When soldering aluminium pcbs or fr-4s with large heat demand I recommend using hot plates. They are easy to use and very cheap. My first one was an iron I got from my mom. It worked perfectly fine.
I do a ton of soldering to ecu's where the pcb's are still attached to the aluminum cases designed as heat sinks so I always planed to get the HTD hand piece to make things easier on me but to be honest the normal hand piece works so well I haven't run into much it has trouble with. I did finally get a hold of the ultra fine hand piece and some tips, Very nice set up with these two. Hard for me to find enough reason to get the HTD. I think my next attachment may be the desoldering gun instead.
The HTD adds the possibility of some much larger tips - there's a few new ones which will be available soon such as a 10mm chisel. I also find however the standard setup is more than adequate.
For manufacture rework to IPC standards in my experience large SMT power packages will use PCB preheat with hot air for removal while monitoring board perheater temp and local device temp, and then while the board is still hot remove the old solder using hot air with copper braid (use flux if neccessary) or contact desolder station with a large flat tip keeping tip tinned as you remove solder when neccessary (I use a PACE ST115 desoldering station). Part installation will use preheat with hot air after the board is allowed to cool and applying solder paste using a mini single device stencil (you can use some kapton tape as a way to hold and hinge the stencil after the paste is applied. If the SMT footprint is design properly for the device power tab or multiple tabs like a QFN, for example a DPAK part, you are looking for porper location relative to the gull wing leads for proper solder fillets on the gullwing leads, you can see the device power tab actually float on the molten solder and depending on the device size see it self-align. If the footprint is minimize and the part will not self align you can position the part manually side to side, but don't hold it in place from above, you want the device power tab to float on molten solder. High thermal PCB subassemblies for rework will always use PCB preheat. The preheat temperture is the highest the board allows with a margin of safety (determined by the manufacturing engineer). I would encourage you to preheat your high thermal package PCBs and solder using solder paste and hot air. As a comparison to what is in the video try using contact soldering when the PCB is preheated with the same irons as in the video, however this time add liquid flux if neccessary (depends on solder used, board oxidation and soldering temperature). You will have to determine what your best preheat temp is for preventing overtemp, proper soldering and flux used (cleaning of the new device power tab(s) may be necessary depending on device oxidation). In the old days of contact soldering only, the basic rules where to remove the older solder but make sure the pad(s) are tinned, preheat the PCB, apply liquid flux, place the part, and then solder with multicore containing compatible flux to the liquid flux already applied. If you can solder the tab first while positioning the part relative any gull wing pad and lead position the device will float, then solder the gull wing leads. Tacking a gull wing lead is easier, but what is most important is the soldering of the power tab as what would happen in SMT manufacturing reflow. This is one reason why hot air soldering for rework and repair is so popular. So what are high thermal capacity irons used for? Usually soldering large stranded tinned wire to PCB plated through hole (PTH) or devices. Even with PTH PCB thermal reliefs large gauge wires will conduct heat away from the joint. Also the joint has requirements for solder fill (IPC) and nice fillets (IPC) on both sides of the board. Hold the board vertical to see both sides of the PTH wire joint as you solder, add liquid flux if neccessary. If the plated through hole diameter is selected correctly relative to the wire guage you can produce complete fill with nice fillets on both sides of the board. If the plated through holes are huge relative to the wire, try slightly angling the board. Another popular use is soldering large TH connectors to PCB PTH that cannot be soldered in production using selective wave. There many other special cases to use a large wattage iron usually involving a PTH pad or a very large power single contact SMT pad.
I love watching your soldering hardware videos, especially this series and videos about Metcal gear. Very interesting and informative. My only request is for 1080p video.. and for more videos! 😁
@@sdgelectronics It’s not showing up. Oh that’s weird… Why I made the comment was because I watch your videos with RUclips app on my smart TV and the highest resolution option for your videos is 720p. I doubled checked on my phone.. the top two options are “1080p50” and “720p50”. I’m in UK but I guess if you use 60 FPS it’ll then work for me. I have a 4K TV and I have no issues playing 1080p or 4K content on RUclips otherwise.
@@sdgelectronics Nope. I can’t get it to work on my TV. It’s a 2015 LG 4K TV. I’m pretty sure is it’s got something to do with frame rate. Maybe the RUclips app only runs in a 60Hz refresh rate mode. I have noticed before that it never seems to switch refresh rates for different videos.
Just a sugestion for the next video try to compare JBC c470 heavy duty handle with this new one from Metcal . It will be very interesting to see who is better JBC or Metcal .
@@sdgelectronics Metcal has a new handle and a new cartridge series that is made of two heaters, the heaters heat one single tip, it can connect to two MX5200 stations, seems for 160W in total, the tip geometry is limited, but should compete just fine with C470
What C245 tip was that? You said it's a 7.5mm tip, but the widest chisel style tip I can find is 6.6mm. Would be interesting to see what a C470 tip could do to that piece of copper. Someone mentioned the (cheap) JBC470 module from Aliexpress a while back.. I bought it including a proper 400W 48V PSU. That thing actually delivers 300W to the tip on startup, which is insane. The C470-006 (10mm chisel) tip I bought for it heats up to 350c in ~10 seconds.
nice. i wonder if it can also be used for soldering together small metal objects. although the result may not be strong as brazing, using a blow torch etc. it is still something interesting however for the higher convenience. for example to join together a small delicate decorative ornament etc. where the pieces of metal are too fine and too thin to hold screws or rivets. Or sometimes the metal object is to serve some specific function. where it has to be of a low mass like a needle or a gauge for some vintage piece of equipment
If you use the cartridges in the normal handle, do you get the same performance as the regular once? If you are correct about the cap value, they should be similar performance, with just a bit better thermal mass.
BTW, would be nice if Pace addressed the obvious problem with their PID loop. If 80W can heat the joint, there's no reason 120w shouldn't be able to handle the task.
It seemed to give up part way through. The LED on the front of the unit was mainly green (it blinks orange when delivering power). No idea what's going on with it, or whether it's faulty.
Yeah 120W in would do it, but I'm not even sure if its capable of delivering 120W continuous. In SDGs previous video it was pulsing on and off at 120W, as if the dead time was really long. It should really only need ~10% dead time or so, which would be around 110W continuous. It could be a combination of software + hardware limitations.
@@sdgelectronics I gotta believe the engineers at Pace are aware of this limitation. As you said in a earlier video, it may be deliberately programmed to conserve tip life. Unisolder is supposed to work the the ADS200 handpiece. Maybe test it with that. However, it may burn out tips prematurely.
@@sdgelectronics I did hear about quality control issues with Pace cartridges after the launch of the ADS200. I think EEVBlog Dave got a very early firmware version station. Is there some way he can send you the firmware so you can compare the performance? Or work together with Dave to find out?
I wonder how it is possible a 80W metcal with induction heating can so easily beat a 130-200W cartridge based on a resistive heater. Is it because the induction induces heat on the target itself as well and not just in the tip? Or is the thermal delivery just much more efficient?
I was wondering, will the heat from trying to solder those components directly to the copper pad destroy the component? I feel like components get pretty hot if you get stuck on a joint for a bit, always wondered how much they can handle. Would be helpful to have an idea of where the point is of starting to be destructive to the components. (Referring to 6:30-8 minutes in video) I was thinking of getting the Aixon T3A cause my 888D would end up sticking and going cold when I hit a ground plane. Is the Aixon T3A basically the best iron you can get for under $300? Is there any iron base out there that can handle all the JBC tips? (Hopefully without having to buy all the JBC handles themselves, but maybe knockoffs? Everything I am reading says to get legit tips when getting either Hakko or JBC clones cause the most important stuff is in the tip) Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated! Thank you much!
@@Maxxxutk0 you could use the standard and ultrafine handpieces, but you'd be left with the DIN connector for the LED and memory chip. You'd be better to use the MX handpieces with the more flexible cables
The cartridges won't work in a standard MX-H1-AV handpiece? Would be quite an added expense for another handpiece and the high thermal demand tips. Unless you would use this for production, it would seem more economical to get an old fashioned iron for occasional use.
If you want to use a normal MX-H1-AV handpiece, thermaltronics has also released some high thermal demand cartridges. They are probably not quite as beastly as the metcal, but, are reasonably priced. Visually I cant see why the HTC cartridge can't fit in a regular handle. Although, I did have one instance of the thermaltronics power tip tripping some internal protection in the MX station, so maybe that is part of it.
@@jaro6985 it does fit, but one user on the EEVBlog forum said the unit didn't heat the cartridge in the standard handpiece. I'll try it today and report back
After watching your videos I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy the mx-5210. Wallet feels a bit painful, but hopefully the joy it brings everytime I use it will make up for it. Just curious, what temperature series of tips do you use for day to day soldering?
I have a mix of cartridge temperatures, though it's primarily because some have been on offer when purchasing. Generally I use the STTC-0xx which all seem to be around 330°C, but a lot are the STTC-1xx which seem to sit around 385°C. I can't really tell much difference between them other than the higher temperatures lead to a bit more blackening of the tip where the flux has burnt. It wipes off though.
@@sdgelectronics Good to know. I'm in the process of transitioning to lead free soldering, so I went with the 1 series of tips. I find Kester's k100ld to work just as well as leaded with a 50C temperature bump.
@@topQuark12 Yes the 1 series works perfectly with lead-free. Until reviewing some of these other stations recently, I'd pretty much forgotten about thinking what tip temperature to use. The Metcal 'just works' on all jobs.
Drink every time Steve says "high thermal demand" 🥴 nice video. I guess this might be useful in a final through hole soldering process for aluminium PCB's. I've been looking into getting a Metcal since these videos....I'm telling my wife it's your fault Steve 😉
When mine come in my wife joked about the color and said it looked like a toy, then I had her hold it. After feeling the weight of it her opinion completely changed and the color reminded her of a tank or heavy industrial machine. After seeing it in action she told me I should have got it sooner.
What Firmware version is on the MX 5000/MX 5200. does it need a Fw upgrade to work with? You know there is a way to upgrade the Firmware in those units... ;-)
As far as I know the MX is essentially dumb (it only has an RF output), so it doesn't need any kind of update to work with this handpiece. The only difference is the impedance matching.
For much of that work a 200W soldering GUN would provide a much cheaper solution. I looked at the price of what you're using here and think it's a bit too high for the results.
I think PACE ADS200 just has a bad algorithm. There is no excuse for that performance and I see the same thing with high thermal load soldering applications.
Did you have trouble with the ADS200? I'm trying to work out if I have a faulty one or if it's just got some strange limitation of output power. The station wasn't even delivering close to full power during that test.
@@sdgelectronics I do not think there is any defect just not that great of an algorithm. I know there where some problems with initial firmware and PACE sent ROM with new firmware to people but I do not remember what the problem was then. I like the small hand-piece and works great for small thermal loads stuff. Is hard to compare with the 250W JBC HDE but seeing the comparison in your video with the 120W JBC that should be fully equivalent is clear there is some software issue with PACE as I can not believe the tips can be that much worse than JBC and initially it can melt the solder then after some seconds the power output is limited.
@@electrodacus The best explanation I’ve heard is that it’s a hardware issue: low quality or variable quality tips. That would explain why they dial back the heating power if the tips were being destroyed, especially in a production environment.
@@davadoff That may be a possibility since the main point of ADS200 was to have very affordable tips. In any case it is not a bad station for the sort of price I paid but it is not as good as it looks on paper.
@@electrodacus Yeah I think things have changed since launch. In the UK the price for the Pace is ever so close to JBC, both station and tips. The ADS200 has some good ideas (is good on paper), but they didn’t get the execution good enough IMO.
I have to solder a 1200W ceramic RF mosfet to a big copper heat spreader. I think I'll use a hotplate on the spreader before applying the iron to get the solder paste to flow if the the hot plate can't hack it. Have you noticed the bots (assholes) that post a short link in the YT chat of almost every electronics channel I follow. Hell isn't hot enough for them.
Yes preheating will always be the best solution if you can do it. I'm only showing extremes here but as you know, there's many ways to solve a problem like this. Never understood the bots or what purpose they're trying to serve - RUclips is rubbish at filtering them out despite filtering genuine subscriber's legitimate links.
@@sdgelectronics I can't stand RUclips at times. Allowing bots but doing the dystopian deleting of my comments for at times quite mystifying and unknown reasons.
That application large high eating heat sink would be greatly helped with a hot plate or at least somebody’s clothes iron that was put on a voltage regulator to control the temperature just below the temperature of melting solder Linda iron would not have to do so much work in a localized area and easily complete the task
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
When soldering aluminium pcbs or fr-4s with large heat demand I recommend using hot plates. They are easy to use and very cheap. My first one was an iron I got from my mom. It worked perfectly fine.
Impressive, I hope Metcal appreciates all the free advertising they are getting from your tests, you are definitely responsible for a lot of sales.
I bought two stations, One for my work and one for hobby use :) Even bought this Aixun gizmo, i´ve used 2x times.
Might be interesting to measure the internal capacitor value.
Actually I think it's an inductor - my standard 5200 handpiece measures 25uH
@@mikeselectricstuff I'll see if I can measure it. Did you stick a probe down the handpiece?
@@sdgelectronics Yes - unscrewed the handle to make it easier
Not particularly convincing difference here, but I got 22 uH on the standard handpiece at 100 kHz on the LCR meter and 25 uH on the HTD.
I do a ton of soldering to ecu's where the pcb's are still attached to the aluminum cases designed as heat sinks so I always planed to get the HTD hand piece to make things easier on me but to be honest the normal hand piece works so well I haven't run into much it has trouble with. I did finally get a hold of the ultra fine hand piece and some tips, Very nice set up with these two. Hard for me to find enough reason to get the HTD. I think my next attachment may be the desoldering gun instead.
The HTD adds the possibility of some much larger tips - there's a few new ones which will be available soon such as a 10mm chisel. I also find however the standard setup is more than adequate.
@@sdgelectronics are they gonna solder nuts and bolts likr JBC did to showcase they unecesary power
Thank you. Waitinfg patiently for a unisolder upgrade :)
I'm planning something for both C245 and C470 if possible.
@@sdgelectronics Can't wait. :)
For manufacture rework to IPC standards in my experience large SMT power packages will use PCB preheat with hot air for removal while monitoring board perheater temp and local device temp, and then while the board is still hot remove the old solder using hot air with copper braid (use flux if neccessary) or contact desolder station with a large flat tip keeping tip tinned as you remove solder when neccessary (I use a PACE ST115 desoldering station). Part installation will use preheat with hot air after the board is allowed to cool and applying solder paste using a mini single device stencil (you can use some kapton tape as a way to hold and hinge the stencil after the paste is applied. If the SMT footprint is design properly for the device power tab or multiple tabs like a QFN, for example a DPAK part, you are looking for porper location relative to the gull wing leads for proper solder fillets on the gullwing leads, you can see the device power tab actually float on the molten solder and depending on the device size see it self-align. If the footprint is minimize and the part will not self align you can position the part manually side to side, but don't hold it in place from above, you want the device power tab to float on molten solder.
High thermal PCB subassemblies for rework will always use PCB preheat. The preheat temperture is the highest the board allows with a margin of safety (determined by the manufacturing engineer). I would encourage you to preheat your high thermal package PCBs and solder using solder paste and hot air. As a comparison to what is in the video try using contact soldering when the PCB is preheated with the same irons as in the video, however this time add liquid flux if neccessary (depends on solder used, board oxidation and soldering temperature). You will have to determine what your best preheat temp is for preventing overtemp, proper soldering and flux used (cleaning of the new device power tab(s) may be necessary depending on device oxidation). In the old days of contact soldering only, the basic rules where to remove the older solder but make sure the pad(s) are tinned, preheat the PCB, apply liquid flux, place the part, and then solder with multicore containing compatible flux to the liquid flux already applied. If you can solder the tab first while positioning the part relative any gull wing pad and lead position the device will float, then solder the gull wing leads. Tacking a gull wing lead is easier, but what is most important is the soldering of the power tab as what would happen in SMT manufacturing reflow. This is one reason why hot air soldering for rework and repair is so popular.
So what are high thermal capacity irons used for? Usually soldering large stranded tinned wire to PCB plated through hole (PTH) or devices. Even with PTH PCB thermal reliefs large gauge wires will conduct heat away from the joint. Also the joint has requirements for solder fill (IPC) and nice fillets (IPC) on both sides of the board. Hold the board vertical to see both sides of the PTH wire joint as you solder, add liquid flux if neccessary. If the plated through hole diameter is selected correctly relative to the wire guage you can produce complete fill with nice fillets on both sides of the board. If the plated through holes are huge relative to the wire, try slightly angling the board. Another popular use is soldering large TH connectors to PCB PTH that cannot be soldered in production using selective wave. There many other special cases to use a large wattage iron usually involving a PTH pad or a very large power single contact SMT pad.
I love watching your soldering hardware videos, especially this series and videos about Metcal gear. Very interesting and informative.
My only request is for 1080p video.. and for more videos! 😁
1080P should be an option. Let me know if it's not showing up!
@@sdgelectronics It’s not showing up.
Oh that’s weird… Why I made the comment was because I watch your videos with RUclips app on my smart TV and the highest resolution option for your videos is 720p. I doubled checked on my phone.. the top two options are “1080p50” and “720p50”.
I’m in UK but I guess if you use 60 FPS it’ll then work for me. I have a 4K TV and I have no issues playing 1080p or 4K content on RUclips otherwise.
@@davadoff it should show up as 2160p50 for the highest resolution. Not had any issues on my TV or computers
@@sdgelectronics Nope. I can’t get it to work on my TV. It’s a 2015 LG 4K TV.
I’m pretty sure is it’s got something to do with frame rate. Maybe the RUclips app only runs in a 60Hz refresh rate mode. I have noticed before that it never seems to switch refresh rates for different videos.
200W plumbers mains powered solder iron ;)
Just a sugestion for the next video try to compare JBC c470 heavy duty handle with this new one from Metcal . It will be very interesting to see who is better JBC or Metcal .
I'm certain the C470 will be dramatically superior assuming you can get the power out of the tips. It's a very high power system!
@@sdgelectronics the c470 tips have a big size and i think this is wath is made them so powerful .
@@sdgelectronics definetly will be a very interesting video.
@@sdgelectronics Metcal has a new handle and a new cartridge series that is made of two heaters, the heaters heat one single tip, it can connect to two MX5200 stations, seems for 160W in total, the tip geometry is limited, but should compete just fine with C470
@@FooBar89 Saw those in their catalogue. They look epic. Small light sabers.
What C245 tip was that? You said it's a 7.5mm tip, but the widest chisel style tip I can find is 6.6mm.
Would be interesting to see what a C470 tip could do to that piece of copper. Someone mentioned the (cheap) JBC470 module from Aliexpress a while back.. I bought it including a proper 400W 48V PSU. That thing actually delivers 300W to the tip on startup, which is insane. The C470-006 (10mm chisel) tip I bought for it heats up to 350c in ~10 seconds.
You're probably right it might be 6.6mm, though on the steel ruler it measured more. I am looking into the C470 ;)
I wonder how the JBC CD series handles this test, I have not used any of the high thermal tips on mine.
My heart loves new handpiece, my wallet hates it ;)
nice. i wonder if it can also be used for soldering together small metal objects. although the result may not be strong as brazing, using a blow torch etc. it is still something interesting however for the higher convenience. for example to join together a small delicate decorative ornament etc. where the pieces of metal are too fine and too thin to hold screws or rivets. Or sometimes the metal object is to serve some specific function. where it has to be of a low mass like a needle or a gauge for some vintage piece of equipment
Great video and great review as always👍👍
If you use the cartridges in the normal handle, do you get the same performance as the regular once?
If you are correct about the cap value, they should be similar performance, with just a bit better thermal mass.
BTW, would be nice if Pace addressed the obvious problem with their PID loop. If 80W can heat the joint, there's no reason 120w shouldn't be able to handle the task.
It seemed to give up part way through. The LED on the front of the unit was mainly green (it blinks orange when delivering power). No idea what's going on with it, or whether it's faulty.
Yeah 120W in would do it, but I'm not even sure if its capable of delivering 120W continuous. In SDGs previous video it was pulsing on and off at 120W, as if the dead time was really long. It should really only need ~10% dead time or so, which would be around 110W continuous. It could be a combination of software + hardware limitations.
@@jaro6985 I'll try to dig deeper with the Pace. I just don't understand it's behaviour.
@@sdgelectronics I gotta believe the engineers at Pace are aware of this limitation. As you said in a earlier video, it may be deliberately programmed to conserve tip life. Unisolder is supposed to work the the ADS200 handpiece. Maybe test it with that. However, it may burn out tips prematurely.
@@sdgelectronics I did hear about quality control issues with Pace cartridges after the launch of the ADS200.
I think EEVBlog Dave got a very early firmware version station. Is there some way he can send you the firmware so you can compare the performance? Or work together with Dave to find out?
I wonder if the High Efficiency Tip would work just as well in the supplied handset? Great video Steve, Thanks for sharing.
I wonder how it is possible a 80W metcal with induction heating can so easily beat a 130-200W cartridge based on a resistive heater. Is it because the induction induces heat on the target itself as well and not just in the tip? Or is the thermal delivery just much more efficient?
I was wondering, will the heat from trying to solder those components directly to the copper pad destroy the component? I feel like components get pretty hot if you get stuck on a joint for a bit, always wondered how much they can handle. Would be helpful to have an idea of where the point is of starting to be destructive to the components. (Referring to 6:30-8 minutes in video)
I was thinking of getting the Aixon T3A cause my 888D would end up sticking and going cold when I hit a ground plane. Is the Aixon T3A basically the best iron you can get for under $300?
Is there any iron base out there that can handle all the JBC tips? (Hopefully without having to buy all the JBC handles themselves, but maybe knockoffs? Everything I am reading says to get legit tips when getting either Hakko or JBC clones cause the most important stuff is in the tip) Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated! Thank you much!
holy hell, I am gonna buy these and make stained glass and do some plumbing.
Thanks for the video! I'm curious whether CV-H6 will be suitable for Mx500?
Unfortunately not. The MX500 is not powerful enough
@@sdgelectronics what about other handpieces for CV series ?
@@Maxxxutk0 you could use the standard and ultrafine handpieces, but you'd be left with the DIN connector for the LED and memory chip. You'd be better to use the MX handpieces with the more flexible cables
Was the iron handle getting toasty at 80 watts?
No, the cartridge doesn't really get that hot below the heating element surprisingly
I have some things I do with normal hand piece that run on 80 with 8ch0050s tip and never feel anything.
The cartridges won't work in a standard MX-H1-AV handpiece? Would be quite an added expense for another handpiece and the high thermal demand tips. Unless you would use this for production, it would seem more economical to get an old fashioned iron for occasional use.
From what I gather, you can use normal cartridges in the red handpiece but not the other way around. I forgot to test this though.
If you want to use a normal MX-H1-AV handpiece, thermaltronics has also released some high thermal demand cartridges. They are probably not quite as beastly as the metcal, but, are reasonably priced.
Visually I cant see why the HTC cartridge can't fit in a regular handle. Although, I did have one instance of the thermaltronics power tip tripping some internal protection in the MX station, so maybe that is part of it.
@@jaro6985 it does fit, but one user on the EEVBlog forum said the unit didn't heat the cartridge in the standard handpiece. I'll try it today and report back
What solder you are using in these (and previous videos') tests?
After watching your videos I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy the mx-5210. Wallet feels a bit painful, but hopefully the joy it brings everytime I use it will make up for it. Just curious, what temperature series of tips do you use for day to day soldering?
I have a mix of cartridge temperatures, though it's primarily because some have been on offer when purchasing. Generally I use the STTC-0xx which all seem to be around 330°C, but a lot are the STTC-1xx which seem to sit around 385°C. I can't really tell much difference between them other than the higher temperatures lead to a bit more blackening of the tip where the flux has burnt. It wipes off though.
@@sdgelectronics Good to know. I'm in the process of transitioning to lead free soldering, so I went with the 1 series of tips. I find Kester's k100ld to work just as well as leaded with a 50C temperature bump.
@@topQuark12 Yes the 1 series works perfectly with lead-free. Until reviewing some of these other stations recently, I'd pretty much forgotten about thinking what tip temperature to use. The Metcal 'just works' on all jobs.
Thanks for this - could you confirm which tip you were using in the Metcal high thermal handpiece?
It was an HCV-8VG0053S
Thanks I've ordered a complete system thanks to your reviews.
@@markharwood Hopefully you'll be blown away by the performance. Certainly after using it, I notice the inadequacies of all other systems.
These HCV tips seem hard to find in stock anywhere - did you have to wait long for backorders?
Impressive!
red hot poker springs to mind. 🤣 👍👍
Drink every time Steve says "high thermal demand" 🥴 nice video. I guess this might be useful in a final through hole soldering process for aluminium PCB's.
I've been looking into getting a Metcal since these videos....I'm telling my wife it's your fault Steve 😉
When mine come in my wife joked about the color and said it looked like a toy, then I had her hold it. After feeling the weight of it her opinion completely changed and the color reminded her of a tank or heavy industrial machine. After seeing it in action she told me I should have got it sooner.
What Firmware version is on the MX 5000/MX 5200. does it need a Fw upgrade to work with? You know there is a way to upgrade the Firmware in those units... ;-)
As far as I know the MX is essentially dumb (it only has an RF output), so it doesn't need any kind of update to work with this handpiece. The only difference is the impedance matching.
very strange that the manufacturer makes no power specification in watts for that tips.
So im guessing metcal beats metcal in coin test :D
I ran out of 2p coins from buying all this equipment :D
@@sdgelectronics can't say im suprised :D
For much of that work a 200W soldering GUN would provide a much cheaper solution. I looked at the price of what you're using here and think it's a bit too high for the results.
Your edge soldering of TO252/DPAK packages is futile.
That looks to be 2.54 mm thick copper.
I think PACE ADS200 just has a bad algorithm. There is no excuse for that performance and I see the same thing with high thermal load soldering applications.
Did you have trouble with the ADS200? I'm trying to work out if I have a faulty one or if it's just got some strange limitation of output power. The station wasn't even delivering close to full power during that test.
@@sdgelectronics I do not think there is any defect just not that great of an algorithm. I know there where some problems with initial firmware and PACE sent ROM with new firmware to people but I do not remember what the problem was then.
I like the small hand-piece and works great for small thermal loads stuff. Is hard to compare with the 250W JBC HDE but seeing the comparison in your video with the 120W JBC that should be fully equivalent is clear there is some software issue with PACE as I can not believe the tips can be that much worse than JBC and initially it can melt the solder then after some seconds the power output is limited.
@@electrodacus The best explanation I’ve heard is that it’s a hardware issue: low quality or variable quality tips. That would explain why they dial back the heating power if the tips were being destroyed, especially in a production environment.
@@davadoff That may be a possibility since the main point of ADS200 was to have very affordable tips. In any case it is not a bad station for the sort of price I paid but it is not as good as it looks on paper.
@@electrodacus Yeah I think things have changed since launch. In the UK the price for the Pace is ever so close to JBC, both station and tips.
The ADS200 has some good ideas (is good on paper), but they didn’t get the execution good enough IMO.
You can find the high thermal version tips for the Ts1200A station on Alibaba, maybe, and just maybe, it will bring similar results that the JBC 😉
I have to solder a 1200W ceramic RF mosfet to a big copper heat spreader. I think I'll use a hotplate on the spreader before applying the iron to get the solder paste to flow if the the hot plate can't hack it.
Have you noticed the bots (assholes) that post a short link in the YT chat of almost every electronics channel I follow. Hell isn't hot enough for them.
Yes preheating will always be the best solution if you can do it. I'm only showing extremes here but as you know, there's many ways to solve a problem like this. Never understood the bots or what purpose they're trying to serve - RUclips is rubbish at filtering them out despite filtering genuine subscriber's legitimate links.
@@sdgelectronics I can't stand RUclips at times. Allowing bots but doing the dystopian deleting of my comments for at times quite mystifying and unknown reasons.
But yes this think is a realy powerful think i think is hard to be defeatet .
Start new projects.
Don't worry they're in progress
That application large high eating heat sink would be greatly helped with a hot plate or at least somebody’s clothes iron that was put on a voltage regulator to control the temperature just below the temperature of melting solder
Linda iron would not have to do so much work in a localized area and easily complete the task
Very true