Soldering iron tips, universal for cheaper irons? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Infraviolet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2022, 01:59:01 am
content: I have a cheap iron which seems to work well enough for a lot of more basic things, but I'd like to get some different tip styles for it. It is a duratool D01842 branded one with a fairly laborious tip swapping procedure which needs delicacy with pliers if you don't want to wait 10 minutes for cooling (unscrew a little ring, slide the whole outer cover off the lower part of the iron, take the tip off the element, put new tip on to element, reverse procedure), and the iron's manual mentions that duratool do a few types of tip as spares. And among these there aren't any fine tipped chisel or bent type ones. But the tips certainly look like ones I've seen from a variety of online sellers, with the exception that the parts of the tip away from the point seem to be coated in some white rough textured material, I think that these might be a standard dimension? Would that mean they are also of a standard thermal mass and other such properties, such that tips from other sellers can work and still give temperatures broadly similar to those that the iron's supplied tips would?ThanksThe current tips: 7.5mm outer diam, 6.1mm inner diam, 36.3mm length of "barrel" area before tip point begins, 34.1mm inner length, 17mm length of pointy part of tip beyond barrel region, all dimensions to the +/- 0.1mm or worse accuracy one would expect when trying to caliper measure something irregularly shaped

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2022, 03:20:49 am
content: Personally, I would upgrade to a 3rd party clone station that accepts genuine Hakko T12 style tips.Having the elements bonded to tips as a single piece performs is SOOO much better than the style where the tip slides over the element.And you can swap tips really fast.But with regard to your question, na, I have no idea what that coating is. Probably just to keep the tip from discoloring and protecting the metal. Modern irons don't have it, so it can't be all that beneficial

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2022, 05:25:32 am
content: Your Duratool station looks a lot like the classic Weller stations -- take a look at the Weller WES51. The iron also seems to use the same style of clamping the tips. Maybe it is just a rebranded Weller, or a knock-off?In either case, I would check out the Weller tips to see whether they are in fact compatible. The WES51 station is discontinued, but the "ET" series of tips are still available (and used in later models as well).

author: Infraviolet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2022, 06:50:30 pm
content: That weller looks similar in pictures, but the ET tips have a bulging ring around them which the duratool tips don't. Can anyone supply the diameters of the inside and outside of the non-tip end of the barrel shape of those ET tips?

author: SMTech
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2022, 06:44:51 pm
content: We've been a Weller place for years and we have a couple of these & they do appear to be very close clones of the older Weller systems right down to horrid handpiece and ET tips. They seem to be about as effective but all the spares are as you may have noticed, much cheaper, you could literally throw three stations the in the bin for the price of one genuine Weller handpiece.Personally I don't like them and I know the operators often crank up these and other Weller irons to the max to get good flow. We've got one Metcal GT too, I really like it and I'd recommend trying one if you can justify the price.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2022, 09:05:37 pm
content: Quote from: SMTech on October 22, 2022, 06:44:51 pmYeah, that's the problem with all irons that have that air gap between the element and tip.To overcome the gap and get enough heat into the work piece you have to set the element substantially hotter than the ideal soldering temp.And then you end up burning tips when not soldering or overheating smaller joints that don't suck the heat away much .It's $70-$120 to pickup a cloned T12 station and also get a genuine hakko T12 tip or 2.