Adjustable 50W 110V Soldering Iron 2163

Hand tools, soldering irons, scopes, multimeters. Talk about em HERE!

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
Locked
rickm45
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2009 3:19 pm

Adjustable 50W 110V Soldering Iron 2163

Post by rickm45 »

What is the standard tip supplied with this soldering iron? With Atten or Hakko # would be helpful. I am assuming a Atten 900 T-1.6D = Hakko T18-D16 but I could be wrong on that.

If this is a general purpose tip, what is a recommended additional tip from Adafruit? Probably smaller, better for occasional SMD work? This is for occasional use, primarily thru-hole, very occasional SMD.

Thanks, Rick

User avatar
adafruit_support_rick
 
Posts: 35092
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:42 am

Re: Adjustable 50W 110V Soldering Iron 2163

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

You're probably right about the standard tip, but I'll have to check on that.
I'd think the T18-S4 would be a good alternate choice for SMD work, but probably not so good for thru-hole. You'd want to switch back and forth.

User avatar
adafruit2
 
Posts: 22148
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 7:36 pm

Re: Adjustable 50W 110V Soldering Iron 2163

Post by adafruit2 »

the tip is a conical one, its actually pretty good for both THM and larger SMT. for fine SMT you'll need something like
https://www.adafruit.com/products/1249

User avatar
MCGEngineer
 
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 2:14 pm

Re: Adjustable 50W 110V Soldering Iron 2163

Post by MCGEngineer »

I ordered this iron just a few weeks ago (on 2/20) and it no longer seems to be available now.

The tip seems to have gone black very quickly, despite never leaving it on for any longer than I was soldering (never for more than 20 minutes, I would imagine) and using a damp sponge to clean it at the beginning and end of my sessions.
0310151418.jpg
0310151418.jpg (44.13 KiB) Viewed 2077 times
It now conducts heat at the recommended temperature extremely slowly (at least 5-10 seconds to get any solder to wick) and doesn't seem to be amenable to tinning.

Is this a problem with the product, and if so, could I get a replacement? Is there a way to fix these problems?

User avatar
adafruit_support_rick
 
Posts: 35092
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:42 am

Re: Adjustable 50W 110V Soldering Iron 2163

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

I've had much better luck with the Hakko Brass Sponge than with a wet sponge. You should clean the tip frequently while soldering, not just at the beginning and end of the session.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1172

If the brass sponge alone doesn't resurrect the tip, you might try the Weller tip tinner:
http://www.amazon.com/Weller-Tip-Tinner ... B00E4WJIKS

User avatar
Franklin97355
 
Posts: 23911
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:33 pm

Re: Adjustable 50W 110V Soldering Iron 2163

Post by Franklin97355 »

What temperature are you running the iron? You should leave a coating of solder on the tip when you are done using it for the day and something like Tip Tinner might help.

User avatar
MCGEngineer
 
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 2:14 pm

Re: Adjustable 50W 110V Soldering Iron 2163

Post by MCGEngineer »

When I was using lead-free solder, I was running it around 400-420; now I am using lead-free and running it around 350-380. I do clean the tip frequently while soldering and have throughout; sorry to not mention that.

I tried tightening the tip as a colleague suggested. I have bought tip tinner and tried it earlier today, but it doesn't seem to have any effect like the one here in the third picture: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-gui ... reparation

Instead, here is the effect I get - basically just little dots on the end, whereas my impression is that it should be coating it in a liquid-like fashion... I get the same effect at the lower and higher temps noted above.
tinned-tip.jpeg
tinned-tip.jpeg (281.05 KiB) Viewed 2052 times
It may work a little faster than it did before I tightened/tinned, but it still takes 3x-4x the speed shown in the demo videos on soldering - there's no appreciable "wicking" visible after 5+ seconds, although if I hold the soldering iron directly to the solder, I do eventually get results... I'd be happy to take a video to demonstrate.

Is this a problem with the iron? I am slightly concerned that it was taken down from the product listing just a few weeks after I ordered it, given that I'm having such frustrating results with it (which is starting to cause fairly serious delays in my PhD work, since soldering some of my components is the critical step and I am working alone on this part as the only engineer).

Can I get it replaced, or get an alternate tip [first] if that is possibly the problem? Please let me know if I should be corresponding by alternate channels if so.

Thank you.

User avatar
adafruit2
 
Posts: 22148
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 7:36 pm

Re: Adjustable 50W 110V Soldering Iron 2163

Post by adafruit2 »

Ours is still nice and clean. lets get you another tip, pick out a hakko-compatible tip
https://www.adafruit.com/search?q=hakko ... ng+tip&b=1
and email support to get that one sent to you

User avatar
HowardP
 
Posts: 93
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2015 6:42 pm

Re: Adjustable 50W 110V Soldering Iron 2163

Post by HowardP »

MMEngineer wrote:I ordered this iron just a few weeks ago (on 2/20) and it no longer seems to be available now.
The tip seems to have gone black very quickly, despite never leaving it on for any longer than I was soldering (never for more than 20 minutes, I would imagine) and using a damp sponge to clean it at the beginning and end of my sessions.
Hi MM, mention was made of leaving the tip tinned when you park it in the stand. When we don't tin an iron, it blackens just as you've experienced. I'm not sure if you clean it and just leave it that way in the stand … so please excuse me if this seems obvious. It is a common mistake even among professional technians. Having soldered for decades and leaving a wake of many miles of melted solder, I've learned to never, never (did I say never?) wipe the tip on the sponge and then park the iron without tinning --- not at the end of a session and especially not during use. Cleaning the tip is really part of the tinning process - it removes toasted rosin, slag, and debris for the specific reason of improving the heat transfer to allow proper tinning. And proper tinning means complete coverage of the tip with fresh solder, with no air or slag pockets, A well-tinned iron then transfers the heat most effeciently to the work.

It's easy to get the maximum life from a tip by following a simple rule - it becomes rhythmic, second nature:
- every time you grab or park the iron: sponge wipe and then tin.

User avatar
MCGEngineer
 
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 2:14 pm

Re: Adjustable 50W 110V Soldering Iron 2163

Post by MCGEngineer »

Good morning,

Happily, I was able to use this advice very productively for the last year or two with my last two tips (using it at the temperature mentioned, using a brass sponge and/or wet sponge, tinning whenever it was parked or removed from the stand). I have not had problems with my previous tips, but I switched to a new one this morning and almost immediately started having issues.

After a 10-minute soldering session with leaded solder, I noticed the following appearance (first two pictures are tinned, third is not to show the blackening on the side - I noticed some on the tip as well but that seemed to go away).
hakko0.JPG
hakko0.JPG (62.5 KiB) Viewed 1694 times
IMG_0263.JPG
IMG_0263.JPG (93.84 KiB) Viewed 1694 times
IMG_0267.JPG
IMG_0267.JPG (106.07 KiB) Viewed 1694 times

I am happy to take any further suggestions, and was wondering if I could possibly get a replacement tip? (I have ordered $700 of materials in the last year or so through my lab and am generally extremely happy with your products, by the way! I really appreciate your fast customer service as well.)

Thank you!
- Miriam

User avatar
adafruit_support_rick
 
Posts: 35092
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:42 am

Re: Adjustable 50W 110V Soldering Iron 2163

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

Please email [email protected] with a link to this thread for a replacement tip

Locked
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.

Return to “Tools Tools Tools”