expired
Missed This Deal? Get alerts when similar deals are posted.
+ Free Store Pickupat Micro Center
Deal Details
Micro Center has Hakko FX888 70W Digital Soldering Station (FX888D-29BY/P) on sale for $89.99 when you select the 'Reserve Now' button. Product is valid for store pickup only.
Thanks to Community Member PowerfulRaccoon3767 for posting this deal.
Thanks to Community Member PowerfulRaccoon3767 for posting this deal.
- Note: Availability may vary by location.
- Temperature: 200-480C (392-896F)
- Temperature Control: Closed Loop
- Temperature Stability: 1C (1.8F)
- Includes Soldering Station, Iron, Tip, Holder, Cleaning Sponge, Tip Cleaning Wire, Calibration Tool, Product Manual
Editor's Notes
Written by SaltyOne | Staff- About this Deal:
- Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars from 26 reviews.
- At the time of this posting, Our research indicates that this is $32 lower (26.2% savings) than the next best available options with prices starting from $121.99. -SaltyOne
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Micro Center has Hakko FX888 70W Digital Soldering Station (FX888D-29BY/P) on sale for $89.99 when you select the 'Reserve Now' button. Product is valid for store pickup only.
Thanks to Community Member PowerfulRaccoon3767 for posting this deal.
Thanks to Community Member PowerfulRaccoon3767 for posting this deal.
- Note: Availability may vary by location.
- Temperature: 200-480C (392-896F)
- Temperature Control: Closed Loop
- Temperature Stability: 1C (1.8F)
- Includes Soldering Station, Iron, Tip, Holder, Cleaning Sponge, Tip Cleaning Wire, Calibration Tool, Product Manual
Editor's Notes
Written by SaltyOne | Staff- About this Deal:
- Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars from 26 reviews.
- At the time of this posting, Our research indicates that this is $32 lower (26.2% savings) than the next best available options with prices starting from $121.99. -SaltyOne
Community Voting
Deal
Score
+44
Good Deal
Bad Deal
Top Comments
Other tips (no pun intended):
Tin your tips when new, Radio Shack actually had a great little tinning compound but it can still be found under other names. Just a little container that looks like a shoe polish tin but much smaller, full of a hard cake substance and you dip the tip in til it melts down in then clean it off. With the Hakko tips and brass brillo pad cleaning, I rarely need to tin them again, they look newly tinned every time I'm done with them. This tin acts as a heat conductor, a bare tip will not work well (think of it like the compound between a CPU and heat sink). You can tin it with solder but it doesn't last or stay as even.
Note the temperature of the solder you're using. 350 was great for joints that weren't subject to stress but is harder to find now since it has too much lead. But others range from 400 to 550, I usually set the unit a bit higher than the melting point of the solder. Old lead solder could go down to like 250 but that doesn't exist anymore except maybe in Asia.
Even when it says it is fully warmed up give it another couple minutes to stabilize. Only the real high end units are telling you the tip temperature. This one and others in this price range tell you the temp of the heating element, it takes longer for the tip to reach that temp. Similarly if you do a big joint, give it 30 seconds to recover before the next one.
Get some flux. Flux core solder is not very helpful in many situations (you can still use flux core since that is the most common and easy to find, just don't rely on it to actually flux anything well). Flux your joint (both items you're soldering) and things will flow a lot easier, go where they're supposed to, and less likely to have a bad joint. I actually use the Oatey stuff for copper pipes (sold at Home Depot, etc), used it in a pinch once and realized it worked just as well, if not better. It may be a bit too aggressive for very delicate joints but I've never had any issues (my hands are too shaky for microscope soldering anyway). The nice thing about the big jar of it is you can dip a wire or leads right in it and they come out with the perfect amount on them. For fluxing the PCB hole they make small flux/acid brushes but a small artist's paintbrush or even a Qtip works fine.
Get some heatsink clamps. Just cheap aluminum clips that stop a lot of the heat from progressing too far along the wire or lead. Not needed in most cases but if you're close to a capacitor or something with plastic case, or a wire with insulation (anything delicate or meltable), works very well.
Touching the tip is perfectly valid (some will call it a hack but some situations you simply don't have room to keep them separate). As long as you've heated the joint, touching the tip starts the flow of solder, sort of like striking an arc while welding. If your joint is fluxed, it will flow right where it is supposed to go. If it seems like it isn't melting quick and easy, you didn't get the joint hot enough, but just keep the iron on for a couple seconds after to bring up the heat and even out the pool of solder..
In fact when I'm concerned that heat is going to be an issue like very close to a capacitor or something I will sometimes get a blob on the tip, then touch it to the joint for about 5 seconds. No cold joints for me with that cheat, at least not with a good iron. However you definitely have to have the joint fluxed if you want to do that, otherwise the solder, even flux core, will not transfer, at least not well. This is also helpful when you're working in a tight space.
I like this unit, the temp control doesn't bother me that much, probably because I work on mostly the same stuff that doesn't require frequent adjustments but even when it does, it isn't that bad once you get used to it. You really don't need to adjust it that often, and it remembers your previous setting even after unplugged.
Other items to invest in (depending on what you're doing, not saying you need it all):
-Set of picks (usually come with a brass and stainless brush too) - good sets have much more than picks, they'll have flat and angled flat tips, hooks, etc. Usually have brass and stainless brush tips too.
-Set of tweezers, straight point, right angle point, and straight flat.
-Good, sharp micro wire cutters
-At the very least you want a couple size pointed and a couple size chisel tips. But a good assortment is nice to have. You can certainly get by with a single tip (small chisel is probably the most all-around one) but you'll be limiting yourself.
-3 sizes of solder, off the top of my head I forget the specific sizes but there are 3 common sizes and I got a cheap spool holder to put them on. Each has a different temperature range and is suited for different size joints. If you have to pick just one, probably go with the smallest of the 3.
-Solder sucker if you are going to be desoldering. I find it much more useful than braid.
-Helping hands. I got the Kotto/Fstop brand from amazon. I think it was a knock off of some other brand but it works great (or maybe the one I got was a knock off of Kotto). Regardless this design with the yellow base and flexible arms works great.
-Overhead magnifying light. Some of the helping hands have a small one but the traditional desk mount is much more flexible. The LED ones they have now are a big improvement over the old ones.
-If you do a lot (doesn't sound like you do), an air scrubber, there are inexpensive ones out there to suck up the smoke and run it through a filter. I just use a small fan to keep it from going directly up my nose.
-Assortment of heat shrink tubing.
I hate it every time I use it
Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!
79 Comments
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Is that possibly my problem? Just seems I never can get solder to flow unless I touch the solder to the tip, not the wires, and even then the wires are super hot like 1/2 inch down the wire.
Is that possibly my problem? Just seems I never can get solder to flow unless I touch the solder to the tip, not the wires, and even then the wires are super hot like 1/2 inch down the wire.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
https://hackaday.com/2017/07/24/r...ring-iron/
https://hackaday.com/2017/07/24/r...ring-iron/
Is that possibly my problem? Just seems I never can get solder to flow unless I touch the solder to the tip, not the wires, and even then the wires are super hot like 1/2 inch down the wire.
To improve soldering skills, watch some video, take care of your tips. Tin before use and clean them after use. Use leaded solder, it just flows a bit better then non-leaded and get some flux [microcenter.com].
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank
Is that possibly my problem? Just seems I never can get solder to flow unless I touch the solder to the tip, not the wires, and even then the wires are super hot like 1/2 inch down the wire.
Other tips (no pun intended):
Tin your tips when new, Radio Shack actually had a great little tinning compound but it can still be found under other names. Just a little container that looks like a shoe polish tin but much smaller, full of a hard cake substance and you dip the tip in til it melts down in then clean it off. With the Hakko tips and brass brillo pad cleaning, I rarely need to tin them again, they look newly tinned every time I'm done with them. This tin acts as a heat conductor, a bare tip will not work well (think of it like the compound between a CPU and heat sink). You can tin it with solder but it doesn't last or stay as even.
Note the temperature of the solder you're using. 350 was great for joints that weren't subject to stress but is harder to find now since it has too much lead. But others range from 400 to 550, I usually set the unit a bit higher than the melting point of the solder. Old lead solder could go down to like 250 but that doesn't exist anymore except maybe in Asia.
Even when it says it is fully warmed up give it another couple minutes to stabilize. Only the real high end units are telling you the tip temperature. This one and others in this price range tell you the temp of the heating element, it takes longer for the tip to reach that temp. Similarly if you do a big joint, give it 30 seconds to recover before the next one.
Get some flux. Flux core solder is not very helpful in many situations (you can still use flux core since that is the most common and easy to find, just don't rely on it to actually flux anything well). Flux your joint (both items you're soldering) and things will flow a lot easier, go where they're supposed to, and less likely to have a bad joint. I actually use the Oatey stuff for copper pipes (sold at Home Depot, etc), used it in a pinch once and realized it worked just as well, if not better. It may be a bit too aggressive for very delicate joints but I've never had any issues (my hands are too shaky for microscope soldering anyway). The nice thing about the big jar of it is you can dip a wire or leads right in it and they come out with the perfect amount on them. For fluxing the PCB hole they make small flux/acid brushes but a small artist's paintbrush or even a Qtip works fine.
Get some heatsink clamps. Just cheap aluminum clips that stop a lot of the heat from progressing too far along the wire or lead. Not needed in most cases but if you're close to a capacitor or something with plastic case, or a wire with insulation (anything delicate or meltable), works very well.
Touching the tip is perfectly valid (some will call it a hack but some situations you simply don't have room to keep them separate). As long as you've heated the joint, touching the tip starts the flow of solder, sort of like striking an arc while welding. If your joint is fluxed, it will flow right where it is supposed to go. If it seems like it isn't melting quick and easy, you didn't get the joint hot enough, but just keep the iron on for a couple seconds after to bring up the heat and even out the pool of solder..
In fact when I'm concerned that heat is going to be an issue like very close to a capacitor or something I will sometimes get a blob on the tip, then touch it to the joint for about 5 seconds. No cold joints for me with that cheat, at least not with a good iron. However you definitely have to have the joint fluxed if you want to do that, otherwise the solder, even flux core, will not transfer, at least not well. This is also helpful when you're working in a tight space.
I like this unit, the temp control doesn't bother me that much, probably because I work on mostly the same stuff that doesn't require frequent adjustments but even when it does, it isn't that bad once you get used to it. You really don't need to adjust it that often, and it remembers your previous setting even after unplugged.
Other items to invest in (depending on what you're doing, not saying you need it all):
-Set of picks (usually come with a brass and stainless brush too) - good sets have much more than picks, they'll have flat and angled flat tips, hooks, etc. Usually have brass and stainless brush tips too.
-Set of tweezers, straight point, right angle point, and straight flat.
-Good, sharp micro wire cutters
-At the very least you want a couple size pointed and a couple size chisel tips. But a good assortment is nice to have. You can certainly get by with a single tip (small chisel is probably the most all-around one) but you'll be limiting yourself.
-3 sizes of solder, off the top of my head I forget the specific sizes but there are 3 common sizes and I got a cheap spool holder to put them on. Each has a different temperature range and is suited for different size joints. If you have to pick just one, probably go with the smallest of the 3.
-Solder sucker if you are going to be desoldering. I find it much more useful than braid.
-Helping hands. I got the Kotto/Fstop brand from amazon. I think it was a knock off of some other brand but it works great (or maybe the one I got was a knock off of Kotto). Regardless this design with the yellow base and flexible arms works great.
-Overhead magnifying light. Some of the helping hands have a small one but the traditional desk mount is much more flexible. The LED ones they have now are a big improvement over the old ones.
-If you do a lot (doesn't sound like you do), an air scrubber, there are inexpensive ones out there to suck up the smoke and run it through a filter. I just use a small fan to keep it from going directly up my nose.
-Assortment of heat shrink tubing.
Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!