The 100w and heat resistant storage caps are nice, but that battery pack pricing and the lack of on-device controls makes this not an option for me.
$110 cad for the soldering iron is semi-reasonable, if a bit high compared to their competitors. $342 for the iron + battery means that's a $230 battery pack, which is absolutely insane.
Requiring the battery pack to be able to easily change controls means anyone doing more than super basic work, needs the $342 combo.
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, huge difference in output.
If your experience with soldering is one of those cheap flimsy $30 dollar things from Amazon paired with fat, chunky solder… yeah you will hate soldering and you’ll never get even remotely good results. You don’t need to spend $500 dollar or anything but something like what is in this post and a $40 roll of thin gauge solder (which will last the rest of your life) will make soldering actually fun and enjoyable.
…I should also mention a solid, heavy parts holder factors into this as well.
Agree. It's kind of like a chef's knife: a better tool makes you a better chef.
A sharp knife is also quite a bit safer than a dull knife. By heating to operating temperature in 5 seconds and rapidly pouring heat into the material, you don't have to hold the hot iron as long. As soon as you're done, pop on the safety cap and instantly shield the hot metal.
Soldering isn't remotely mainstream, and part of that is the quality of tools. We set out to streamline the entire process to make soldering as accessible as possible.
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.
My dull chef's knife got caught when I chopping an onion and nearly lopped my fingertip off. I was not a very good chef that night.
I'm not sure what that has to do with better vs worse tools. Expensive knives get dull too. Good chefs, on the other hand, keep their equipment in working order regardless of its value.
A dull knife is a worse tool.
You’re getting awfully literal, though.
no, but with a shitty laptop it can be hard to be a good developer. having dull knives will make cooking experience, slow, dangerous, and unpleasant. having a boat-car will make it difficult to practice any sort of skilled driving.
it's not that you can't overcome adversity and do the thing anyhow, but you're certainly not making it easy. In all cases, using the proper tool allows you to remove the extra difficulty factor and focus on that task at hand.
But also, cutting a tomato with a sharp knife is way, way easier than with a dull knife. Same with soldering. Ignores the rest of the parts of being a chef, but you get the comparison.
"Better" is definitely the wrong word, but the jist is sound with the right framing. A better tool often allows you to do work safer, and that is what was attempted to be conveyed. Applying the approach to one of your examples, a faster car doesn't make you a better driver, but a car with more safety features makes your driving experience safer than one with less.
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 has never cooked before will not make them a Michelin chef, but their progress will be faster when they don't have the knife working against them.
For all edge tools be they for cooking, woodworking, forestry or something else: buy steel, not sharp. Henkels, Lie-Nielsen, Gransfors Bruk, Victorinox, or Stanley is only going to sharpen it for you once.
Corollary: learn to sharpen. The best steel in the world isn't going to cut anything if it's dull.
For the record, I sharpen chisels almost daily and I hate sharpening kitchen knives. The carbides set at the right angle in the handle you pull down the length of the blade will keep your knives a lot sharper than a set of Japanese water stones you never use.
dunno. my first ever soldering project was a handwired keyboard. i was popcorning when i finished. it was my first time using a mechanical switch keyboard too. not bad... 2° project, right after finishing the keyboard was soldering a PMW3360 sensor to someone's board from Github. it was a freaking blast on my 40W, 40 BRL (~ 8 USD) solder
i still have it & i'm selling handwired keyboards at a very cheap price (made with it), trying to set a non-profit that sells fair priced handwired keyboards with Vial & aims to teach the basics of electronics for teens... i can't see myself supplying anything more expensive than cheap solders, nor i can see what joy i would get from an expensive solder tool
my wiring for reference -> https://happort.org/keyboard_example.png
That's wonderful - I used to solder with a cheap iron until university. A nice iron gets a lot hotter, and it makes everything easier and faster. It may not matter for keyboards, but on a small PCB where everything is a few mm part, the precision of a good tip matters too.
Popcorning: "the happy little jump that guinea pigs give when they are full of joy"
In case anyone else was wondering.
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 hacks.
When you zoom out, I think home soldering is about as effective as it can reasonably get without fumigating your house.
Unfortunate that they didn't make it compatible with genuine Hakko or JBC tips like many of the no-name knock-off soldering stations are, but I suppose being based in the US they might be wary of violating the design patents of those companies.
Anyway it's good to have an option that's cheaper than the big names but presumably built to a higher standard than an AliExpress special, and has an actual warranty and safety certifications.
We'll have a range of tips. Hitting the high performance we wanted, with 100 Watt output in a small iron, required really optimizing the entire system. The heating element and temperature sensor are in the tip itself.
We really see JBC as our competition here. Performance and responsiveness should be comparable or better, at a fraction of the price.
I was gonna point out the same thing as the parent about the tips but figured that what you said must be true. Those existing tips were meant for specific power and whatnot… y’all needed to do your own thing to meet your higher, different specifications.
I would be surprised if TS100 style tips couldn't do that power output. Folks have gotten the Pinceil to 140W with the right power supply.
These 140w are peak power, only in specific cases. To have useful power at all times you need to perfectly match supply voltage to i-v curve of your tip. Which pinecil (due to its schematic) cannot do.
That makes sense, thanks for the response!
Where can I buy these cartridges? For JBC we have official catalogue, local retailers, aliexpress, and secondary market full of any tip I might need.
What kind of tips do you plan producing for the fixhub?
P.S.: all JBC stands (genuine and most of knock-offs) have really comfortable holder with detents to change cartridges on-handed on the fly. Do you plan any such features? I do not see any steps or hooks on a tip.
Good questions!
Tips we'll have at launch: Cone, Bevel 1.5, Wedge 1.5, Point, Bevel 2.6, Knife 2.5, Knife 1.4.
They'll be on sale in our store on October 15. https://www.ifixit.com/Tools/Soldering_and_Wiring
We will also be selling a complete line of replacement parts.
I'm working right now on our distribution partners, but we'll have a variety of local and online distributors who you can also buy the system through.
Rather than designing it to change tips on the fly, we set up the Power Station to handle two irons, with two USB ports and a mounting socket on both sides.
The heating element and temperature sensor are also in the tips themselves in both Pinecil and the Miniware TS80/TS100 designs. Every modern 'commercial' soldering iron (Hakko T12 line, JBC, many others) has moved this way too.
Same, the first thing I looked for is what tip it uses.
I want to like the miniware, pine, etc irons, but I'd really like being able to buy T15 tips from my local electronics supplier, who carries Hakko.
If the product isn't sucessful and/or ifixit stops producing tips for whatever reason, a perfectly good iron is effectively bricked.
Even compatibility with TS100/Pinecil V2 tips would be better. TS100 is meant to be open source, and the Pinecil V2 tips are just shorter with a different resistance.
Well done! I'm mostly a TS100 user, so I'm looking at it from that angle.
Why no boost button (unless I missed it)? That's the one on-iron UI feature I'd be missing - very useful for GND planes. I'm guessing its not a matter of rated power, but just the thermal resistance from the physical size of the tip which restricts heat entering into a heavily-heatsinked joint. Helpful to increase the iron temperature momentarily for such cases. Then again, I can't see heat transfer - happy to be told I'm wrong.
Is this your own tip design or is it the same as the TS80? Can't speak to the TS80 but I've found the TS100 tip quality to be somewhat lacking (I've had tips plainly break off before).
It's our own design, although clearly inspired by those who came before.
I'm really happy with their quality, but you'll have to judge that for yourself.
We're handling the boosting automatically in software. When the iron detects that it's under load, it maxxes out the power to the tip. It's incredibly responsive.
You're right, where you want that is with high thermal mass objects like ground planes. The difficult part is getting enough of a thermal bridge onto the material to really let the iron rip. It can dump a lot of power into a joint.
Thanks for the response! If true, this would make the experience more like a Metcal then. Very good iron. You must have your thermistor/thermocouple very close / inside the tip itself then, no?
No doubts then on the tip quality - I've seen the rest of your stuff (good).
Yes, the thermistor is inside the tip. That's essential to getting good performance out of the algorithm.
The instant that the iron detects that it's under load, it pours power into the heating element. That makes it feel and perform like a much more powerful iron. We're dynamically responding to the power load and flowing heat into the material.
...just as IronOS does on a Pinecil.
The sensor for the Pinecil / TS100 seems to be located fully behind the tip though: https://web.archive.org/web/20221110163337/http://www.minids...
Indeed.
I guess we'll have to wait for an iFixit teardown to see how this new widget actually differs in internal construction.
Yeah, boost button was a huge step up when I got my TS100 and now I can't imagine ever buying a new iron without it.
Plus, not having the ability to quickly tune temperature settings on the iron itself seems like a step back as well.
I'd be happy to be proven wrong on these, as iFixit's screwdriver sets were one of those things I needed to use to understand the hype (and then promptly bought my own set), so maybe this is another case of subtle quality you have to see for yourself?
We spent a lot of time tuning it. We've found that temperature settings really aren't needed for most use cases as long as the heating algorithm is responsive enough.
But that may not be for everyone: With the Power Station, changing the temperature is fast and easy with the dial, so you can pick a workflow that works best for you. (You can also change the temperature with the web interface.)
Appreciate the response! I'm still not immediately sold (my TS100 is doing great and I can't justify replacing a perfectly acceptable iron), but I'll have to give it a try sometime because it does look really thoughtfully designed!
Overall a great idea, though not a fan that you can’t directly change the temperature on the soldering iron without the power station.
You can set the temperature on the iron with our web console, which uses Web Serial: https://www.ifixit.com/fixhub/console
Once you set the temperature, the iron remembers it and you can use any power source.
We've spent a lot of time talking to engineers and makers who solder all day, and it turns out that most people rarely change the temperature. Pick a temperature you like and leave it there.
Our heating algorithm detects and dynamically responds to load, so you don't need to turn the temperature up for larger thermal masses: it'll add as many joules as required to get it to temperature.
Do you have plans to have an actual local application to do this? Chrome-only web tools are not sustainable and a deal breaker.
This is something I'm wondering about, because yeah - my ability to change the iron temperature (if not using the battery) shouldn't depend on iFixit's servers being online. I would at least hope that they document the protocol so that other people can write local applications to do it if not.
As noted in the article, there's also a traditional serial interface.
Maybe they get money from Google to slave people into Chrome, like everyone else
One Chrome to rule them all, One Chrome to find them,
One Chrome to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Google where the Shadows lie.I definitely can see that, I rarely change my solder iron temp too but the biggest issue is that I purposely do not keep my phone or laptop within reach where I solder. I still use lead solder and I don’t want to accidentally rub off any. Seems like a huge pain to wash my hand, get my laptop, change temp, then continue. But like you mentioned, I probably haven’t changed the temp on my iron in a while, ironically the last time I changed it was because I used silver solder.
That's a no-go for me then.
i literally just bought a pinecil and usb-c battery pack (with carry case) to make basically a DIY version of this three weeks ago, but would have gotten this one instead if it existed back then
after a few days trying to turn that into a daily driver however, i've had to go back to my weller desktop station, for one weird reason: i dont have anywhere to put the hot iron in between uses!
i dont know if it's just me, but my work cadence involves me using my soldering iron about 30-40 times over the course of an hour or so, for about 3-4 seconds each time. sometimes i'm soldering a row of headers, or just one or two joints, but then theres 3-4 minutes where i'm moving wires around or programming something quickly, and i dont want to wait for the tip to cool each time so i can set it somewhere and work on the board a bit, if I can just leave it in a safe place while hot, which my weller always had.
I got one of those bent sheet metal desktop 'holders', but the iron is so light compared to the cable, there's no way it's not falling off the table at some point.
It seems like they didn't thought this product through. Holder is one thing, but holder should be able to put the iron on idle when not used. Otherwise it will be burning through tips like there is no tomorrow.
I had one of these pencil soldering irons as I needed to solder something at a location. Once I powered it on, I was like oh snap, where do I put this thing now. Very much noped out and got the thing home where I could solder it properly with proper tools.
The article mentions that the iron has an accelerometer-based idle mode, like most of its competitors. So no special holder is required.
They make soldering iron stands in factories every day, and have probably done so for at least a century so far.
Just pick one out out that you like and get it coming your way.
For portable use, I got some snap-on purpose-built "legs" made from steel wire from aliexpress the other day that let me put the Pinecil down safely on a flat surface. They work a treat.
(And for bench use, stick a magnet to the collar of the stand. Pinecil V2 has a Hall effect sensor built in (and one can be added to V1) that will detect when the iron is in the stand, so IronOS will enter a selectable lower-temperature sleep mode right away. It heats back up quick enough that it's unlikely to ever get in the way.)
Try buying a third Party holder and flash ironOS[1] to allow cool extra features.
I got this $6 soldering stand, I use it with my pinecil v1 (and the pine64 silicone usb cable), it works pretty well for me: https://www.microcenter.com/product/659412/eclipse-enterpris...
I've been using a small glass jar and just sticking it into the jar while it's hot.
Yes! You need a way to pull the iron out and put it away quickly.
Our cap is just a game changer there. You handle it more like a Sharpie than a soldering iron. Put the cap on and stick it back in your bag. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GXR8kMVbgAEeRgd?format=jpg&name=...
I set the motion timer on mine to 5 seconds. It heats up so quickly when you pick it back up that there's no reason to bother with the power switch. By the time I have it back at the joint, it's at temperature ready to go.
After a quick look at the specs:
Plus
* 5 secs to temp. * Heat resistant, vented cap. * User can change auto idle and sleep times.
Minus
* Need iFixit power station or computer to change temp and other settings. * No temp indicator on the iron. No mention if the LED indicates it's reached set temp.
I'd love to keep a small, lightweight, high-quality portable iron in my tool bag ready for quick repairs. It needs to heat fast and be instantly capped and tossed back in the tool bag without waiting for cool down. However, I don't want to carry the iFixit power bank in my small tool bag. Yet without it, I'd need to pull out a laptop to change temp. And I do need to change temp enough for that to be annoying. Especially when there USB irons which have temp readouts and controls on the device. While cheap, those irons generally don't get to temp in 5 secs, have a well-thought out heat resistant cap and aren't high-quality.
The LED on the iron turns orange once it reaches your target temperature. It glows purple while it's heating, and blue when it's safe to touch.
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.
I do have a TS100 which I use either with a battery pack or a wall charger. For storing it, I am using a metal casing that is used for a single cigar. There's also room for a tiny metal cleaning brush which protects the tip during storage. Given that all of this is metal and that the soldering iron doesn't have that much thermal capacity, I can pack it up while the tip is still hot and the casing will only get mildly warm, but not to the point where it'd cause damage.
A ring light indicates if it's reached set temp.
Look up the Sequre S99 soldering iron. Basically what you are looking for.
I paid ~$100 for my Hakko FX888D, and have had had that for almost 10 years. Looking on the Internet, the price hasn't gone up much. Not sure whether this (for $250 including the power supply) is a class above that. The repairability is a definite plus (assuming parts continue to be available for many years), and all the nerdy features are also cool, but not sure how useful they will be in the real world.
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, and most are cheaper than this new iFixit iron, so you can get that class improvement for the same price as your Hakko station, so I'm curious if their improvements are a big enough step up from _those_ irons to justify the price.
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.
Yes, it makes tips more expensive. However, for the about of improvement in performance, I think it is worth it. I use Hakko T15 tips and they are about $20 each. Cheaper Chinese compatible toys are available and probably are good enough, but I don't replace yours frequently enough to care to find out.
They're more expensive, but they tend to last longer (at least for JBC & this new iFixit iron since they lower temperature when not in use), allow much nicer more precise temperature control, and often can have significantly more power output and/or thermal mass (depending on the particular tip). JBC tips in particular can be changed while still hot, one-handed, thanks to their iron holders having a tip puller & holder built-in.
The FX888 is an older style iron where the tip and heating element are separate components, the newer generation (such as this iFixit one) have the tip, heater and temperature sensor integrated as a single component which allows them to regulate the tip temperature much faster and more accurately. Hakko does make irons of that type now but they're very expensive, up in the $500 range.
Another benefit of the newer style irons is the tip can usually be hot-swapped (literally while it's still hot) without having to unscrew anything, you just need something insulating to pull the tip out with.
Only $80 for the iron itself though, compatible with any USB-C PD power supply.
What happens if you plug in headphones into the 3.5mm jack?
You'll be able to know for sure, whether headphone burn-in is a placebo or not.
I am sure the tracks it plays are fire...
Hmm... none of my headphone plugs will fit down the barrel!
Watch me!
If you could actually fit something in there, you get your reward of a destroyed pair of headphones I assume. Or maybe it won’t sense a thermistor and nothing will happen. I’d assume without a thermistor it won’t actually function (although you could probably trick it)
100W via TRS 3.5mm connector? I checked and I didn't even find a power rating for these connectors, but that seems excessive.
Where are you seeing a TRS connector? Looks like it's USB-C everywhere to me...
We use a TRS connector between the tip and the iron. And yes, it's a lot of amps!
It's amazing how versatile a well designed analog connector can be.
Ah! I was looking around for one: not on the battery pack, not on the iron-to-cable connection, but didn't think about the tips.
So you can plug an unused tip into your Walkman's headphone jack for safekeeping...
Weller uses TRS too. In my experience the connection is a little flaky, but I don’t know the provenance of the lab irons I’ve used; it wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve been abused.
https://www.weller-tools.com/us/en/industrial-soldering/prod...
The twist is that the TRS is the heating element.
Never buy cheap tools. It looks like a cool gadget, but is it actually useful for soldering? Does it maintain correct temperatures? How long the tips last and can you buy them easily? Are there many variety of tips?
etc. etc.
If you are into soldering, do yourself a favour and buy something tried and trusted like Hakko FX-951 if you are on the budget. It will probably outlast you.
the Hakko FX-951 is discontinued and its replacement FX971-44 costs GBP 350. would you also recommend the FX888D that is half the price, ignoring second-hand market?
I agree. We put an incredible amount of effort into making this a functional workhorse that will last a lifetime.
Tips we'll have at launch: Cone, Bevel 1.5, Wedge 1.5, Point, Bevel 2.6, Knife 2.5, Knife 1.4
What kills tips is oxidation. With our auto-sleep sensor, it drops below the temperature that will wear it out. When you pick it up, it's back at soldering temperature in a few seconds.
Give it a chance! You're right, it's not tried and tested, yet. But Tom at Hackaday is not an easy person to convince: he's been around the block and used every iron out there: "iFixit didn’t just raise the bar, they sent it into orbit."
I don't see why maintaining tip temperature would be even slightly difficult with modern electronics. It should be possible to make a very cheap and excellent soldering iron at this point.
Lots of cheap tools are excellent. In this space, Sugon/Aifen make fantastic JBC clone soldering stations for under $100; you can use original JBC tips, but MAGMA tips work 95% as well as the JBC originals at a fraction of the cost. The range of tools and materials being produced for the Chinese phone repair market is incredible - some stuff (like tweezers) that's just outright better than any western equivalent, some stuff that's completely novel and has no big-brand equivalent.
Looks much like the pinecil [0] (which I love btw if I have no acess to decent equipment) but with Webinterface ?!? Love the look though.
[0] https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-solde...
Pinecil can not deliver actual 100w, and most chinese type-c handles can neither. This one uses real buck converter which can help with this problem.
Pinecil V2 is specified to be 88w -- less than 100, but not very far off.
And with a (simple) firmware change and the appropriate 28v EPR charger, it can do 140w.
Is the reason a buck converter is required so that it can increase I? I = V/R, by increasing V we can increase I?
They compare the two in the article:
The star of the show is, of course, the Smart Soldering Iron. It’s a 100 watt iron that comes up to operating temperature in under five seconds and can work with any suitably beefy USB-C Power Delivery source. The size and general proportions of the iron are very close to the Pinecil V2, though the grip is larger and considerably more comfortable to hold. The biggest difference between the two however is the absence of a display or configuration buttons. According to iFixit, most users don’t change their settings enough to justify putting the interface on the iron itself. That doesn’t mean you can’t tweak the iron’s settings when used in this stand-alone configuration, but we’ll get back to that in a minute.
I hear https://github.com/google/web-serial-polyfill gets used a fair amount on Android devices, so that might be one road you could go down. Additionally, I can't imagine it would be that hard would it be to build a mobile app that could provide a WebSerial interface to a friendly webview of your choosing. You'd need the user to download an app, but then you could use the same code for both web and app versions.
Oh interesting, I'll have to try that polyfill - I've been using web serial for all my projects lately because I hate users having to install anything, but Android has been an annoying gap.
but Android has been an annoying gap
If I were to guess - the issue is that many phone basebands appear (at least) as a serial device, and we all know from late 90s/early 00s dialer scams how bad that can go if some hardware manufacturer forgets to label the serial port in a way that can be detected as "never fucking ever expose this to apps"...
Very interesting, I will check that out!
And yes, if it seems like mobile browsers don't plan to add support then we'll have to look at wrapping it in a native app.
I'm hopeful that smartphones will start supporting higher power output from their USB-C ports. The iPhone does 4.5W right now, which is (barely) enough to melt solder, but not enough to do anything with.
My phone only has a 16 Wh battery; I'm not sure I'd want it to dump 100 W out its USB-C port even if it could!
Every time I see a soldering iron use a 3.5mm headphone jack for the tips, some dark dumb part of my brain wants to plug a pair of headphones into it to see what happens.
Before the invention of lead-free solder you would hear heavy metal.
Results vary depending on the phone.
EDIT: I take the following back. The actual cable is USB-USB. The P2 connector links directly to the heated head, what is perfectly equivalent to "labeled".
But yeah, people that design products, please if you make a non-standard use of a standard connector, label it.
I would absolutely not buy this because that USB-P2 cable will mix with every other thing that thought was a good idea to use an unlabeled USB-P2 cable that only God knows whether they are compatible or not. (Common sense would imply they are, but common sense already flew out of the window long ago when you see a cable like that.)
Back in the 80's a friend of mine had a system for launching model rockets built out of power cords - a extension cord with multiple outlets for distribution, and power cords with microclips on one end to hook to the rockets. And of course he had to find out "what happens if I plug this in". (If I remember right the microclips were fused together, but they may have just melted, it's been a while.)
Magic smoke is released. Do try to avoid doing this with headphones in ears.
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.
Is the discharge rate for an 18650 be enough for a decent soldering iron?
I normally power mine off either a power bank with PD, or a LiPo battery that I also use for drones.
Yes. The Sony VTC6, for example is rated to deliver up to 30A with temperature monitoring to ensure it doesn't exceed 80C. At 3.0V (partially discharged and with voltage sag from the load), that's 90W.
I don't actually need 90W in the application I have in mind. I'd be more than happy with 60, and there are quite a few 18650 cells that can do 20A comfortably. Runtime at full power would be short of course, but I don't find I'm continuously heating work for very long in the field.
Here's a test of the VTC6. It does look like it's struggling a bit at 30A, but it's happy at 20. https://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Sony%20US18650VTC...
Max. discharge current vs. time: 30A-40A > 44s
I figure that might be workable for a few power cycles and a few big solder joints, but it would probably be a frustrating experience for anything more than quick fixes in the field.
If you're using full power for longer than 40 seconds, you're almost certainly doing something wrong (or, need to switch to a chunkier soldering iron). At a certain point, the limiting factor becomes how quickly you can transfer heat from the iron into the solder, and you won't pull 100W anymore.
I have a JBC iron capable of 130W. It never pulls 130W, even on extremely chunky power planes, besides when initially heating up (on startup). When trying to heat some super thick, I can watch the power meter max out at ~70W (and it pulses 70W, not continously). And this is on a thick tip, far chunkier than what I see from iFixit.
Looks neat. I might have thought web features were cool ten years ago but no longer want any more devices with wifi and possibility of telemetry in my house. Not to mention having to bring up a browser to configure instead of pushing a physical button. No desire for limited Tesla-like design.
Is that the case, or did I misunderstand?
I completely agree and love buttons and knobs. In this case, we didn't think the setting was necessary at all. It's very rare that you need to change the soldering temperature. We found that most of the reasons that people historically change their setting is because their iron isn't responsive enough to the actual workload.
With 100 Watts of power and an ultra-fast response time, you can flow the joules that you actually need into the material at the temperature you set.
Give it a try! If you still feel like you need a temperature knob, we'll refund your purchase.
Hmm, the power supply has a knob, that’s ok. Why does it mention a web console? Video didn’t mention.
No wifi - it's web serial so connects locally via the USB connection when you plug the iron (or base station) into your computer. It's only "web" in the sense that it uses a browser and web technologies for the GUI, not "web" as in over the internet or wireless.
Pretty cool, but it has to compete with the P80, and also with Fanttik's soldering iron, which has a battery and thus doesn't have the cable leash.
https://fanttik.com/products/fanttik-t1-max-soldering-iron-k...
I'm very much a noob at soldering so idk if I'm missing out on anything, but the Pine64 Pinecil[1] has worked great for me so far and is surprisingly cheap. It also uses a RISC-V chip and even has open source firmware[2]
1: https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-solde...
This iron has more power than the Pinecil so it gets hotter faster and will heat up big chunks of metal faster (like ground planes or connector shells).
Honestly, I've never been that interested in the Pinecil. It's nice that it's small but you still need a big type C supply. I could give a rats ass that it has open firmware and runs a RISC-V. I only care if it can push a lot of heat accurately and if the tips are affordable and available. Anything else does little to sway me.
My solder station at work is an incredibly dumb Metcal that only has a power switch. Heat is controlled by the tips you use. When you pull it from the iron rest, it turns on instantly. Put it back and it turns off. The handle is just a plug for the tip, all the power electronics are in the base unit. It's got two plugs so you can run dual irons for microsoldering or if you just want a big chisel tip at the ready.
And the Miniware TS1C
The accelerometer detects when you pick it up and heats it back up.
I don't want this. I would rather push a button and wait for a light to turn on. Automatic off, fine, I guess, though I don't love it and would never want to rely on it. Automatic on, no way.
By default, the timer is set to 30 seconds. You can turn the whole feature off, and it'll never bother you again!
You can turn the whole feature off, and it'll never bother you again!
Awesome. Thank you!
Agreed. There's a place for open, smart tools. Some things want to have serial interfaces and sensors and so on, that will do a whole host of actions automatically.
Other times you just want the equivalent of a drill or toaster. Pull trigger, drill spins. Twist chuck or shift gearbox, it slips or changes speeds. Push toast down, it toasts, twist the dial if you want darker or lighter.
An on/off switch, a potentiometer or 7-segment and some buttons to set temp, and a nice, fast, powerful PID loop to control the temperature (with a 120V AC cable to make 100W all day not a problem) is all I want in a soldering iron. I have a combination soldering/hot air station that's almost 20 years old, it just always works.
Meh. Seriously.
Pros:
1. "Portable, sorta"
2. Reasonably high-power
3. Has an accelerometer (as does everything else in its class)
4. "Repairable"
Cons:
1. No Hall effect sensor to detect when iron is placed in holder
2. A walled single-source garden of soldering tips that doesn't even exist yet instead of using commodity COTS parts
3. The fucking temperature control is fucking paywalled behind a proprietary USB power bank. What in the fuck? (And no, it is not possible to create an argument that will persuade me to think that this is an improvement. (Yes, I know that it can be programmed; this changes nothing.))
4. Expensive.
---
I'll just stick with my Pinecil iron. It gets all of these things right. If it breaks (I haven't broken a soldering iron yet in over three decades of trying), I'll fix it or buy another one.
I mean: For the $250 this iFixit product costs (including the paywalled temperature control), I will be able to buy several lifetimes of worth of Pinecil irons.
We considered having a sensor to detect when the cap is installed, but found that the accelerometer met that need. The default sleep timer is 30 seconds, but I set mine to 5 seconds and it works great.
All of the settings, including the temperature setting, are available in the web interface for free. The settings persist permanently on the iron so you can use it with any USB-C PD power source that you've already got. We worked hard to make sure that the iron works well standalone from the power station. https://www.ifixit.com/fixhub/console
I mean...
Here I am soldering in the field with my fancy microprocessor-controlled portable soldering iron. I've been using it with 63/37 and doing SMD work, but in front of me now I've got a big wire on a 1/4" TS plug to work on that was put together with lead-free solder and I simply need a higher temperature in order for anything to melt.
I never expected an audio tech in the US to use lead-free solder for anything, ever, but here I am anyway.
So now, I've got choices.
Do I find a computer to plug my soldering iron into so I can reprogram it?
Do I use the $170 temperature control (more than twice the cost of the iron itself) that I left on the bench for safe keeping?
Or do I see this situation in advance, and buy seemingly any other temperature-controlled portable soldering iron instead?
I always see these USB-C irons marketed a lot, but I've recently bought a travel iron that's the same form factor with adjustable temperature and all that jazz but just ends with an outlet plug for $16 and couldn't be happier with it tbh.
Unless you're somewhere out in the wilderness, finding an outlet to do any on the road repairs is pretty trivial and you don't need to lug around a large heavy box that does grid to USB-C DC conversion nor a powerbank.
You don't need a "large heavy box," just a standard USB-C PD power brick.
On one hand I agree that if everything you have uses PD, your laptop, your phone, your powerbank and a charger like that and it's powerful enough to handle it all then it probably makes sense to also have an iron that works with it and it's all interchangeable.
On the other hand we already have a standard power thing, it's called an outlet. And in practice you need to charge/use things in parallel so you'd need to carry around like four of these.
Can you comment on the compatibility with other 3.5mm tips like the TS80/TS80P?
Will there be other tip shapes available?
Is the tip design patented (and enforced) or will you allow for 3rd party tips?
We did not patent the tip design, anyone is welcome to make third party tips.
Tips we'll have at launch: Cone, Bevel 1.5, Wedge 1.5, Point, Bevel 2.6, Knife 2.5, Knife 1.4
We made some different electrical design decisions than they did. TS-80 tips aren't rated for the power that we're putting out, so being compatible with the TS-80 tips could be pretty sketchy.
Amazing! Thanks for clarifying. Now I'm much more interested
So is this iron competing mostly with other portable, USB c irons, or is there s case for it to also be someone's only, at home, soldering station iron?
It's on my workbench!
We designed it as a soldering station that can replace the station on your workbench. The cap mounts to the battery pack.
https://www.ifixit.com/products/fixhub-power-series-portable...
You actually get a few more watts of power (104 W or so) if the hub is plugged into an AC charger (there's a third USB-C port on the rear).
Yes, I definitely got that it can be a pretty good workbench iron, I guess I was asking if the price/feature balance works out mainly for people who also need a good portable iron, or if it's still competitive if you are comparing it to non-portable stations as well.
It looks interesting. I know some people will start comparing it to workstation ones, but I personally always look for portability. A few times I would be in the field with my drones and I need something small, battery-powered, and good enough for a quick job. So maybe people with similar use cases will find it useful. The only thing that I would say would have been good to have is a phone app and connection over Bluetooth to adjust the settings.
Our goal here was to provide workstation-level performance in a portable form factor.
Phone configuration: I agree, that would be nice. If we can find a way to do it from a web browser on a phone, that's our preference. Otherwise we'll take a look at a native wrapper.
I really appreciate that iFixit made the schematics publicly available, unlike a certain other right-to-repair advocate.
Schematics are table stakes!
WebSerial is indeed a bummer. I hate having to switch browsers to configure QMK keyboards or doing some ESP32 stuff, and need something that will work in Safari and Firefox (or a cross-platform app that doesn't suck).
Eh, I'm mostly just sad Firefox hasn't implemented it yet. I daily drive Firefox, but switching browsers temporarily still beats installing single-use applications with full local machine permissions by a huge margin. So I've been opting for building web serial companion apps on my own projects as well and it's great (besides Firefox)!
I am interested to know its repairability score.
We are, too! It didn't seem fair for us to rate it ourselves. Hackaday took theirs apart and seemed to like it.
We're posting full service information and schematics here: https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iFixit_Soldering
We'll be selling spare parts starting October 15.
Thanks for using real buck converter, unlike many other type-c soldering irons. Hope this helps achieve full USB PD power range.
Thanks! It cost more but I think the outcome was worth it.
We really pushed the envelope on every aspect of the hardware to max out the joules we could push into the material. The trick is being really responsive to the load so that you don't overshoot the target temperature too much.
With the Power Station plugged into the wall and a full charge on the batteries, you can get about 104 Watts into the iron.
This looks really nice! Can the base station be used like a normal powerbank (for plugging phone or laptop into it)? Also while it is in use?
Yes! You have two ports on the front, so you can charge your phone or laptop while you solder.
Or, mount two soldering irons with different tips. The wheel controls the temperature, and the blue action button toggles between which one you're controlling. Two soldering irons can be hot at once.
Interesting that new products are shipping 'relying' Web Serial, given it's tenuous position as a web standard.
Google depends on it for firmware updates and repairs on the Pixel lineup. https://pixelrepair.withgoogle.com
I am definetly interested to hear how this performs versus industry standards like Weller and the like!
Here are some other reviews! We'll be shipping on October 15 and you can try it out for yourself.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/ifixit-new-soldering-iron-power-s...
https://www.tomshardware.com/maker-stem/ifixit-fixhub-portab...
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/12/24242497/ifixit-fixhub-us...
don't see what tips are compatible or will be on offer. Shame that I can't control it on the pen.
Looks like it only takes their proprietary tip design (never seen one using a 3.5mm jack) but they don't have any others for sale yet. There are at least a few different tip designs out there already that don't require tools to replace (Metcal for example) so why not just do that? Unless someone comes out with an adapter, I can't use any of the tips I already own and would need to rely on iFixit for replacements.
Also, can you safely put 100W through a headphone jack? The ones I can find on Digikey that list a power rating seem to max out at 75W but most are well below that. Headphone jacks aren't exactly meant for high power, there is only a small amount of contact between the terminals since there's very little power required for line audio. Obviously big speakers require more power but those use things like XLR, RCA, and wire posts that provide way more contact.
Adding to this, I don't want to use their Chrome-only web app to configure it. Is this thing actually a serial device or is it something that only Chrome can talk to? If the former, just make it an Electron app if you want to be lazy. Can I still run the web app locally if iFixit decides to stop hosting it?
iFixit acts like they are all for open hardware and then go make something that uses proprietary tips and a (likely) closed source web app. I'm glad I could repair it if necessary but seems like a step back from a cheap solder station from Amazon that has a control panel and takes Hakko tips.
But can it run Doom?
We didn't lock down the firmware on the Power Station, so go right ahead!
How does this, in practical terms, compare to a Hakko station? Can I use Hakko tips?
Any plans to make a hot tweezer tip for this? It's hard to come by those for a reasonable price and that would be very appealing since I've often found myself needing to desolder surface-mount components.
I was initially skeptical about the cap vs. a traditional stand until I saw that it mounts to the side of the battery pack to double as a stand. I like that idea!
Also, is there documentation on the serial protocol used in case someone wanted to write a temperature control program that didn't rely on a webapp?
The PINECIL Smart Mini Portable Soldering Iron is 26 bucks...
This is just a luxury gewgaw
That looks awesome!
I was wondering if it requires a 100W PD supply, but according to the manual everything with at least 20W should work.
If you feel like $80 is too much, I recently bought $6 temperature regulated soldering iron (model 908S) on AliExpress and it has no problem soldering even LQFP-48 or MSOP-10 packages.
I think this is not a bad product, just a bad price.
I agree that changing temperature is generally not done super often but I would have loved to see a ring adjustment for temperature.
Overall, compared to the competition, I am not sure how much people would be willing to pay the much higher cost just for promise of quality and high heating capacity which is not as big of a edge that iFixit seems to think in my opinion.
But I applaud the effort of trying to make something new and different in a crowded and competitive space.
Long time Miniware TS80 user. Very happy with it, with a couple of extra tips.
Installed IronOS on it and it got even better…!
This is a really beautiful system. The pen-cap style cover is great. The Lamy Safari style cap clip that uses the lugs on the battery to become the holder is inspired. (see 0 for better view than the linked article's picture)
If this was available back when I got a Pinecil and PowerWheels Ryobi adapter [1], I would have been severely tempted to spend 400% more.
0. https://www.ifixit.com/products/fixhub-soldering-toolkit
1. https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Pinecil_Power_Supplies#Tool_Bat...
Oof £240 though. That's the same price as something like a Metcal PS-900 which is undoubtedly better.
Edit: never mind £240 is actually for the battery powered version
Why overcomplicate a simple tool? If you're not soldering professionally and only need it a few times a month, I never see anyone recommend the Hakko FX-600. I couldn't be happier with mine. Heats up in seconds, adjustable temperature, uses standard Hakko tips, and very affordable. And takes up no bench space, you just shove it in your toolbox (with a tip cover) when you're done with it. The only downsides are that it's not as slim as a soldering station, and the temperature adjustment is in 20 degree intervals. Hakko is a reputable brand, and I have had 0 issues with mine.
Alternate link: https://www.ifixit.com/News/99434/introducing-fixhub-the-por...
This looks cool, and I'd buy one if I needed one... but I already have a full-sized soldering station and a Pinecil.
The station has a hot air gun and a solder vacuum, so it's far more suitable for use on the bench due to those capabilities.
The Pinecil plugs into the Anker power bank that I carry with me everywhere anyhow, and runs basically forever on it. The UI took a day or so to get used to, but it's simple and straightforward enough for field use. I've even used it for bigger jobs on trucks and tractors in the past, and it didn't miss a beat.
For tools that you use regularly, it is sometimes worth it to take a step back, put the cost into an absolute perspective and then just get the thing if you know that it's well-made and you use it regularly, instead of getting a cheapish, price-optimized knockoff instead (my experience).
I spent over 200$ on a glorified PCB holder and some probes (PCBite), which is in hindsight one of the most useful tools I own and still makes me happy every time I use it (even that alone is kinda worth it over time!).
I don't know your financial situation, but just consider: How much do you spend each month on meals/entertainment? Is $300 actually an inappropriate cost for a quality thing that you often need?
Note: Iron + station shows up as $250 to me, $350 is the set with some additional bits and bobs.
Why buy this for $250 when you get the same thing from a pinecil v2 and use it with any 20v 100w PD USB-c power pack? I'm not seeing any differentiating features.
Because I have more trust in ifixit then in pine64 to sell robust, quality tools.
And most of what you are going to overpay (?) for this is going to ifixit, which is also a plus. It's like buying merch from a band you like.
I love iFixit, but their tools, parts, and kits have been a bit mixed (bit of poor, bit of good) in terms of quality.
I think their tools are overhyped - not worth the price, you pay for the brand they have built by basically PR (repair scores for iPhones).
Is this for professionals?. I need the soldering iron maybe 3 times a year. I'm ok throwing 100eur for something ok/good. But not 300.
I think you could justify the soldering iron itself then for like 80€, maybe not the basestation/powerbank.
IMO 340€ for the whole set with the wirecutters and tweezers and such is still an ok deal, even though it is slightly expensive, because the accessories are probably good quality also, and there are few things as frustrating as bad wirecutters ;).
It's hard to place exactly at its price point. At the full kit price it's approaching the cost of a mid-range Hakko soldering station which you can use all day every day.
I see this is a potential "better quality" portable option for a professional (than something like a Pinecil and a TS100), that might want to carry it around or use it when not at a desk, but the quality and performance remains to be seen (though I do trust iFixit).
At £240 in the UK, it's about 2.5x the cost of the Pinecil + Powerbank (which I already had). If I didn't have a Hakko soldering station and wanted something portable but capable to use fairly regularly, this seems like a good option.
For everyone else, if you already own a PD powerbank, the ~£25-30 (~£50 with a bunch of tips) for a Pinecil is _much_ more palatable.
The TS80P is very nicely made and can be obtained for around $70. It's only 30W, but this newer generation of irons has a much more efficient tip design, so it works much better than the wattage would suggest (if you're comparing to a Hakko or something).
I agree, in general, and also agree with iFixit charging whatever they can for it, but $350 is pretty much what I spend on core food for the month, or 3 pairs of shoes, or 2 pairs of climbing shoes, or a plane ticket to visit my hometown periodically. It is to your point also less than the tax on a new computer, and less than each ram upgrade on a MacBook Pro, or a week-long road trip, or a mountain lift ticket. There are different ways to convince yourself it's worth it, and it may be, but it's kind of a huge jump up if you're not already soldering nearly every day. Like $350 on meals and entertainment or $350 on a soldering iron is quite clear, I need to not buy the iron and reduce my spending a bit.
While I agree with all of your points on determining value, it's never that simple, and is often determined, in someone's mind, by the comparison made.
The comparison here is a Pinecil. I've been using a Pinecil for a couple of years now, I power it from a USB-PD power bank that's already in my backpack, and charges everything else I carry, and has more capacity and a lower price than this one, and the Pinecil without the power bank is much cheaper and more functional with its buttons and display than this iron alone; I don't need a PC (and I don't use Chrome anyway, though I do really like the WebSerial configuration).
I already own a Hakko soldering station, but I find I reach for the Pinecil 99% of the time due to convenience; only when I know I'll be doing a _lot_ of soldering in one go, and I'm going to do it at my desk, do I get the Hakko out.
This looks like a nice iron, and I'm all for supporting repairability (and iFixit in general), if someone will use it as their main station, and assuming this can perform, it seems like an excellent option.
For everyone else, a Pinecil and that powerbank you already have is an excellent option at a trivially low price.
EDIT: Fixed some typos
But it's just a soldering iron and a weird usb c power bank. Of course one can spend 300$ on it and justify it, but is this actually better than the alternatives?
The ts100 and variants of it have been around for a long time, can be adjusted on device and powered by regular usb pd power banks.
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 without it.
No Firefox support? Seriously?
This is a Firefox problem, not an iFixit problem.
What feature is Firefox lacking? It would be nice if the error message was more specific, rather than referring you straight to Google or Microsoft for their latest spyware.
WebSerial in this instance, and it's also not on Safari on Mac.
It's a convenience but I'm happy using CoolTerm on my Mac or launching Chrome if I need some WebSerial feature like in-browser flashing of my Meshtastic nodes.
This is a Mozilla $6B+ wasted money problem.
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 this is just my $0.02. I'm sure you'll still sell lots, but if that had an onboard display + buttons then I'd have ordered one right away for the other nice tweaks you've done.
I feel the same way, but did just realize that because they used web serial, you could use the iron to make yourself a little 3D interface, could be a fun project.
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 it to heat up, and finally continue soldering? That's awkward enough that even a crappy proprietary smartphone app would've been better!