Problem with Hakko tips - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2016, 10:00:08 pm
content: I just got myself a Hakko FX-888D replacing Aoyue (which is not that bad, actually).And I have a problem with Hakko tips. They can't hold the solder on the very tip, it instantly wets the entire wettable part of the tip. So it is very hard to do things like taking the first pin on TQFP packages, for example, since there is never any solder on the tip, it is all on the side.I never had this problem with Aoyue tips. I also tried one on the Hakko iron, and it sort of works. Aoyue tips have bigger diameter hole, which results in worse heat transfer from the heating element. And FX-888D is making bigger swings when regulating the temperature, which results in it making loud transformer noise every few seconds. This is very annoying. But the tip itself behaves just like it did on Aoyue and feels very good.Any advice? Are there knock off tips with Hakko-sized diameter? Since it looks like Aoyue guys make better tips.

author: sentry7
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2016, 12:15:13 am
content: I have the same station and I have noticed what you are describing, however, I've always gotten excellent results on most jobs, even TQFPs. Maybe you should consider changing your technique?

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2016, 05:20:41 am
content: QuoteI understand 100%. Look up the Hakko CF tips. They are jacketed with chrome to repel solder, except on the face. I have one of every size, and I use them all, for almost all of my soldering. I could throw away all my other tips except for 1 fine point.I have them in 1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, and 4mm*, and they changed the way I solder.I would suggest maybe the 3mm as the most useful. For a second tip, I would take the 1mm for modding/reworking where you are trying to tack small wires to small pins/pad and wish you had a third hand. Once you get used to them, the 3 and 4mm tips wave solder TQFP like nothing. If you have a microscope, it's easier to learn to use them. You need a good feel for the angle of the face, and seeing things up close is very helpful to get your bearings. When loaded with excess solder, tilt the tip away from the pins just a little, and flatten the face parallel to the board as the tip runs dry. You can solder an insane amount of chips/pins without stopping.A conical either sucks solder away from the tip, like a vacuum. Or when the bead finally gets too big, it drops the whole thing on the board. A CF is like a larger pad competing with a smaller pad. Despite bringing a big or small bob to the joint, it leaves just w/e the pad wants to take. It acts like a vacuum despite keeping the solder at the tip where you can apply it. It's a lot like wave soldering.The main drawback of a CF tip is you can't feed solder right onto the tip when the face is pointed down. (BTW, I use the larger tips facing up probably as much as pointing down, for soldering small things yet having a big reservoir of solder on the tip). I solve that by having a supply of solder wire and solder balls spread out on a little board, next to the work.*This one is 900 series, the rest in T-18.

author: Abbas
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2016, 05:27:17 am
content: Try rubbing the tip very carefully un a steel brushed grinder. It should work fine as it did for me.Note that you should be very careful, just the tip only not the sides.Also if it still doesn't work for you maybe you need to change your way on how you solder, maybe its then its going to work

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2016, 05:46:17 am
content: Quote from: Abbas on February 21, 2016, 05:27:17 amAll of the soldering irons I used behaved the way I expect them to behave, starting from mains-powered hardcore Soviet ones and ending with Metcal at work.I'm not going to change my soldering to adjust for some poorly made tips.On the other hand, I just tried Aoyue tip again, and it worked just fine. No more buzzing noses. I'm not sure what it was before.Aoyue tips work much better, and can actually transfer solder to the parts being soldered. Not to mention, they cost 1/10 of Hakko tips.Now I'm happy

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2016, 05:56:05 am
content: I have never heard anyone suggest that "real" irons are supposed tonotwet easily.I have used cheap irons that quickly oxidize, where I have purposely only wetted the tip. And yes, this can be very helpful. But you can only "bring back" the rest of the tip so many times, when you want a larger thermal transfer. After awhile, that poorly tendered area dies, permanently.After years of using Hakko, I have gradually lost the habit of applying solder to the tip after cleaning and/or before turning off the iron. It feels odd wiping the tip dry and turning off the iron, but the Hakko's just don't oxidize. I don't know if I'd call them "poorly made," for this reason.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2016, 06:02:28 am
content: Quote from: KL27x on February 21, 2016, 05:56:05 amIt does wet where it needs to be wet. All of them do, actually.But what make a difference is that "clumps" of solder actually stay in one place and don't distribute evenly over the entire wettable area.I don't know the physics of this effect, all I know is that after 25 years of soldering with whatever soldering iron I had at hand, that was the first one, where I actually struggled and experienced discomfort.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2016, 06:24:45 am
content: All that said, in fact, I recall having the same annoyance as you, at first. And it has been not too long since another member was also annoyed having got their first "real station," after learning on a "fire starter," for the same reason. I don't remember the brand of his new station, but let's call it a Hakko. But in my case, my previous stations were cheap, and I could clearly see that I could get solder to bead on the tip because I was letting the rest of the tip oxidize, which definitely lead to early demise. (Not that I cared over 2.00 tips!)I have also heard Rossman give love over his BR tips, because they are "like a vacuum," (which is what you and I hate about a tip... where it sucks solder up the side).But I was won over by the 8 second warm up time of my Hakko; and the stand, of all things. So I eventually just let it go and went with the new. When I discovered the CF tips, so much the better!Going back even farther, I remember being annoyed with my first $45.00 temp controlled station, for the same reason, moving from a Radio Shack firebrand (before learning to kill the part of the tip that I didn't want). If you think your Aoyue is good at holding solder at the tip, try a pure copper tip. It only holds solder where you have filed it in the last 30 seconds. The Hakko CF tips are like a copper tip that you don't have to file or even stop to clean, practically ever. I have used a Metcal, and yeah, that was some good stuff. Don't like the size of the station, though.I actually tried to kill parts of a Hakko* tip by tinning the very tip and leaving the iron on high for several hours. And yeah, that ain't happening. Without even cleaning it, it sucked up solder like new.*And that was just a knockoff!