936 Clone vs T12 (+suggestion) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: mattuz
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 11, 2022, 07:31:12 am
content: Hello everyone, my cheap soldering station just broke. So now it’s time to get a new soldering station, I just need something that can get the job done (I mostly solder wires and not that often pcbs). Max 40/50€Right now I saw on amazon a clone of the 936 (25€) or the 938 digital model (30€) with replacement tips included. I also saw in this forum that many people suggest the T12 kit, on aliexpress I found a kit for 36€ (https://a.aliexpress.com/_ujSCVT) that seems good for what I need to do. What do you think? Is this good? Or is there any updated/improved model?

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 11, 2022, 10:34:50 am
content: T12 clones at least usually have a somewhat decent performance. Cheap 936 clones are outright junk.

author: all_repair
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2022, 11:22:55 am
content: Look out for this portable T12. Just have it today. I am powering it with USB PD 20V. Only thing is the button need a protective cap from unintended pressing.

author: all_repair
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2022, 12:03:07 pm
content: I wasn't aware that length of the iron/tip can be a problem. A blind spot for a chopstick user.It was easy for me to get use to various length of different type of irons. These length are all shorter than the length of chopstick. I just finished soldering a few SOIC IC with a T12 knife tip.

author: mattuz
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 11, 2022, 12:06:35 pm
content: Quote from: Shock on March 11, 2022, 10:32:03 amYeah I checked HobbyKing and they do sell it for cheap, but unfortunately shipping is too expensive (40€ for global warehouse/20€ for Eu warehouse)

author: mattuz
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 11, 2022, 12:11:08 pm
content: Quote from: Shock on March 11, 2022, 11:08:45 amSo in your opinion they are virtually the same except for the tip?

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 11, 2022, 05:34:53 pm
content: 936 clone tips are cheaper, hoverer they have a huge gap between the tip and heater, unlike genuine Hakko 936 or 888. Therefore heat transfer (through the air gap) sucks even without considering how tip itself transfers the heat (usually sucks too for smaller tips).

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 11, 2022, 05:47:08 pm
content: Quote from: Shock on March 11, 2022, 05:42:42 pmYou are forgetting that temperature sensor is located within the heating element, it's on the end but still within the heater. And due to the air gap it barely touches the tip, if at all. What is actually measured is the heater temperature, not the tip temperature.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 11, 2022, 06:11:10 pm
content: Quote from: Shock on March 11, 2022, 06:05:25 pmAnd what happens is when you are trying to solder something larger, temperature of the tip drops a lot, but sensor in the heater reports that temperature is fine.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 11, 2022, 07:50:30 pm
content: When there is a good heat transfer between the the tip and the sensor, heater can react to compensate for the tip temperature drop during soldering. When actual tip temperature cannot be sensed, heater lives a life of its own. And tip temperature recovers only after a while in standby. Therefore you get much worse performance.

author: all_repair
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2022, 03:14:51 am
content: Quote from: Shock on March 11, 2022, 05:14:38 pm936 I have a few, Hakko and non-Hakko soldering stations. I have a few hundreds orignal 936 tip from a factory that was closing, maybe 20 year ago. They were the standard gear before there was T12. 936 tip wear off at a much faster rate than T12. Part of the problem is as the heat transfer is not direct, many time too often you raise the temperature up too much. Note that the cheap 936 tip has a bigger gap to the Hakko heating ceramic than the original Hakko tip. Gap is no good.My daily experience with what you called Chinese Knock off is actually very good. The powering of USB-PD does not have the problem as you said. I am surprise T12 "knock-off" thing is still evolving. There are productivity gain and save-spacing in having just a USB-PD powered soldering iron. The T12 I just shared above is better as it can show precise temperature, auto-standby and wakeup, etc. I was waiting for such a portable T12.Get either 936 or T12, and you would not be wrong. Both 936 and T12 tips are easily available. The cost of 936 and T12 iron and their tips is marginal in the scheme of things. To save cost further, you can get used T12 online. To me, I like them both because I can also get readily-made adapter to use them for non-soldering work like heating blade for cutting plastics, removing adhesives, etc.

author: mattuz
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 16, 2022, 08:55:37 pm
content: So in the end I got a Baku 936 for 29€ from ebay (including 24h shipping).Pretty good performance I would sayI also opened it to check the ground connections and everything seems alright