Hey Will - Hakko is back! How do I calibrate the Temp?

[Neo2_000]

Got the Hakko back from my Teletech friend today. You would not believe the news. Initially he also found that the iron was useless as supplied. He then tweaked up the calibration trim pot on the unit and wow! What a difference.

I know I am one unlucky bastard but how bad can it get huh? I receive the unit so far out of calibration that it is essentially useless and I call the supplier who fails to identify the problem after much discussion. Doesn't help when you live 2500km away from the Perth supplier either.

So it is back to square one now, renewing my acquaintance with the Hako. It is a completely different unit now. My friend reckons that the Hakko has better thermal recovery than his Weller which to it's credit is 25 years old!

Think it must have been your faith that kept me hanging in there Willawake.

My problem now is that

I need a rough rule of thumb to calibrate the temperature scale correctly.

The Hakko calibration instrument costs more than the iron! Figure that some of you guns out there must have a simple trick up your sleeve to do the job.

I will keep you posted on future performace evaluations on the unit and any other observations. There is an up side to this experience though. Being forced to use the scope sledgehammer has made me much better at soldering mobos.

I finally got some pics for you as well:

The Old trigger activated Scope: If you hold the collar down for about ten seconds or so, the tip will start to glow cherry red. My Dick Smith (apologies for swearing) ESR meter Kit. And my new new Hakko. The tip cleaner which looks like a golden scourer works great and I have been using it since I got the Hakko.

[willawake]

Re: Hey Will - Hakko is back! How do I calibrate the Temp?

Thats pretty crappy that they let it get out uncalibrated. I am happy you found the problem though.

i saw Holothurian purchased a hakko recently and i was hoping it would not be the same story. seems ok though
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1528

i will put hakko back in the FAQ.

that tip cleaner looks good. recently i saw an ad for my iron and realised i have been using the sponge upside down.

regarding calibration, i dont know if it is possible to find something cheap to measure high temperatures. i will think about that

[Neo2_000]

Re: Hey Will - Hakko is back! How do I calibrate the Temp?

The tip cleaner is really good and I would recommend it to anyone. It is especially helpful to tin difficult iron tips.

recently i saw an ad for my iron and realised i have been using the sponge upside down.

Not sure what you mean Will. How can a sponge be upside down?

Couldn't wait. Just had to decap a mobo and try the Hakko out.

Much more controllable then the old sledgehammer. Relatively little danger of cooking joints. Work seemed to go much faster too. One drawback though. Because the solder does not adhere so well to the iron tip compared to the copper one on the scope, large blobs of solder accumulated on the joints.

Perhaps I will have to clean away the excess solder before clearing the holes with a dental pick.

Anyone know where I can get a desoldering bulb in Australia?

regarding calibration, i dont know if it is possible to find something cheap to measure high temperatures. i will think about that

I was thinking that maybe there was a common object such as aluminium foil or something that has a known melting point which you could use to guage the temperature or some similar trick?

[Rainbow]

Re: Hey Will - Hakko is back! How do I calibrate the Temp?

infrared thermometer?

[willawake]

Re: Hey Will - Hakko is back! How do I calibrate the Temp?



2 sided sponge

infra red thermometer sounds good but will it measure so high? imho you dont really want to start melting metals with the tip because they may bond with the tip.

[Galvanized]

Re: Hey Will - Hakko is back! How do I calibrate the Temp?

http://www.bjwe.com/tempil/celsius.htm may be what you seek.

I have a set of these and have used them to find high resistance connections
in closed panels of unmonitorable electronics to the temp of exhaust manifold
ports to find dead cylinders. The temps told are so high that these crayons are used in the heat treating steel. The buy is not expensive here in The States.

First post and good to be here after lurking so long.

...Galvanized

[willawake]

Re: Hey Will - Hakko is back! How do I calibrate the Temp?

interesting, thanks for your input and welcome.

what kind of engines are you working on

[Galvanized]

Re: Hey Will - Hakko is back! How do I calibrate the Temp?

willawake, I'll give a full introduction of myself in Announcements.
I'm just an old disabled guy with a new and exciting hobby. It was a choice between playing with comp hardware or model rail roading :-)

The tempil crayons can be bought in sets of 5-10 crayons covering any working range one desires. Cost here is about $15-$20 USD. It may sound a bit much but once use in diagnostics the cost is laughable for what it offers.
I've used the 40C crayons on screw heads for electrical connections and a week later when a problem reacures the source of resistance is obvious.

The crayon goes on as a white chalky grease. When the temp is reached it turns clear and remains that way. The tolerance for melt temp is very tight. They are a very accurate indicator of temp.

I saw your low resolution IR camera's pics and that is a neat tool but the cost of the crayons beats it. I did see high resolution IR pics of a dualie running two instances of prime 95 and the temp of the FETs that serve the CPUs blew my mind, those bad boys get hot.

...Galvanized

[Neo2_000]

Re: Hey Will - Hakko is back! How do I calibrate the Temp?

I rang the suppliers the other day to order some more of those tip cleaners that looked like a saucepan scourer. Since I was calling I thought I would rub a little salt into the wound.

I had just hung up on another firm after an inept or senile (not sure which) salesman bumbled a simple order, making me repeat the same catalogue number for the third time as he failed to locate the item in their system, so I was feeling a little bloodthirsty.

I told the guy on the line about the abberant calibration after which he tried to sell me a calibration tool @ A$225. Applying a little pressure, I insisted " You guys owe me. You must know some bush mechanic trick to do a rough calibration".

After giving up his communication relay on the other end, I finally got to speak to the anonymous source in the background. That has never happened before was his standard reply.

Now I don't know how many times I have heard that in the last year. I would like to conduct a poll to determine if my experience really is unique or others are as singularly cursed as I appear to be.

After further insistence, he suggested that 60/40 solder melts at 180 degrees C. I checked the Hakko. The base temperature on the adjustment scale was 200 degrees C - close enough. This was just the thing I had been looking for - should have thought of this myself but was thinking of higher temps.

I could adjust the trim pot on the unit till fresh solder just wetted the tip for a reasonable calibration. Done - now for further trials.

PS: Thanks for the hint Galvanized but couldn't find those crayons in Australia.