The hand obscures the tail, this is how it is connected.

View attachment 264735​

But the slot, as you can see, is not a hole. You can's pass the tab through it.

Here are some photos of the insides, by the way:

 

But the slot, as you can see, is not a hole. You can's pass the tab through it.

You'll need to cut it open. You can use a hobby knife (Xacto) or whatever. When they molded it, it was easier to leave a very thin section rather than a hole.

Here are some photos of the insides, by the way:

Looks neat and clean, no point to point wiring. Nice external fuse.

 

You'll need to cut it open. You can use a hobby knife (Xacto) or whatever. When they molded it, it was easier to leave a very thin section rather than a hole.



Looks neat and clean, no point to point wiring. Nice external fuse.

Oh, now I finally get it. Yeah, the fact that there were no hole completely confused me. If I had saw a hole I would have guessed its purpose.

Anyways, today I tried it. MY-GOD. I mean there's not even a point of comparison, at all. This thing is a complete beast compared to my previous station. I can't even call it station anymore, hahaha.

As I was expecting, the tips are so tiny, all of them 3, and they will do wonders in tiny works and projects. The precision... I have absolutely never experienced anything like that. I don't even know how I managed to solder a tiny 1mm SMD component with my previous tips. The solder goes straight to the very end of the tip, it's so wonderful.

Okay, once you turn it on, I was expecting to see some kind of error as I've read a lot that new tips give ERROR for the first few minutes. Weirdly enough, all of them worked on point from the beginning. The fact that I can see the temperature of the tip in real time is so, so useful, this is very, very well designed. Notice I am used to this type of precision, for several years:



A few months ago I thought "may be I should dig a bit in the soldering stations world as I feel mine is a bit old fashioned". And I came here to discover all this wonderful stuff.

The load bar is also very informative, it gives you an idea of what's going on, I never knew I would find so useful all this data. It just blows my mind how all this advanced technology was here for a few years and I was still using that prehistoric iron.

Also, the speed, what in heavens, I never expected an iron to be so quickly, everything is so much better. I admit some days I've been reluctant to use the solder due to the waiting and stuff, but with this iron, that is never going to happen.

Okay, now I have a lot of questions regarding the settings:

1. The first setting is CALIBRATION, and I don't have any fancy precise temp meter, so I don't know how should I calibrate.

2. What are the recommended shortcut temps?
By default these are 200, 350 and 450 ºC. I guess 350ºC is for standard solder. I use a Pb38, Sn60 and Cu2.
I have surely worked on RoHS boards and devices, but, to start with, I didn't know that it meant "Pb free device", and I always used regular solder as I just described. Is that wrong?
I mean, the amount of my solder in the reparation must be so little compared to the solder Pb-free used in the whole board.

3. The autoidle and autosleep, I want them as low as possible to waste the least amount of energy when working. I have set idle to 80ºC in 1min and sleep in 2 min. Knowing that the iron is ready in 4-5 seconds, I guess these times are fine, right?

4. The temp boost is +50ºC, and I think it is used to melt some "old, hard to melt" solder when desoldering, right?

5. Also, regarding tip maintenance, I always, when I've finished, clean the tip with the copper/brass mesh, which normally has some flux residue (although my flux is non corrosive and non conductive). Is that OK? Or that scrapes the tinning of the tip and exposes the nude tip, which can go black and oxidize? Should I add new solder instead?

 

Glad it is working out so well for you. Good tools are a joy.

Okay, now I have a lot of questions regarding the settings:

1. The first setting is CALIBRATION, and I don't have any fancy precise temp meter, so I don't know how should I calibrate.

For calibration, I think it is worth picking up one of the many Hakko 191 clones and doing it right. The price on AliXpress is not better, in fact some cost more.

​

This will be quite accurate. The special three-legged thermocouple is designed to be impervious to the solder alloy that might be on the tip. You just turn it on and touch the tip to the silver part in the center and it will read the temperature.

2. What are the recommended shortcut temps?
By default these are 200, 350 and 450 ºC. I guess 350ºC is for standard solder. I use a Pb38, Sn60 and Cu2.
I have surely worked on RoHS boards and devices, but, to start with, I didn't know that it meant "Pb free device", and I always used regular solder as I just described. Is that wrong?
I mean, the amount of my solder in the reparation must be so little compared to the solder Pb-free used in the whole board.

I am a big fan of reading the datasheet for the solder and following the manufacturer's numbers.

3. The autoidle and autosleep, I want them as low as possible to waste the least amount of energy when working. I have set idle to 80ºC in 1min and sleep in 2 min. Knowing that the iron is ready in 4-5 seconds, I guess these times are fine, right?

If you find the wait tolerable, there's nothing wrong with that. The tip will last indefinitely at that temperature, even if you accidentally leave it on overnight.

4. The temp boost is +50ºC, and I think it is used to melt some "old, hard to melt" solder when desoldering, right?

Usually, it would be for soldering to copper floods and large components that act as heatsinks and make it very hard to heat the joint sufficiently.

5. Also, regarding tip maintenance, I always, when I've finished, clean the tip with the copper/brass mesh, which normally has some flux residue (although my flux is non corrosive and non conductive). Is that OK? Or that scrapes the tinning of the tip and exposes the nude tip, which can go black and oxidize? Should I add new solder instead?

Flux on the tip is no problem. Clean it with the bronze wool after each joint to get rid of the excess flux for soldering purposes. I usually put some solder on the tip if I know I am turning it off as a sort of protection, but that's additional and not required.

 

Yaakov, today I officially used it to repair some headphones, tiny cables, a bunch of stuff in different devices...

Jesus oh Lord our savior, hahahaha, the difference when working with such a beast precise machine like this one is abysmal. The fact that in 5 seconds I already have the 350°C is so, so, so comfortable and very efficient with my time and specially with the energy. Before I had to wait MINUTES, now you are a soldering machine! BAM, ready to work. Absolutely incredible.

Also I've never worked with such tiny and precise tips, my God, it is just another whole game to work with this station, me that I work a lot with tiny stuff, wow, the tips are miraculous. Until now I had to play with the flux to avoid bridges, had to rotate the giant comical tips, the solder never stuck where I wanted exactly...

I don't know what I've been doing all these years, what a quantum leap! I thank you once again for recommending me this station, you made my year!

 

Yaakov, today I officially used it to repair some headphones, tiny cables, a bunch of stuff in different devices...

Jesus oh Lord our savior, hahahaha, the difference when working with such a beast precise machine like this one is abysmal. The fact that in 5 seconds I already have the 350°C is so, so, so comfortable and very efficient with my time and specially with the energy. Before I had to wait MINUTES, now you are a soldering machine! BAM, ready to work. Absolutely incredible.

Also I've never worked with such tiny and precise tips, my God, it is just another whole game to work with this station, me that I work a lot with tiny stuff, wow, the tips are miraculous. Until now I had to play with the flux to avoid bridges, had to rotate the giant comical tips, the solder never stuck where I wanted exactly...

I don't know what I've been doing all these years, what a quantum leap! I thank you once again for recommending me this station, you made my year!

Your great results are gratifying. I have been recommending the variants of that station for a while and for whatever reason people don’t buy it. I think it is because the price is so low you don’t know what it really is. The often end up getting something like the Hakko FX-888D which is a great station and a workhorse but uses conventional tips and is big and heavy.

 

I use Yihua 853D 5A version, It is 3 in 1 soldering station, with 30v 5a power supply and desoldering gun, I get it 3 years ago for about $200
Just becareful for clone version

 

KSGER T12 soldering stations they changed the power supply so the 24VDC(-) side is floating, it's not earth grounded.
V2.04 (green) was PE grounded, V2.05 (black) is not. This is a problem.
You can verify with an ohmmeter or measure ACV at the heater shell/tip between PE ground. A tip floating at 60VAC due to the Y-capacitor is bad for soldering components and since these PSU's have no safety certifications whatsoever, the transformer quality can be poor as far as pri-sec insulation and high risk. On other T12 clones PSU board there can be many spacings violations as well.
For safety, PE ground the secondary side at the controller board or jumper it on the PSU board. The enclosure also should be grounded as well.
Also the fuse(s) are oversized at 5A, the power supply will generally blow up many parts before the fuse blows.

 

KSGER T12 soldering stations they changed the power supply so the 24VDC(-) side is floating, it's not earth grounded.
V2.04 (green) was PE grounded, V2.05 (black) is not. This is a problem.
You can verify with an ohmmeter or measure ACV at the heater shell/tip between PE ground. A tip floating at 60VAC due to the Y-capacitor is bad for soldering components and since these PSU's have no safety certifications whatsoever, the transformer quality can be poor as far as pri-sec insulation and high risk. On other T12 clones PSU board there can be many spacings violations as well.
For safety, PE ground the secondary side at the controller board or jumper it on the PSU board. The enclosure also should be grounded as well.
Also the fuse(s) are oversized at 5A, the power supply will generally blow up many parts before the fuse blows.

Thanks for all the info, but I am not sure if that applies to the one I bought, neither I am sure I understood all that data you shared. What kind of measurements do you want me to perform on my station?

You can check the pics here:

But the slot, as you can see, is not a hole. You can's pass the tab through it.

Here are some photos of the insides, by the way:
View attachment 264736View attachment 264737View attachment 264738View attachment 264739View attachment 264740View attachment 264741View attachment 264742

 

(following previous post) ...anyways, I come back to this thread because I've been using the station for a few months now, a lot, and I am very happy I made that purchase. Besides all the good stuff and overall 10/10 happiness, here I mention 4 negative things about it that I've discovered overtime:

1. I've found is that the handle heats up, just sometimes, too much, and it's a little bit annoying to solder with it in those scenarios. You can totally solder with it but you wish the handle was a bit cooler. I think it happens, obviously, when I am using large tips during "a lot of time", constantly. I've read they sell some over-grip to avoid this issue, but I am not sure which one is compatible with my handle

2. Not that annoying, but sometimes when you insert a tip, the station does not recognize it and you have to twist/turn it a bit, or take it out and in again. Some tips never fail and work always, others it's just random. It gets solved in 6s, but you know, you wish those things didn't happen.

3. May be the most annoying thing is that the handle base, which is fantastic about almost everything, has just one thing badly designed: the hole for inserting the tip/handle is way too compact and you can only comfortably insert the handle if the base is perfectly accessible for your hand. Otherwise, you end up hitting the base with the tip, which leaves solder marks or traces in the surface, or struggle to fully insert it. This problem can be solved if everything is organized and neat, but when you are fixing and repairing devices, you start to put screws and pieces here and there and you end up moving the station and base to the corner which then is not at the perfect angle and those problems come up. A better hole design would be fantastic.

4. This one is kind of a luxury, but I wish the screen was OLED so the angles and visibility of it are perfect, no matter from where you see it. The screen is fine, but again, if you don't have it in the right position it can be a bit hard to see the contents.

Those are my final thoughts on this station, which I expect to use for a lot of time, several years. Solid nice quality station, precise temperature control, very fast, compact, nice design, nice base with fantastic materials, dozens of different tips... I don't see any reason to buy a more expensive one, unless I get bored and decided to "waste" $400 in a fancy one.

Now, the reason I came back is because I am now looking for a heatgun/hot air gun to solder chips and those kind of components you can't solder with a regular soldering iron. I don't think I can attach to this station a heatgun designed for the plug, right?

I don't like the idea to have yet another bulky device... but may be I must... Ideally I want to buy a good one, one heatgun that lets me select the temperature precisely, nicely built, etc... If this station has no heatgun compatibility, I guess I am looking at the same thing in terms of quality, technology and materials, but for heatguns, not soldering iron.

 

Ideally I want to buy a good one, one heatgun that lets me select the temperature precisely, nicely built, etc...

I have the 120VAC version of this and I'm happy with it.

https://toolboom.com/en/lead-free-hot-air-soldering-station-aoyue-2702aplus-220-v/
I've never used the soldering iron because I don't like the tips and it's too bulky. The desoldering tool is handy.

 

I have the 120VAC version of this and I'm happy with it.
View attachment 280460
https://toolboom.com/en/lead-free-hot-air-soldering-station-aoyue-2702aplus-220-v/
I've never used the soldering iron because I don't like the tips and it's too bulky. The desoldering tool is handy.

Thanks!

But that's way too bulky, notice I already have one soldering station. Also, the price is too much, I was thinking about $60-120 top (I just want a heat gun for soldering, not a whole station), to give you an idea of the budget. I wish I could plug a heatgun to my OSS T12-X soldering station, but I believe that's not possible (Does the air from the heat gun come from the station or the very same handle is what takes air from the back and blows it forward?).

 

notice I already have one soldering station

I don't see that as a problem. I have 4 Weller soldering stations; 5 if I count the military version I got my Wife for doing stained glass. I put my Weller W-TCP on top of the Aoyue.

Does the air from the heat gun come from the station or the very same handle is what takes air from the back and blows it forward?

The heating element is in the metal part of the hot air tool.

 

I don't see that as a problem. I have 4 Weller soldering stations; 5 if I count the military version I got my Wife for doing stained glass. I put my Weller W-TCP on top of the Aoyue.

The heating element is in the metal part of the hot air tool.

Yeah, but I meant the air that the gun blows. Does it come from the station through a pipe or tube that goes to the gun, or the gun takes it from its back?

The problem is space. My workbench and tool space is quite full now I wouldn't want another bulky station, that's why I am wishing I could plug a heatgun to my T12-X station.

 

Yeah, but I meant the air that the gun blows. Does it come from the station through a pipe or tube that goes to the gun, or the gun takes it from its back?

The air comes from the tube connected to the back of the wand.

The problem is space. My workbench and tool space is quite full now I wouldn't want another bulky station, that's why I am wishing I could plug a heatgun to my T12-X station.

You can move the soldering station you're not using... Most of my bench is covered with equipment, tools, and storage. I only have a couple square feet of workspace and I don't find that to be a problem.