Can anyone recommend an affordable hot-air tool for SMD rework that takes 110V? All of the cheap options I could find were 220V only and wouldn't do low enough airflow for smaller parts.
I like the quick 957dw+, the airflow is very adjustable.
Show HN: iFixit created a new USB-C, repairable soldering system
391–400 of 415 posts
Re: Show HN: iFixit created a new USB-C, repairable soldering system
#392Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't recommend a Pinecil enough. It's cheap as chips and basically has all the best features of other irons I've used. No complaints, I've half a mind to stockpile them and hand them out as gifts to nerd-inclined friends.
$30? $30?! You got me. Pinecil is en route. Thanks for the recommendation!
Me too, I used to think I hated soldering, until I tried a proper solder station in a shop, but for the amount of repairs I do, I couldn't justify spend 200 in something like that, but this PINECIL sounds like a great middle ground.
Re: Show HN: iFixit created a new USB-C, repairable soldering system
#393Earlier quoted context omitted.
$30? $30?! You got me. Pinecil is en route. Thanks for the recommendation!
Me too, I used to think I hated soldering, until I tried a proper solder station in a shop, but for the amount of repairs I do, I couldn't justify spend 200 in something like that, but this PINECIL sounds like a great middle ground.
It's pretty nice. The key is to have a high enough wattage USB that you can feed it over 50w for a quick heatup, in my experience. I use a fast charger brick I bought for my phone and it works like a charm.
Re: Show HN: iFixit created a new USB-C, repairable soldering system
#394Buy a pinecil instead, it has proper tips and a good price.
Ifixit fails to produce good tools because all they've done in the last 5 years is coast on their bit sets. They're not people who actually work with these tools. If they were the LTT screwdriver wouldn't have needed to be built.
Hundreds of dollars for what is done for $50 is a clear example of attempting to turn ifixit into a brand that sells tools not a tool designer that sells effective solutions.
Re: Show HN: iFixit created a new USB-C, repairable soldering system
#395Earlier quoted context omitted.
How cultures are different across the globe, I would have used RED for hot, orange for heating and green for safe (instead of orange, purple and blue - love purple though!)
If I had to guess, it's for accessibility, for red/green colorblindness.
Interesting, I'm not sure that colorblindness can be severe enough for that to be a problem. I'm red/green colorblind, but I have no issue with stoplights or LEDs. Things onlystart to get hairy once the spectrum shifts closer to the browns such as forest green or burnished slate.
Re: Show HN: iFixit created a new USB-C, repairable soldering system
#396Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you just buy the iron, you have access to all the settings in our web console: https://www.ifixit.com/fixhub/console So how are you supposed to actually use that? I don't think there are any computers out there which can provide 100W out of their USB ports. Am I supposed to unplug the iron from its power supply, plug it into a computer, change the temperature, unplug it, plug the power supply back in, wait for i…
Here's an idea: get a USB-C hub that can use auxiliary power/passthrough charging/whatever it's called: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XF5489G Make sure it can support 100W (that one only goes to 85W). Plug one end into your PC, one into a wall charger, and one into your soldering iron. If you want to solder such a thing yourself, there's USB-C PD data/power splitters sold in various places (it needs to be smarter than…
That hub doesn't work that way.
The hub has a bunch of female ports, and one male USB C port.
The male USB port is the only one that provides USB PD charging output, and it is also the only port that can be used with a USB host machine.
This means that it cannot be used to change settings on the iFixit iron with a computer and give give the iron enough power to heat up. It's not an improvement at all over a regular computer that also cannot do both of these things concurrently.
It looks like a lovely hub to keep on a desk for plugging in a laptop, but it is broadly limited to doing exactly that.
Re: Show HN: iFixit created a new USB-C, repairable soldering system
#397Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, and your link shows that the power delivered is dependent on tip resistance (which can vary with temperature). Hence pinecil --or almost any other usb-c iron-- cannot control real power delivered. And you cannot fix this with updates, no firmware can magically grow buck converter with beefy inductor inside the iron...
Yes, and yes. And absolutely not. The chart is intended to show values for both kinds of tips that are usable on a Pinecil. V2 tips have a lower resistance, by design, and either style can be used with either handle. Temperature is not indicated, although resistance can vary with temperature. But then: Temperature is never indicated for power of soldering irons. If you want to begin a trend of producing this data and…
Sure, P=I²R but only when you control the current. And P=U²/R when you control voltage. But USB-C can only give you 9V, 12V, 15V or 20V (depending on source, several of these steps might be missing), or 28/48V with EPR.
Given that resistance is mostly fixed you cannot reach the maximum rated power, unless your tip is precisely matched for any of these fixed steps. And PWM does not work with some power sources because of sensitive overcurrent protection.
Re: Show HN: iFixit created a new USB-C, repairable soldering system
#398Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even if usb PD could go up to over 9000 volts, it can only provide fixed set of voltages, none of which can really match what every tip requires
Actually that's not true anymore, PD Revision 3.1 has an adjustable voltage supply mode that can do any intermediate voltage between 15-48v, with a maximum power of 240W: https://www.usb.org/usb-charger-pd I don't know how widespread support for that is though.
PD2.0 is here for a decade already, yet many power bricks skip steps between 5v and 20v, so I wouldn't hold my breath here...
Re: Show HN: iFixit created a new USB-C, repairable soldering system
#399I'm going to go ahead and sling mud at iFixit for using a Battery pack instead of individual cells and springs. It also doesn't seem that this expensive power supply supports power pass-through. A soldering iron shouldn't have a shelf life. Easily replaceable commodity batteries with spring terminals are massively superior to packs. What a gross product that makes me think significantly less of iFixit. They seem to h…
I agree with you. We wanted to use individual 18650 cells so badly ! We designed the whole thing that way. We did exactly what you proposed, and built cell balancing circuitry and code. It worked great! Then we went to the safety certification bodies and they said, absolutely not, there is no way you can sell that. We tried so many avenues to persuade them, from proposing 18650s with built-in safety circuitry to show…
After my initial consternation about the temperature control costing $170, I think I have an idea that may placate my concerns.
A compact temperature control widget without batteries at all.
It accepts the appropriate USB PD power input in a standards-compliant way. It has a knob, and also a screen for status. It talks to the soldering iron and provides power to it. It does not have batteries or any special facilities for batteries *though if a user chooses to use it with an appropriate USB PD battery then they certainly can). This all seems possible, and adherence to USB PD specifications should tend to make it safe by default.
The rub, and this may not be possible at all, is that it must be substantially cheaper than soldering iron itself.
But because you've done the right thing and documented the protocol, then maybe someone else will implement this (as DIY or otherwise) and it won't be your problem at all. :)
Re: Show HN: iFixit created a new USB-C, repairable soldering system
#400Earlier quoted context omitted.
This (phosphor bronze springs) is, actually, pretty nice. 10A still should require either crimping or soldering, though. The flashlights draw significantly less current.
I can personally report that at 5A draw(the highest reported from any of my flashlights), these spring battery terminals still don't get hot. I'm not sure why I would need/want to push 10A to each battery? Drawing 5A already requires select cells. I would rather batteries be field swapable than having a faster charge, which I try to avoid for the sake of their longevity anyway, personally.
> I'm not sure why I would need/want to push 10A to each battery?
Because the soldering iron in question dissipates 100W, and 100W is a substantial amount of power?
If a soldering iron is drawing 100W from a 2S pair of 18650 batteries, then:
The cells are supplying ~13.5A of current through their contacts.
To get below 5A, we'd need a six 18650s in a 6S configuration. Certainly doable (a relatively inexpensive [for a packaged battery] 24V Kobalt power tool battery has 6S 18650s), but beginning to be chonky.