicko, which so much more refined then the very basic ones (digital read out via 3 x 7 segment LEDs so lack the programming aspect of the Quicko as regards sleep, power off time etc

Analogue if possible with frequency readout (4000 logic+LCD to keep power low). I have an si570 synthesiser but the thing pulls 100mA just for the synth. The receiver when not driving any audio only takes 40mA otherwise.

Like I said earlier, I’ve sketched up an even dumber analogue controller design. I’m interested in simplicity as well as cost

[tautech]

Cool, clever cloggs you. How big is the mobile rig then, normal car radio sized or will it be a header unit with the main unit in the boot?

Portable docking transceiver.  Here's the receiver prototype which was a "so is 40m interesting or not?". It was! AoE for scale - it will be slightly larger when a TX is added - about 30% longer (already have the larger Takachi box in the cupboard)



Behind the relatively neat outside is a tentacle monster trying to get out so I'm going to spare people the insides. It's going to be destroyed in the next few weeks entirely. It's a deadbug deathtrap.

C'mon BD...show and tell. 
It'd be downright rude if you didn't !

[bd139]

I’ll take photos of it in a week or so when I recycle its innards.

At the moment I fear that opening it or peeling any of the guts out, which are folded in connected to a rats nest from hell, will break it and I need it working to test TX/RX switching. When I last put it back together, it took some prodding to make it stay working 

Edit: Here's a 3 month old photo of it when it was at ground zero i.e. simple DC receiver.



The PCB in the bottom doesn't even exist now to give you an idea. This was ripped out when I replaced the SA612 with a DBM and separate VFO. Phonos are gone. Left polyvaricon is now a pot. Added switch. Guts barely fit inside the unit.

[beanflying]

So confused. Grew up in a time when 20MhZ dual channel scopes were awesome and unobtainable in $$ terms as a teenager.

Budget of $600-1k+ and 100Mhz 4ch to go brand name secondhand 5-10'ish year old or buy disposable Chinese origin new with 'apparently' better features  I have hated with a passion any Chinese based PC interface software but not so sure the early 2000's stuff running Windoze 10 will be any better 

@tautech not an anti Siglent rant at all

Drinking a 4th one of these @ 7.8% to try and help 

[tautech]

I’ll take photos of it in a week or so when I recycle its innards.

At the moment I fear that peeling any of the guts out, which are folded in, will break it and I need it working to test TX/RX switching at the moment.

Deadbug death trap or not, it's in a metal enclosure that after reading your posts we all know will be safe and well grounded. 
Ugly it maybe inside but we all have something to learn from seeing it.
Thanks and looking forward to the pics. 

[bd139]

Have updated post with the last photo I have (3 months old) that is as bothered as I can be today. Will detail rest soon

[beanflying]

Have updated post with the last photo I have (3 months old) that is as bothered as I can be today. Will detail rest soon

I have been rewatching some of the National Semi videos with Bob Pease. I am sure he is smiling down on your style