Voultar recommended T12 soldering station, buyer beware

[hbard]

A lot of Amazon reviews say that the Engineer brand solder sucker clogs a lot. Is this true? Is there any way to prevent the clogs? I have also considered getting a Soldapultt solder sucker that is made by Edsyn but some reviewers say that it is too big for soldering on PCBs.

Sometimes when I re-charge it, some but not all of the solder will come out and there's enough to pull out all at once manually. If it bunches up too far in I just use some fine tweezers to quickly get it out further but I usually don't have to. I've never had to go further than that. I think the least you can do is mind the length of the nozel if you cut a new piece of silicon.

[MarkOZLAD]

Well this thread sure got boring fast. Bring back the implication, insinuations, rumours and allegations!

[zakk]

Well this thread sure got boring fast. Bring back the implication, insinuations, rumours and allegations!

Those hot pants were NOT a mistaken shipment...

[thebigcheese]

A lot of Amazon reviews say that the Engineer brand solder sucker clogs a lot. Is this true? Is there any way to prevent the clogs? I have also considered getting a Soldapultt solder sucker that is made by Edsyn but some reviewers say that it is too big for soldering on PCBs.

I've never had it clog, but it's probably because I make sure to clear it after every other use, give or take. The issue I have with it (and probably all solder suckers like it) is that if you don't clean it that frequently, you are likely to get some solder coming back out of it and onto the PCB, kinda defeating the purpose. So when I push down the plunger, I push it several times to clear out any solder in the way before using it again. I imagine the only way to not have to do that is to have a fancy desoldering station.

[buttersoft]

Well this thread sure got boring fast. Bring back the implication, insinuations, rumours and allegations!

Those hot pants were NOT a mistaken shipment...

That's a scandal and a half. ASDR, any response?

[unmaker]

I think they're just virtually unknown outside of the US. They don't even seem to have distributors here and generally can't be bought at all the places where all other major brand soldering gear is available. When I've seen stuff from them it was at crazy markup. They're like Amtech, good product, but it almost seems like they try to prevent you from buying it / learning about it.

I wasn't aware of this. That's disappointing to hear. Hopefully they can change that because their products really are great. I've become a total Pace fanboy and that's after using other stations from Metcal, JBC, Weller, etc.

A lot of Amazon reviews say that the Engineer brand solder sucker clogs a lot. Is this true? Is there any way to prevent the clogs? I have also considered getting a Soldapultt solder sucker that is made by Edsyn but some reviewers say that it is too big for soldering on PCBs.

I haven't had any major clogging issues with it. It's got an anti-clogging mechanism whereby you can push out any built-up solder. You will occasionally get a clog but I've never not been able to unclog it. Of course you will have to maintain it by emptying out collected solder, reapplying lubrication, replacing the silicone tip, etc. I've put this thing through its paces and I recommend it wholeheartedly. I've desoldered around 1k caps with it among many other components and it still works as good as new. I've never used any of the other desolder plungers so I can't give you a comparison.

[Brad251]

I haven't had any major clogging issues with it. It's got an anti-clogging mechanism whereby you can push out any built-up solder. You will occasionally get a clog but I've never not been able to unclog it. Of course you will have to maintain it by emptying out collected solder, reapplying lubrication, replacing the silicone tip, etc. I've put this thing through its paces and I recommend it wholeheartedly. I've desoldered around 1k caps with it among many other components and it still works as good as new. I've never used any of the other desolder plungers so I can't give you a comparison.

Good to hear. I will probably get it. I've also been watching videos on how to desolder with a solder wick and the solder wick seems nearly as easy as a solder pump as long as you add flux to the wick and the solder wick pretty much guarantees that you will have a clean pad (at least for through hole components). Even if you use a solder pump, you might have to touch up with a solder wick. Have you had to use a solder wick in addition to the pump very often?

[unmaker]

I haven't had any major clogging issues with it. It's got an anti-clogging mechanism whereby you can push out any built-up solder. You will occasionally get a clog but I've never not been able to unclog it. Of course you will have to maintain it by emptying out collected solder, reapplying lubrication, replacing the silicone tip, etc. I've put this thing through its paces and I recommend it wholeheartedly. I've desoldered around 1k caps with it among many other components and it still works as good as new. I've never used any of the other desolder plungers so I can't give you a comparison.

Good to hear. I will probably get it. I've also been watching videos on how to desolder with a solder wick and the solder wick seems nearly as easy as a solder pump as long as you add flux to the wick and the solder wick pretty much guarantees that you will have a clean pad (at least for through hole components). Even if you use a solder pump, you might have to touch up with a solder wick. Have you had to use a solder wick in addition to the pump very often?

Yes I would use wick occasionally. Keep in mind that the hand plungers aren't at the level of a desoldering station. You might still run into problems when desoldering ground planes and they can be a pain. I would recommend checking out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8KRPFOD1RE . Even though he's using a desoldering station, a lot of the fundamentals still apply.

[HDgaming42]

This seems the most appropriate thread to ask this, as there appear to be mutliple Hakko FR-301 desoldering gun users:

What tips do you recommend for recapping things like audio/video monitors? The tip mine came with isn't wide enough to remove the capacitors in my Mackie 624mkII and I don't have a caliper to measure them.

1. Is there any disadvantage to getting one as wide as appears possible (N61-10)
https://www.hakko.com/english/products/ ... productNav

2. Are there recommended places (that ship to Canada) to buy these replacement heads?

Thanks!

[TooBeaucoup]

Not that many people probably care at this point, but I just received my T12 station from Banggood and although it isn't 100% identical to Voutlar's, it looks good enough. All of the solder points are clean and solid, everything on the board looks almost the same as his with very minor differences. My soldering handle feels solid with no rattle. The only thing I don't like is the Chonx capacitors inside. LOL! But, I keep it on a power strip and flip the power switch off when I'm not using it. For the $40 it cost me, no big deal. It works great and the tips all get hotter than Voultar's nips in about 3 seconds.

[ASDR]

FWIW my T12 station is also still working fine.

Chonx, lol. One of the first google hits for that brand reads "ChongX Capacitor test - Aliexpress JUNK - Buyer Beware!"

[Endymion]

Add another kicked-in-the-butt-by-KSGER story to the pile.

I had an old Aoyue rework station that I'd driven into the ground over the course of 15 years or so. It was big and unwieldy and I wasn't too distressed about it biting the dust so I just checked our Lord Voultar's recommendation and got the KSGER T12. I didn't have anything pressing, just some get-around-to-its that I got around to six months later--today. Goddamn thing does nothing but ERROR with the four tips that I have. Reading the amazon product page, KSGER says that not having the tip installed properly can cause this issue. Their fix is to use a pair of pliers to fasten down the washer around the tip handle. Well if I tighten with my channel locks any tighter than I have at this point I'm going to deform the thing and no other tip swap will be possible, but it still gives nothing but ERROR. Reading several testimonials from the amazon product listing, lots of people say "try another tip," well I have four and all of the damn things do nothing but ERROR the entire time. There is no calibration period, it doesn't go back and forth with the temp on the readout, it's nothing but a solid ERROR. And even if it worked with one of the other tips, how can it be acceptable tolerance for an appliance like this to move on to another tip? Are they trying to drive tip sales with a loss-leader from the soldering station? I guess it serves me right waiting so long to even open the box on this thing to check for a defect but holy crap even the working ones sound like they are defective. The price tag on this thing was damn tempting, especially after the obscene amount of money I blew on the Aoyue, but if it lasted a few years more it would have been able to drink. Better qa is needed here, I shouldn't have to cast the bones of an orangutan and consult the oracle with the gallbladder of a duck to have a reasonable expectation of everything working.

[jd213]

Mine sometimes takes a couple insertions for it to recognize a tip, but it's always worked eventually.

[Dochartaigh]

Multiple models of the KSGER also have faulty power supplies - something with the ground plane? (but could be screwing up that terminology). Literally need another soldering iron to fix the brand-new-yet-faulty soldering iron lol.

Reports of things like the above made me drag my feet for literally TWO years in buying a T12. Even when you find a post saying "XYZ version at ABC -usually oversea- store is fixed"... you then find that in the couple months since that post the design at that same exact store has CHANGED AGAIN. Literally saw this happen a dozen times+... and there's always a new firmware version, a new chip/power regulation version, new X.y.1.3.4.562 version/model #5,687,120 being released... and again, why it took me so long to get one.

Since my old manual Weller was doing even more shittier than usual I finally succumbed and bought a T12, BUT I bought the QUECOO (also called Quicko) version of it which is supposed to have a proper non-fire-hazard power supply inside it. Just like the KSGER there was a ~half dozen versions of it, some with the upgradable firmware people always tout as being amazing (which in reality I'm NEVER going to use all those options or even know what they're for, plus I believe you need specialized hardware to flash the new firmware... like little clamps to the legs of a chip inside or something involved like that?), so I just got the one which I found a VERY recent post about being good and proper and non-fire-starting. Won't even tell you the exact model as it's AGAIN changed since I bought mine...

Just buyer beware on these. TONS of people love them, but it's an absolute shit show - and this is coming from somebody who buys from all the oversea stores a ton and is used to this versioning BS... but the T12 situation is the worst I've ever seen in this regard.