Tag Archives: Hakko

Mail Call #19: Tool Holder, MOSFET, LM311, Capacitor, Pliers, USB Adapter and More! | In The Lab

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This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video over here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video we see what has arrived in the mail from AliExpress.

We use the Peak Electronic Design Atlas DCA75 Pro Semiconductor Analyzer to test our MOSFETs as they arrive.

We use the Brother P-Touch D210 Label Maker to label our component drawers.

We use the Scotch Titanium Scissors to cut open our packaging.

We use the Hakko CHP 3C-SA Precision Tweezers to manipulate our components.

Stuff that arrived included:

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)

Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yum Cha Universal Handheld Wire StripperThis is an image of the product.notes

Let’s go shopping!

METCAL PS-900 Soldering Station

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Update: my notes about my METCAL PS-900 soldering station are on my personal wiki, over here: METCAL PS-900 Soldering Station.

The other day I was doing some soldering with my Horusdy Soldering Station but I got the feeling its soldering iron was under performing. I just wasn’t getting good solder joints even though I was using good solder and plenty of flux.

So today I did some research and found myself a new soldering station: METCAL PS-900 Soldering Station. I found one for sale on element14 for AU$458.59 which as far as I can tell was a really good price. They were going for more like AU$700+ on Amazon, eBay, and even AliExpress.

I did also research and consider some other options from JBC, Metcal, Weller, and Hakko.

I also picked up a couple of spare tips:

The tip it came with was the METCAL SFV-CH10, 30° Chisel, 1.5 mm Soldering Iron Tip.

I am expecting that the 1 mm chisel tip is going to be my weapon of choice, so I got two of those. (Update: this was a mistake, the 1.5mm or 2mm option would have been a better choice.)

Conspicuously absent on this soldering station is a temperature setting. That’s because these METCAL irons come with SmartHeat technology, as ChatGPT explains. For the SFV-CH10 the Curie point is designed to maintain a nominal tip temperature of around 380 °C (715 °F) under typical load conditions.

Soldering tips from Dave Jones

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In his video EEVblog #186 – Soldering Tutorial Part 3 – Surface Mount Dave Jones says to use soldering iron temperature of 300°C to 350°C. He set his hot air gun at 350°C.

He also recommends 4x or 6x magnifications for 0402 SMD and recommends not to use them (or smaller) unless you have to because they can increase manufacturing costs due to being small and fiddly and requiring magnification during soldering. The smaller components can affect yield.

For solder he recommends 0.46mm solder (recommended Multicore brand). And flux. Always use flux.

Also he’s on the record as preferring a chisel tip. In this video he also demoed a thing called a “well tip“, which I have never seen or used before. Apparently good for drag soldering?

While I was researching this post I came across the Hakko Product Lineup, they have some nice looking kit!

p.s. in EEVblog #180 – Soldering Tutorial Part 1 – Tools Dave suggests solder in this order:

  1. 62sn/36pb/2ag
  2. 63sn/37pb
  3. 60sn/40pb

The first one with silver in it can be good for some SMT devices. The second one has a more stable melting point. The third is tried and tested but has variable range of melting points.

Note: sn = tin; pb = lead; ag = silver.