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For 250 dollars. iFixit is turning to the Apple of repair.
Soldering stations that are fixed to an outlet are also expensive. It’s not a cheap tool kit. If it is cheap, it’s a garbage iron that will likely do the job but you will struggle.
I’m trying to buy one for work and every station worth considering is easily over 200 dollars US.
The pinecil is an excellent iron that is not expensive in the slightest
That thing is pretty awesome! I’ve never heard of it. Thanks for the suggestion.
I’ll gladly pay a premium for something that will be “buy it for life” or at least last decades. Phones and computers have inherent obsolescence, but most tools don’t. I don’t buy chinesium tools, I buy reputed European, American, or Japanese tools, the lifetime stuff.
That is pricey… However, as someone who has an ifixit toolkit that contains just about every shape and size of screwdriver bit ever imaginable (and several that defy explanation), it has been the most useful tool I have ever purchased. I can’t even count how many times I’ve used it.
And the quality is outstanding.
Does it matter if the products last longer than an apple product and can likely be repaired?
Of course it does, I was talking more about price than repairability.
Just curious what do you think a reasonable price would be for this product?
I’d say an absolute maximum of 100 USD
A pinecil is 25$ and a 40kmah battery pack is 35$, so the combination… 60-70 bucks.
I’ve never used one but I just looked up the specs and it looks like it maxs out at 75 watts. Is that enough to keep it hot with like 16 gauge wires?
The pinecil will go up to 126w if you have a capable power supply. I am going to be honest though, 16awg isn’t that large. A 45w iron could probably handle that fine if you are ok with waiting a but for your wires to get up to temp.
I have a 60w iron and 16awg is always the size that’s just too big for me and always a pain to solder.
Pinecil is 26$ and has a screen.
I use a pinecil and it’s great. Tips are cheap and a standard size, it takes usb-c power and has a good user interface.
Not really sure what ifixit is trying to accomplish with this overpriced iron.
You’re probably adding $25-35 to that for a USB-C power supply that can handle it, but yes, it’s cheaper than this. $50-75 if you want it battery powered.
But yeah, I’m not sure what iFixit is bringing to the market that’s better than what exists.
The Pinecil uses a standard tip as well. So, you can get cheap ones on aliexpress. That’ll pay for it for me tbh.
The Smart Soldering Iron will set you back $80, while the Soldering Station, which includes the soldering iron and the battery pack, costs $250.
Most interesting to me is that they put the display on the soldering station/battery pack thingy instead of the iron itself.
Temperature is measured in Farads.
Very non-standardI bought my soldering station with air solderer and iron solderer for about 40$ from AliExpress, the ones with IR bottom heater cost around 90-100$
I love my ifixit precision screwdriver, so I’d be a fan and would try this out.
The thing is once I switched to a butane iron (portable, hot in 20 seconds, awesome fire) I don’t have any interest in anything with a wire coming off of the back of it. battery or no, the wire being in the way is ass and is also crap
edit: maybe it doesnt have a wire?
edit 2: maybe I shoulda read the article before typing? 5 second heat-up time, wow… seeing as I am a fucking idiot and am also very tired, can someone who is smart tell me if the iron has a battery itself? the pack is for recharging the small battery in the pen?
Electronics usually wants to control the temperature range more tightly than a butane soldering iron could do. Fine for plumbing work, though. Electronics soldering irons usually don’t have the thermal mass to handle plumbing work.
My biggest complaint about the ts100, Pinecil, and the iFixit station is that the tips are specialized and rather expensive.
Pinecil tips are standardized and third party options are extremely cheap on aliexpress or amazon
It does not have an internal battery but can use any battery pack that can do 100W output.
I pre-ordered this for a few reasons. One, my experience with butane irons was very different than yours I guess. I hated how long they took and how finicky they were. Then I had to find a safe place to put it while it cooled. This has a cap that can handle the high temp with no issue.
When I need a portable iron it’s to do small quick soldering with long waits in between. This seems perfect for that.
What I want from a battery soldering iron is a field-replaceable 18650 in the handle, not Webserial.
Build a 18650 battery bank and plug in a pinecil or ts100. A solder iron with a 18650 would be heavy and uncomfortable for soldering.
I would accept a bit of an awkward balance for being self-contained.
You’d want more than one cell. You’d be pulling 23amps from a 4.2v 18650 to give the same 100w at 20v power as you get from a top usbpd power supply.
There are 18650s that do 30 amps for short bursts, but it would get as hot as the iron and be empty in 5 min
This looks like a heavy rebrand of the Pine64’s Pinecil soldering iron.
Spam.
I just blocked OP, “Ghostal Media”, but I liken it more as essentially an adblock
