Xytronic LF-1600 soldering station teardown - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2012, 06:32:51 am
content: Hello,Some time agon I've bought a Xytronic LF-1600 soldering station. It costed me around $140 and it seemed really sturdy and well built. I began to wonder what it's like inside. Is this a decent construction or another chinese crap.Unfortunately video is kinda low quality, because I only had Samsung Galaxy Ace smartphone to shoot to video. Nevertheless some of you may find that pretty informative.What is found inside:-classic mains transformer-MOCxxx optotriac from Fairchild-BTA12 triac from ST Micro-7805 from ST Micro-OP07 opamp from TI-MCU is Atmel ATMega88 in a socket.-completly through-hole design-noticed only one bodge-like construction. A capacitor and a resistor have leads soldered into the same through hole. Both of those have the other lead soldered properly into their own holes, so that makes me think: schematic screwup-reasonably isolated mains cables-Tocon capacitors - semi-one-hung-lo. They maintain that they started production for Japanese company (I suppose that's a good thing) and then moved manufacturing to china to cut cost and improve quality (yeah...). Not a premium brand for sure, but maybe they are decent.Bottom line: seems like a decent constructionVideo:Some funny shit happened to the video (discolorations and pixels). I suppose youtube has some problems with .mp4 files. Will try to repack it to another format later

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2012, 01:25:25 pm
content: Started in taiwan and moved production to china ... looks like i know what to avoid next, thanks chava

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2012, 02:26:17 pm
content: Actually back sticker reads "Made in Taiwan", but who knows... It's not the best build quality I've ever seen, but definitely should be enough to do the job.So far I'm more than satisfied and I will for sure recommend this to other people

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2012, 08:16:56 pm
content: Taiwan Xytronic used to be a very well respected name, but a history of mixed quality control in troubling early 2000s and outsourcing production, and OEM products, hurt their reputation. But if you have a local dealer nearby, its still a better bet than a PRC China branded clone.

author: filip
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 16, 2012, 02:11:56 pm
content: Hey poorchava,Quote from: poorchava on August 13, 2012, 02:26:17 pmWhat was the reason for picking a LF-1600 instead of a LF-389D?The only difference I was able to spot was 60W vs 80W (and I've read that the 80W heater is just an overvoltaged 60W one here:http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=pl&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elektroda.pl%2Frtvforum%2Ftopic2088391-0.html&act=url) and maybe a lack of the ESD protection connector on the 389 (can't find a photo of the back side).The tips seem to be interchangeable.For me these differences don't explain the 50% price increase.

author: filip
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 16, 2012, 07:03:18 pm
content: Ok, I'll reply myself - LF-389D feeds 230V directly to the heater while LF-1600 powers it with a transformer.

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2012, 08:37:38 am
content: Yeah, the heater is powered from like 32V AC IIRC.As for the handpiece being 60W, it's not true. What was supplied with the station is 108 ESD handpiece, which is 80W. 107ESD is the 60W type.after using it for a while I could complain a bit about thermal contact between the heating element and the tip. I'm thinking to put something thermally conductive on the heater to improve heat transfer. Maybe PTFE or Copper type high temperature grease? Copper one withstands up to 1300 *C, but I'm afraid that it's electrically conductive, which may not necessarily be desired.

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2012, 09:33:21 am
content: Quote from: poorchava on December 17, 2012, 08:37:38 amif the heater is in contact already, it doesn't really matter if you put something electrically conductive in between does it? Also, if the heating element is ceramic than it wouldn't matter either. How poor is thermal contact? Maybe thing piece of aluminium foil over the heater could help?

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2012, 11:06:29 am
content: Copper paste works wonders with heat transfer, even ordinary heatsink compound works ( just smells and cooks off all the volatiles for about 5 hours) to improve heat transfer.

author: nukie
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 19, 2012, 04:01:50 am
content: I use copper sheet. Regular kitchen alu foil just crumbles to pieces if you change tips often. If money poor, you can try alu drinking cans. They are easy to cut and can be sanded to thinner pieces. Alu can be annealed if hard to shape. Don't make it super tight fit leave some space for thermal expansion. If anal, apply paste to copper shim for best thermal coupling.tapatalk

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 19, 2012, 09:30:59 am
content: Hm, the copper grease I'm pretty sure I have seen in hardware store some time ago. AFAIK the price was reasonable, like $8 for 100ml applicator. Might give it a try when I'm around that store again (it so happens, that in my city like 80% of all hypermarkets/construction stores/hardware stores/IKEAs and such are concentrated in one spot, but it doesn;t make sense to driver there just to buy a can of grease).I was also wondering if the grease won't degrade the ceramic material somehow. All in all i think this ceramic is quite porous, so the grease may find it's way inside and expand

author: Matje
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 19, 2012, 11:50:12 pm
content: Quote from: nukie on December 19, 2012, 04:01:50 amBut you are not supposed to re-use the alu foil, the same way you are not supposed to re-use thermal compound on CPU heatsinks and stuff. They are meant to fill the grooves/gaps in/between the metal surfaces, if you change, even minimally move, anything the grooves/gaps change.You really, really should use a new sheet/new compund every time you remount the contraption. And kitchen alu foil is dirt cheap, so why not? Copper sheet is probably better, but I think only if it is of similar thickness, and it too needs to be changed.

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2012, 06:49:40 am
content: Ok, I've tried to use the copper grease (rated from -30 to 1200 *C), but that's a failure. After iron heated up, it evaporated leaving only black-ish residue. I've read on the package, that it's supposed to be used as an anti-locking agent for thread connection used in high temperatures. So prob ably the residue left is copper powder. Plus the grease smells rather bad as the fluid evaporates.Anyway, that's a no-go as far as the thermal conductivity goes.Can anyone recommend a thermally conductive compound which can withstand 450-500*C?

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2012, 12:10:06 pm
content: Au82/In18 and a blowtorch if you don't care about changing tips, or price.

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 21, 2012, 12:40:59 pm
content: Huh, that would be the ultimate solution. In fact i do almost everything including 0.5QFP and 0603s with chisel type 3.2mm tip (XYB05). But at the same time I'm trying to find XYB30 (knife type) and XYB07C (mini-wave) at reasonable price.

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 22, 2012, 02:04:07 am
content: Quote from: poorchava on December 21, 2012, 12:40:59 pmJust thinking about it a bit more, how much are replacement handles/heaters? Just permanently affix the tip to the heater and swap the hand peice every tip change - it might actually be quicker too, since with those irons you usually have to wait to cool down to change tips anyway.