Post by Owen Y on Apr 22, 2020 22:42:22 GMT 12
Hi guys, we had a Soldering irons thread recently, in which I lamented that I'd never been able to stretch to a nice temperature-controlled & adjustable soldering 'station' & like others, have 2 or 3 irons of different wattage for various tasks. My go-to iron being an ever-reliable 40W Goot (Japanese) iron (bought locally years ago from Dick Smith or Jaycar).
In recent times, I've scored a Weller unit s/hand for $15 at a radio sale - but the clever Weller magnetic, temperature control tip has never worked reliably - so back to the Goot.
Just today, Jeremy (who obviously felt sorry for me ) présented me with a 21st Century iron - a KSGER 'T12' soldering station.
These units have been much talked about recently by geeks & techs on the net.
Made in China & costing ~NZ$80-90 delivered, from Banggood or AliExpress.
'T12' is Japanese design I believe & is a microprocessor temperature-controlled soldering iron, with all the necessary adjustable features & a few more.
This is a 'KSGER' branded Chinese clone of the T12 technology.
From what I can see so far:
- Compact, light weight.
- Mains powered, with in-built SMPSU, 24v iron.
- Rapid start-up to temperature (eg 350 deg C from cold in ~15 sec!).
- Temperature adjustable 150 - 480 deg C with read-out.
- Temperature presets (5, adjustable).
- Many tip types available (~NZ$5/pc).
- Auto 'standby' (time & temperature adjustable) lowers temperature to preserve tip life.
- Auto 'sleep' mode (time adjustable) drops tip temp.to room temp.
- 'Boost' mode to quickly increase temperature (time & temperature adjustable).
- Motion-sensor grip (auto start-up).
- User temperature calibration for each tip type.
Many people have taken these apart on the net & there are a few quirks that can be ironed out, but generally, they seem to be accepted as impressive value for money.
Fingers crossed, that it proves to be reliable for a few years at least.
(But I'd better not throw out the other 40 year old technology just yet
)
Internet images below:
In recent times, I've scored a Weller unit s/hand for $15 at a radio sale - but the clever Weller magnetic, temperature control tip has never worked reliably - so back to the Goot.
Just today, Jeremy (who obviously felt sorry for me ) présented me with a 21st Century iron - a KSGER 'T12' soldering station.
These units have been much talked about recently by geeks & techs on the net.
Made in China & costing ~NZ$80-90 delivered, from Banggood or AliExpress.
'T12' is Japanese design I believe & is a microprocessor temperature-controlled soldering iron, with all the necessary adjustable features & a few more.
This is a 'KSGER' branded Chinese clone of the T12 technology.
From what I can see so far:
- Compact, light weight.
- Mains powered, with in-built SMPSU, 24v iron.
- Rapid start-up to temperature (eg 350 deg C from cold in ~15 sec!).
- Temperature adjustable 150 - 480 deg C with read-out.
- Temperature presets (5, adjustable).
- Many tip types available (~NZ$5/pc).
- Auto 'standby' (time & temperature adjustable) lowers temperature to preserve tip life.
- Auto 'sleep' mode (time adjustable) drops tip temp.to room temp.
- 'Boost' mode to quickly increase temperature (time & temperature adjustable).
- Motion-sensor grip (auto start-up).
- User temperature calibration for each tip type.
Many people have taken these apart on the net & there are a few quirks that can be ironed out, but generally, they seem to be accepted as impressive value for money.
Fingers crossed, that it proves to be reliable for a few years at least.
(But I'd better not throw out the other 40 year old technology just yet
)Internet images below:
DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com
