221–230 of 415 posts
What I'd really like somebody to do is just stick a field-replaceable 18650 or 21700 battery in the handle. If you want to get fancy, add a dial for temperature control. Webserial and such makes for a cool tech demo, but I just want portable soldering with standard field-replaceable batteries.
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We designed the system to work for people at a variety of price points. If you just buy the iron, you have access to all the settings in our web console: https://www.ifixit.com/fixhub/console The iron persists settings when you unplug it. You can change the sleep timer and timeout, set target temperatures, calibrate the accelerometer, and more. The Power Station is nice to have, but you don't lose any functionality w…
I was a kickstarter backer of the pokit who thought "oh that's cool", and it just sits in my drawer because I don't want to have to use an app to use basic functionality on my tools. I learned my lesson on that one and I know if I bought this soldering iron I would have the same issue. I'd rather use other soldering irons because I don't have to plug them into my computer to change the temperature between tasks. FWIW…
Looked around, heard Joule was the "go to" these days, got one. Gave it the fuck away eventually after the 15th time the app lagged or wouldn't work or whatever.
I'm sick and tired of my tools (yes it's a cooking tool) having the audacity to require an app. I get there's a lot of possible functionality that an app provides, but the annova I replaced it with still has a functional interface so I don't have to fuck with it for the basics.
I don't even see what the workflow would be to use their web interface on this iron?
I'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…
We tried so many avenues to persuade them, from proposing 18650s with built-in safety circuitry to showing the safety system that we designed into the pack. No dice.
There are a variety of safety standards to blame, but the primary one is UL 1642. It needs to change. I'm planning to join the standards body to see if I can shift things.
Our pack is a set of six 18650s welded together with a standard connector. https://valkyrie.cdn.ifixit.com/media/2024/09/10113528/iFixi...
We'll sell replacement battery packs. Or you can make your own.
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You're correct that some soldering irons (especially uber-cheap ones) are shit, but Pinecil proves cheap can also be good. Past a certain point, soldering becomes a hobby about how dangerous you're willing to get to make things easier on yourself. You can swap out non-toxic solder for lead trace if you want a cleaner board; then there are high-wattage irons, board reflow/fluxing, and even all sorts of scale-specific…
You seen knowledgeable. I've used leaded solder in my bedroom / apartments since community college, usually with a fan in the room or a window open. What damage could have or has happened?
In all seriousness, very little. I would personally want more than just a bathroom fan to do fume evacuation. Outside on a patio/balcony is my usual spot. I also have a 120mm computer fan that I hacked onto a gooseneck mount so I can blow the fumes away from my face.
The times I can't be outside, usually due to weather, I use a table right in front of an open window, and one of those dual fan window fans set to exhaust mode, and that sucks the fumes outside effectively.
I'd call that a reasonably good setup, and, as a bonus, the fumes don't hit me directly in the face, which soldering fumes have a tendency to do.
Soldering is one of those things where the tools you use have a direct impact on the quality and enjoyment of the work. Shitty $20 soldering irons from Home Depot not only produce awful results but they are incredibly frustrating. I’m pretty sure most people who think they suck at soldering and hate it only feel that way because their tool sucks. A good quality soldering iron and high quality, thin solder make a huge…
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It will almost certainly be a class up, if only because it uses integrated tips that combine heating element, temperature sensor, and tip itself into a single element, rather than having thermally bulky and inefficient interfaces like the FX888d's replaceable separate tips. So you get faster heating and more accurate temperature control. But there's the rub: there are a TON of USB-C irons that use integrated tips, an…
On the flip side wouldn't that make replacement tips much more expensive? On my old Hakko station I've replaced the tips several times but the element and sensor seems to be going strong.
Legit JBC tips are closer to $20-40, but those are just a different price tier and much more premium. You can also get knockoff/clone JBC tips for $10 pretty easily, and in my experience they work just fine.
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I'm no doctor, but if you've only done a few hours of this and you're 20+ it's probably no big deal. However, you are breathing lead vapor and it's not good for you (if you're at 100s of hours and 12yo that's really not good). If it gets on things you eat, it's also bad. The effects are permanent. We had leaded (Ethyl) gasoline in cars which was banned 25 years ago and that had noticeable statistical effects on IQ an…
You're not breathing lead vapor. You're breathing flux vapor, which is probably not optimal either. https://www.quora.com/Can-I-get-lead-poisoning-from-inhaling...
The primary means of exposure in a lab setting is through ingestion of particulate matter by getting it on your food or clothes -> mouth
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You seen knowledgeable. I've used leaded solder in my bedroom / apartments since community college, usually with a fan in the room or a window open. What damage could have or has happened?
I'm no doctor, but if you've only done a few hours of this and you're 20+ it's probably no big deal. However, you are breathing lead vapor and it's not good for you (if you're at 100s of hours and 12yo that's really not good). If it gets on things you eat, it's also bad. The effects are permanent. We had leaded (Ethyl) gasoline in cars which was banned 25 years ago and that had noticeable statistical effects on IQ an…
Most of the fumes come from the flux boiling way, not the solder itself. (Mind you, I still wouldn't recommend breathing flux fumes. Those are bad in their own way. Adequate ventilation is important!)
Lead is unequivocally bad for you, but the amount that actually enters your system from soldering activities is miniscule.
It's good to minimize these substances in our daily life since they do add up over decades. The problem with leaded gas in cars is that there were just so many cars out there burning the stuff. Duration of exposure and amount of exposure both matter.
That said... do wash your hands after handling leaded solder, especially before eating.
(I used to have a summer job in high school assembling circuit boards for an electronics test company. I easily clocked a couple hundred hours soldering under a magnifying lamp with leaded solder. I'm sure the burns I gave myself from accidently touching the soldering iron itself did more damage than the lead. :P)
The health issue with leaded solder is primarily ingestion. the lead particles get all over the place so wash your hands after and maybe change your clothes. And definitely don’t keep and food or water nearby, cus it’ll get on that and you’ll eat it!
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I am completely confused by your example. Buying a better knife doesn't make you a better chef. Buying a faster car doesn't make you a better driver. Buying a more powerful laptop doesn't make you a better developer.
Do you cook? There are dozens of obvious examples. A crappy knife will tear instead of cut. You'll ruin tomatoes, have uneven dices, crush and smear delicate herbs, have ripped apart meat and fish that you'll destroy more trying to get rid of the trim. That's not counting the downtime you'll have when the knife slips instead of cuts and you can't cook at all due to injury. Giving an expensive knife to a new cook that…
