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Non-NEC Console Related Discussion => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: MNKyDeth on October 23, 2015, 02:22:27 PM
Title: Soldering Irons... Maybe more?
Post by: MNKyDeth on October 23, 2015, 02:22:27 PM
My Radio Shack 25w Pro-Line soldering Iron I don't think is made anymore as Radio Shack has gone out of business. I however require new tips for it but they seem fairly rare and I am not sure if there are any 3rd party tips that fit it.
My Iron is from the "Pro-Line Soldering Iron Kit". I prefer the pointed ones that came with it.
If anyone has a similar iron that has tips readily available that are almost the same as the ones that came with the one I have please recommend me what you think as I need to start looking for a new iron.
I am on my last tip and I have one project I am working on now and a few more coming up soon that I am aware of.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: GohanX on October 23, 2015, 02:34:50 PM
I have some shack desoldering tips if you happen to have one of those.
Btw, now might be a good chance to upgrade. I picked up a Hakko a few years back on Bluebmw's recommendation, it's a night and day difference. The old Shack irons seem little better than a cavemans club to me now.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: BlueBMW on October 23, 2015, 02:52:07 PM
Hakko FX-888 or whatever its current model is. Best iron I've ever used.
If you're feeling like a baller, pick up a Hakko FR-300 desoldering iron and suck solder like a boss.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: csgx1 on October 23, 2015, 03:34:09 PM
I have the Radio Shack 70w Pro Line soldiering station. I bought it about a year or two ago so I don't know if its similar to yours or not. Mine fits the Hakko 900M-T style tips.
Here's a video I came across when I was looking for replacement tips for mine...
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: BigusSchmuck on October 23, 2015, 03:37:27 PM
My advice, don't buy it from Monoprice. Made that mistake once already. In fact, don't buy any tools from Monoprice. lol
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: MNKyDeth on October 23, 2015, 03:57:23 PM
Looking at that Hakko-888D-23BY on amazon I thought it would be more money.
Looks like there are a ton of tips available for it as well. Don't think I wille stepping up to the FR-300 though. That's a bit more than I am willing to spend. I do hate the plunger that I have but not sure it's worth $275 to upgrade it lol.
Those tips look like the style my iron would use csgx1 but I am not sure if my iron is a little smaller diameter or not since I have the 25w version.
Looks like I will keep shopping but that Hakko that BlueBMW posted does look sexy and fun......
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: GohanX on October 23, 2015, 04:00:16 PM
Hakko FX-888 or whatever its current model is. Best iron I've ever used.
If you're feeling like a baller, pick up a Hakko FR-300 desoldering iron and suck solder like a boss.
I have both! I suck like a boss!
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: MNKyDeth on October 23, 2015, 04:27:29 PM
Well, I am working on my Genesis and SegaCD console this weekend. The Genesis board has all pass through caps on the board and I just cut them off and went through and removed each little leg wire and solder one by one.
Are there good / cheap desoldering units? I am talking in the $100 range. If they are not worth it I will keep going the way I am going with the plunger.
I am a cheap sucker.... Not a high class professional sucker... o.O
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: crazydean on October 23, 2015, 04:49:55 PM
Hey now, the desoldering bulb is tried and true.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: GohanX on October 24, 2015, 04:22:02 AM
Well, I am working on my Genesis and SegaCD console this weekend. The Genesis board has all pass through caps on the board and I just cut them off and went through and removed each little leg wire and solder one by one.
Are there good / cheap desoldering units? I am talking in the $100 range. If they are not worth it I will keep going the way I am going with the plunger.
I am a cheap sucker.... Not a high class professional sucker... o.O
Not really, the best thing is to try to find the Hakko 808 or FR300 at a discount, you can grab them for around $180 if you're lucky.
I know, that's a LOT of money. But the time savings are incredible and will pay for itself after just a few projects. I can strip a Genesis of all the through hole caps in like two minutes. Another two minutes and I can get the cart slot too.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: MNKyDeth on October 24, 2015, 05:09:13 AM
Well, I am working on my Genesis and SegaCD console this weekend. The Genesis board has all pass through caps on the board and I just cut them off and went through and removed each little leg wire and solder one by one.
Are there good / cheap desoldering units? I am talking in the $100 range. If they are not worth it I will keep going the way I am going with the plunger.
I am a cheap sucker.... Not a high class professional sucker... o.O
Not really, the best thing is to try to find the Hakko 808 or FR300 at a discount, you can grab them for around $180 if you're lucky.
I know, that's a LOT of money. But the time savings are incredible and will pay for itself after just a few projects. I can strip a Genesis of all the through hole caps in like two minutes. Another two minutes and I can get the cart slot too.
You are right about the Genesis. It took me around 4hrs total to remove, clean and then recap the one console. Mostly because I wanted it to look perfect as well. I know if I had a desolder gun I could have bypassed most of the time consuming parts of it.
My goal is to try and fix 1-2 consoles per day and right now it's a struggle to get one done and have everything look professional. Double check the system for operation and meets the customers wants for audio and video output.
I try to test a console for at least 24hrs after working on it by looping music and games through it to make sure it won't overheat, doesn't have any video or audio issues and that the carts, cd's or whatever media is working as intended.
As much as I like my Radio Shack Pro-Line 25w I think it's time to move on and to seriously look at a desolder gun once I have the funds.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: BlueBMW on October 24, 2015, 07:29:19 AM
I agree with gohan. I sucked paying $250 or whatever for the desolder gun but man does it make some projects oh so much easier. Recapping a PVM or a Laseractive base unit dont seem nearly as intimidating now. Anything with through mount parts. And also any time you have to remove DIP chips it is amazing. Surface mount you still kind of need a hot air station but those can be had cheap.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: PunkicCyborg on October 24, 2015, 09:28:00 AM
Love my FR300. Paid itself off fast. Still need to upgrade my soldering iron. I'm using a cheap adjustable $30 iron but it gets the job done well enough. Would like to get a FX888 though so I can get a nice variety of tips. If you see yourself doing more repairs in the future it might be a good idea to put a little more money into your tools
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: MNKyDeth on October 24, 2015, 07:05:06 PM
Just bought the Hakko FX888D-23BY with some other supplies I needed. I read a lot of the reviews, seems it's a nice unit but has the issues with changing temps until you get used to it.
I will most likely grab that Desolder Gun as well at some point. I have to see how my upcoming projects go before I splurge on it.
Thanks for the advice on what units to look for. Just browsing around the Hakko 888 series seems very popular.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: GohanX on October 25, 2015, 04:18:28 AM
Be sure to report back on how you like it!
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: MNKyDeth on October 25, 2015, 04:56:40 AM
If you see yourself doing more repairs in the future it might be a good idea to put a little more money into your tools
I honestly really enjoyed fixing my Duo when I first came here at the end of last year. All of the info I have gathered and trying out different things like the RGB and region mods I have become very comfortable with working on this console.
Just this past weekend 10/24/15 I redid my Sega Genesis / SegaCD as well. I went a step further on that console and replaced the 7805's. All seems well and good. I did this to branch out into other consoles to see how they were. Honestly the Duo is harder to work on because of the leaky caps and just overall how many there are.
I have done a few other Duo's here where I am and all has always turned out good. One I had to test what seemed like every trace on the board to see where the voltage wasn't going but I eventually found it and had another working Duo. I snagged up a couple consoles from Japan that I am going to attempt to repair and sell so hopefully all goes well their.
I don't want to break any new ground with modding like Turbokon :) but I do want to become a respected console repair person here if most of the others are busy and backed up with orders.
Oh I will, I am sure it's gonna be a good change for me since I will be able to actually control the temps.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: BlueBMW on October 25, 2015, 05:17:20 AM
The 888D has a digital temperature control which is a little wierd to get used to but works fine. I like the older model (that they dont sell anymore) that has an actual knob.
I think the part you will like the most is how fast it gets up to temperature. Literally once you turn it on it will be to set temp in less than 10 seconds.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: Gentlegamer on October 25, 2015, 08:50:01 AM
Do you guys think replacing the power supply on a SNES would be a good beginner/learner solder project?
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: BlueBMW on October 25, 2015, 11:05:38 AM
What do you mean? Replace the voltage regulator/s? That would be pretty straight forward.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: Gentlegamer on October 25, 2015, 11:16:21 AM
What do you mean? Replace the voltage regulator/s? That would be pretty straight forward.
Replacing the whole back panel with that unique plastic connector that breaks so often.
Or replace it with a more traditional connector, which I've heard is a good idea for longevity.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: BlueBMW on October 25, 2015, 11:23:50 AM
Thats probably a pretty straight forward repair. I'd go for it.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: GohanX on October 25, 2015, 04:08:40 PM
It is, but it requires a really good hot soldering/desoldering iron to get the piece desoldered from the motherboard. It was a huge pain with the old 45w Shack iron, but my Hakko equipment makes short work of it.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: wilykat on October 26, 2015, 04:43:58 PM
I'm still using Radio Shack iron, the digital soldering station (which seems to be no longer available) I've had it for a few years, it heats up fairly quickly, has 3 customizeable preset setting, I have one set to 320C as it's the optimal temp for most soldering work.
I did order a few replacement tips from them a year ago, a little before they started sinking like Titanic so I may have saved some from jacked up scare replacement tips.
I still have one local Radio shack open in a 1 hour driving range (down from oh about 50 before May closing frenzy) so if you need something and it's available locally I could pick it up. I usually avoid them anyway, I don't need pushy drones who wants to sell me phone plans and gives me blank look if I have question that has nothing to do with cell phone.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: majors on October 27, 2015, 01:33:33 AM
Cheap alternative. Total Hakko knock-off, but at that price, buy three to replace it when it breaks :)
Lol, this is what I use too actually.
I bought two and the first one is still working like a champ, the second is sitting boxed up in the garage for when the first eventually fails. It even takes readily available tips :D
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: GohanX on October 27, 2015, 06:52:17 AM
I've heard getting the Chinese knockoffs and using genuine hakko tips works very well.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: BigusSchmuck on October 27, 2015, 08:01:53 AM
Do you guys think replacing the power supply on a SNES would be a good beginner/learner solder project?
You should seriously talk to Desh, hes the savant for snes repairs. :P
I may need to because it's my original SNES and don't want to screw it up.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: MNKyDeth on November 04, 2015, 05:14:50 AM
Just wanted to reply and say I have been using my Hakko-888 iron for the past 4 days now.
It is really nice compared to that radio shack one I was using. It heats up almost immediately and the base/holder for the iron is great compared to the one I had.
I am actually using a very similar tip with this iron so most of the soldering has been about the same. It's just I don't have to wait like I used to for the iron to get hot enough to melt the solder.
Thanks for recommending me this iron.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: BlueBMW on November 05, 2015, 04:08:07 PM
Excellent! Glad you like it. The other thing you will notice is that the tips last damn near forever.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: MNKyDeth on November 06, 2015, 01:21:12 AM
Actually, that is one thing in the manual that normal generic irons do not. Is, "How to take care" of the equipment.
After reading this I was like wtf why didn't I realize this stuff before. I was going through a tip per 2-3 consoles.
I am still on my first tip and have done 7. It's crazy lol, I even ordered several replacement tips for this iron and well.... I should be set for a very long while.
Using my plunger has become even easier to use as well. When heating and then getting the plunger into place the solder is gone. Before I would have to go over the holes 1-3 times to make sure they were fully clear.
Next up I think is an Oscilloscope before a desolder gun. But it is on my list.
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: HuMan on November 24, 2015, 07:10:37 PM
My Weller has served me well, not sure how long it's been since I bought it, maybe a year or two. I'm still on the original tip it came with, I always tin it after every soldering session (or during super long sessions).
Title: Re: Soldering Irons...
Post by: ClodBuster on November 24, 2015, 08:53:41 PM
I use a Weller WHS-40. Fine for regular electronics with lead and lead-free solder (I prefer lead), but it struggles heating up large surfaces, heat sinks and thick wires even when using extra-wide third party/aftermarket tips. It works still much better than my old low budget iron.
I'll keep this station, but I consider getting a separate soldering iron for "tough" jobs. I'd appreciate any suggestions.