What you get in a Hakko soldering station

[koala]

Please note that this post may sound like an advertisement because it is written by a Hakko fanboy .



I see questions like "Which soldering iron to buy?" pops up every now and then. If you are looking for a decent and near affordable soldering system I recommend the Hakko 936. There are a few advantages of Hakko, they have a large number of authorized dealers around the world and if any single part fail, ie, nut, wire, sleeve, handle piece, ceramic heater, tips and etc you can get them easily and at reasonable price. So you can keep the 936 up and running with many spare parts.

Another feature of the 936 is the temperature control knob and it's ability to keep the temperature constant. It has a temperature sensor built into
the tip of its' ceramic heater, close to the tip. The tip temperature can be adjusted via the control knob and the heating temperature does not depend on the soldering tip.

The Hakko 936 is the most cloned/copied/faked unit ever. Just google for "936 soldering" and you will find brands like aoyue 936, kada 936, quick 936, best 936, sunkko 936, ct-936, gaoyue 936, madell 936 and more. So you see, the Hakko 936 is very awesome that's why it has many brothers.

The company where I work is cheep, the person who is involved with sourcing tools prefer to spend as little as possible. When I asked for a Hakko 936, I was equipped with Clone A, couple of months later it broke so a Clone B, then followed by 2x Clone C. That's a timespan of 2 years. Three of these units are different clones. I can see the difference in quality compared to the 3 years old Hakko936 at home. They have the same issue, the ceramic heater broke. They can be fix it by swapping the ceramic heater but I refuse to do so.

I am sure Hakko is aware of these clones, so have priced the Hakko 936 pretty competitive. Still it is $20-$30 more than the bestest clone. Open up the station and compare the control board, that's where you spend your $20-$30. That's also the reason why I prefer not to fix the clones.

So what's the real difference between the $1 clone ceramic heater and the $8 Hakko ceramic heater? I took some pictures of the so called $1 ceramic heaters... Btw they are really $1 in bulk of 20pcs.

Spot the difference, Real vs Fake

Hakko A1321 ceramic heater vs $1 Clone Ceramic Heater

3 different types of $1 Clone Ceramic Heater unsleeved
Bahahahah nichrome winding! ceramic heater my sssss. FAKE. Hence $1.
They fine, they work quite well when new but quickly become weak after few hours of usage.

Made in Japan Hakko Ceramic Heater.
A real A1321 ceramic heater is a thin translucent ceramic tube.
The heater metal is printed on the insides of the tube. Two words.. VERY COOL. There's no sleeve to come off while changing tips. It won't break easily, like the clones. It will heat up to 350C in 7 seconds when new. I dare say it will out last any standalone nichrome wire iron.

The temperature sensor pinouts works different from the clones. The sensor output of the clones is polarized contrary to the manual. And it has different resistance at same temperature. So don't waste your money try upgrading clone ceramic heater.

This is just a part about the heater. There are other differences such as the flexibility of the cord, fit and finish and etc. So you still want to buy clones/look alike? I hope this post helps you with your choice.

Vincent.

 

[VanIsleDSM]

I don't have a hakko soldering iron, but I do have a 936 ceramic heater I bought and used in another project, and it's got about 15,000 hours on it now, with no problems at all.

 

[X_Marine]

Wow!!
Thanks for the informative enlightenment.

btw, I finally grabbed me a Hakko and although I haven't used it that much yet I already like it very much. Thanks for all the info in the other thread about all the differences.

X/BillyD..

 

[CM]

Thanks for this informative post. I'll have to make sure I get the genuine stuff. The Hakko 936 is great for the money.

 

[darkzero]

Great post. I love my 936. Hmm, maybe it's time to change the heater on my 936 at work? I leave it on for at least 8 hrs a day 5 days a week. Sometimes I forget to turn it off over the weekend. I've had that one for 3 years now. Still works great. Just had to change the tips cause they get pitted from leaving them on so long.

Spot the difference, Real vs Fake

I'm confused, so the top one is real? Looks to me like the bottom one is real?

 

[koala]

Hmm, maybe it's time to change the heater on my 936 at work? I leave it on for at least 8 hrs a day 5 days a week. Sometimes I forget to turn it off over the weekend.

I'm confused, so the top one is real? Looks to me like the bottom one is real?

Wow I can't believe that it survived all weekend?! oo:
Top is real. They copy almost everything including the manual, too bad not the heater :thumbsdow. On some perfect clone units they even made hologram stickers to make it look genuine.

The heater cost $8 in Japan not so sure about other places.

 

[darkzero]

Wow I can't believe that it survived all weekend?! oo:
Top is real. They copy almost everything including the manual, too bad not the heater :thumbsdow. On some perfect clone units they even made hologram stickers to make it look genuine.

The heater cost $8 in Japan not so sure about other places.

Oh, man, I thought the bottom one was real. The hakko logo on the bottom one does look a bit funny though. Thank you for the confirmation.

Not just one weekend, many weekends! As I mentioned, I've never changed the heater on the one I use at work & I've had it for 3 years now. I've had tips get so deformed from continuous heat that when I change them the Hakko stamp on the tip can no longer be seen & the sleeve inside the tip gets stuck on the heater & must be pryed off.

I guess it's time for a heater. It still seems to work fine though. Well we have them in stock so why not. Thanks Vincent.

 

[koala]

After some digging, I found some Hakko patents then I took the liberty sharing it with all. Below is the artwork circuit that's in the translucent tube.

I love patents, you can learn so much from them. I also hate them for the way they are written. The documents below explains how the 936 ceramic heater works and the disadvantages, hence a new type of sensor. I believe the new heater is used in the high end FX-951.

http://www.patentgenius.com/patent/6054678.html

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/006054678.pdf

Referring to FIG. 11 which illustrates the tip of a soldering iron, a rod-shaped ceramic heater 51 is shown as fitted in the tip portion 52 of a soldering iron. This ceramic heater 51 includes a ceramic green sheet 53 wrapped round a ceramicmandrel. The ceramic green sheet 53 has been printed with a heater pattern and a sensor pattern. The topological relationship of the patterns may for example be as illustrated in FIG. 12. In this example, the sensor pattern 55 is a pattern printedusing a tungsten paste in a breadth of 0.2 mm and a heater pattern 54 is a pattern printed using the tungsten paste in a breadth of 0.4 mm surrounding said sensor pattern 55. The sensor pattern 55 extends rearward across the heater pattern 54 and isconnected to sensor electrodes 56, while the heater pattern 54 is connected to heater electrodes 57 which are situated forwardly of said sensor electrode 56.

 

[ShOgUn_LI]

Where do you get your stuff from? Cause there's like only 1 place on the coast that carries hakko and its a rip-off

 

[koala]

I feel your pain mate. The cheapest I could find is au$130 for the esd-safe version. The markup for such things is always very high. The clones I use at work are okay, not much complain for the price. The clone heats up faster than cheap irons. The heater will survive if you are gentle with it, don't knock the iron to flick solder off the tip, wipe it off gentle. Same case for Hakko irons.

An alternative brand that uses Hakko ceramic heater is Goot. This brand is distributed by Electus Distribution, you can find them in Jaycar. It is very good quality iron. Another popular brand is Micron, they are quite common and the built quality is pretty good. I never used them only seen the demo units. Finally, Weller irons are quite expensive in Australia, seldom see stations.

If you only solder once a while, there's no point spending huge bucks for a simple hobby tool. Besides a station takes up more space. Any $15 iron with the right tip will do the job.(40W and above for soldering emitter stars) Stations are for people who like to leave their iron on all weekend :naughty::twothumbs.

 

[shamanprime]

Sorry for bringing up this old thread but this is interesting stuff, thank you very much!

I am sure Hakko is aware of these clones, so have priced the Hakko 936 pretty competitive. Still it is $20-$30 more than the bestest clone. Open up the station and compare the control board, that's where you spend your $20-$30. That's also the reason why I prefer not to fix the clones.

Can you please provide a pic of the original control board?
I think I have a case of a fake Hakko 936 here and would be very helpful if I could compare it to mine.
The ceramic heater looks like the original you posted above but they build quality is nothing to write home about, there was no cap at the calibration pot, there was no manual, the innards looks suspiciously cheap etc..

 

[rearviewmirror]

Sorry for bringing up this old thread but this is interesting stuff, thank you very much!

I think I might have gotten a fake as well. I am pissed, but still have some recourse with Ebay and Paypal.

Here are some pics of it... I wish I could compare it to the 936 I have in the US.
http://picasaweb.google.com/rearviewmirror/SuspectedCounterfeitHakko936SolderingStation#



Can you please provide a pic of the original control board?
I think I have a case of a fake Hakko 936 here and would be very helpful if I could compare it to mine.
The ceramic heater looks like the original you posted above but they build quality is nothing to write home about, there was no cap at the calibration pot, there was no manual, the innards looks suspiciously cheap etc..