New Toy

[quarter grabber]

just got this in the mail today. I will be playing around with it tonight. Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated. I'm wondering how I will solder flipper coils way at the top of a flipped up PLAYFIELD with this? Doesn't seem the the cord from the base to the soldering tip would be long enough?

 

[spiroagnew]

I've got the older similar model and I don't have a problem working with it under the PF. However, I've got a compact step stool I set in the cabinet when I'm doing more involved stuff...just to keep my shit organized, within reach and at a comfortable height.

 

[Beafraid]

I thought it was something for the wife when i first looked....

 

[quarter grabber]

I thought it was something for the wife when i first looked....

Hmmmm, the desoldering pump does look like that, but it's not as fun. I need to learn how to use the desoldering pump properly without melting it. This one is huge.

This Hakko gets hot fast, holy crap, I plugged this thing in and it was at 750 degrees in like 15 seconds my old soldering iron would take 10 figgin minutes to heat up

 

[tim.sanderson]

I have my station for most work, but I still keep a basic Weller iron in my tool box. It's good for quick jobs that the station is hard to get near.

 

[quarter grabber]

I tried one of those wellers and I had to return it. I would have to hold the trigger for like five minutes before it would heat up. Unless it was a defective one. After seeing how fast this thing heats up I will never go back to the slow heat up ones. I'm glad you guys told me about this model!

 

[tim.sanderson]

Not a gun, a 60W pencil-type iron. (and now that I check, not a Weller... a Hobbico brand iron I bought for $9)

My station is a Track Power TK950:

 

[quarter grabber]

That looks pretty fancy. Mine came with this steel wool kind of stuff in the station. The manual says its for "cleaning", do you know what it's for or how to use it to "clean"?

 

[tim.sanderson]

Yup, just wipe your iron on it. It'll clean the solder off of the tip. The (wet) sponge is another way to clean the tip. I have both types on hand.

From what I understand, the steel mesh stuff can scrape the coating off of your iron's tip. However, I've also heard a wet sponge can be bad too, the shock from a cold sponge might not be good for the tip, either.

If that's true or not, I don't care too much... new tips are inexpensive.

Maybe Doug or someone more in the biz can chime in...?

 

[mwong168]

That looks pretty fancy. Mine came with this steel wool kind of stuff in the station. The manual says its for "cleaning", do you know what it's for or how to use it to "clean"?

This one is right in your area of expertise... all you do is just mash your iron's tip into the steel wool to clean.

I too was like you when I first used this Hakko at bigbossfan's and most importantly not only does this iron heat up fast but the heat is constant and always there. This makes doing things much easier especially with board work because you aren't having to apply your iron multiple times stressing traces causing them to lift. Keep in mind just because you have a good iron now doesn't make you an instant expert. Practice your soldering on old electronics or you can get these empty boards to experiment on. You can practice soldering and desoldering using your pump too.

Most importantly always ask questions and do your research when troubleshooting your game's issues. Sometimes people are so quick to replace components like a cap or transistor when it isn't required. Anyways, welcome to the Hakko club Ryan!

 

[Menace]

Keep in mind just because you have a good iron now doesn't make you an instant expert. Practice your soldering on old electronics or you can get these empty boards to experiment on. You can practice soldering and desoldering using your pump too.

Truer words have never been spoken... I can't stress enough that having the right tools for the job can make or break a repair, and your DMM and your soldering iron are proably the two most important pieces to spend money on because you get what you pay for. Then once you have the right tools it's all about practice practice practice. I grew up assembling electronics from the age of 7, so all of this stuff is literally second nature for me. I keep reminding people of this fact when they watch me work as it takes time to learn how to do any sort of PCB work well.

D

 

[cdnpinballer]

As Wong said - welcome to Club Hakko.

Now that you're in the club do yourself a favor and deposit the big blue soldapult in the trash receptacle. That thing IMO is a big piece of dog s*it.

Sorry but I have always hated those big spring loaded suckers. Had better luck with a smaller sucker and even then I ended up getting a Hakko 808 which I love to this day. It's the best tool ever made to suck up solder.

re: you're question about not being able to use the iron/station under the playfield - just plug the station into the service outlet in your game or run an extension cord so the station is inside the base of the cabinet. then you're good to go or else buy a cheap pencil style iron like as was previously mentioned. For quick broken wire jobs I use a pencil iron.

 

[mwong168]

I would love a Hakko 808 (discontinued) or FR300 which is the replacement for it these days. I was thinking of ordering this Tenma Vacuum Desoldering Iron for $17.29usd. It's basically a cheap pen iron with a piece of dog shit soldapult built into it.

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/21-8240

MCM has this on back order but amazon.ca has something similar made by Velleman for $22.19cdn plus shipping. If anyone is interested I could organize a group buy and we could all split on the shipping?

If you are not sure or out of your comfort zone in regards to working on boards I highly recommend contacting Menace for a service call. If you wanna save a few bucks you could always run the board up to his place in Aurora. He can usually fix it on the spot and test out the repair in one of his games otherwise you could leave the board with him and he can do it when he has free time. Keep in mind that Menace can only guarantee his work but if there is an underlying issue inside your game like a short or bad diode on a coil it might be better to have him over for a house call to troubleshoot.

 

[quarter grabber]

I would love a Hakko 808 (discontinued) or FR300 which is the replacement for it these days. I was thinking of ordering this Tenma Vacuum Desoldering Iron for $17.29usd. It's basically a cheap pen iron with a piece of dog shit soldapult built into it.

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/21-8240

MCM has this on back order but amazon.ca has something similar made by Velleman for $22.19cdn plus shipping. If anyone is interested I could organize a group buy and we could all split on the shipping?

If you are not sure or out of your comfort zone in regards to working on boards I highly recommend contacting Menace for a service call. If you wanna save a few bucks you could always run the board up to his place in Aurora. He can usually fix it on the spot and test out the repair in one of his games otherwise you could leave the board with him and he can do it when he has free time. Keep in mind that Menace can only guarantee his work but if there is an underlying issue inside your game like a short or bad diode on a coil it might be better to have him over for a house call to troubleshoot.

Easy to say for you guys that don't live three and a half hours from him

 

[cdnpinballer]

Wong, with all due respect. That heated pencil soldapult looks like a tracelifter weapon of mass destruction!!!

No temperature control + spring loaded suction = recipe for disaster.

If you end up buying one I would be interested to know how long it takes you to experience an 'uh-oh' moment instead of an 'a-ha' moment.

 

[mwong168]

Drano has one so maybe he will comment on how well it has worked for him.

 

[cdnpinballer]

I'd be very interested to know!

 

[dnewman]

I picked up the FX-888D and the FR300, and both are fantastic! My experience is the same: the 888 heats up in seconds. The 300 is so much easier to desolder with (obviously), but it's not cheap!

 

[Luckydogg420]

I've had the Hakko 888 for a year or two. It's great, I'm confident doing board work now that I have experience with a good iron. Just keep the tip nice and tinned and clean and you'll find it does the job well

 

[quarter grabber]

Yeah I read that in the manual about keeping it tinned after use. I assumed that meant put a little solder on the tip before you turn it off.