Originally published at: Fixhub is IFixit's USB-C smart soldering kit - Boing Boing
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It is a nice soldering tool. But for 265€, it may as well be, it is on the price range of the cheaper professional tools. And I though my TS-80P was expensive…
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My Yamaha RS-7000 refuses to boot, apparently it needs a recap, and my Ensoniq ESQ-1 needs a battery replacement. I have a rudimentary soldering iron but make a mess every time I try to do something with it so I’m terrified of fucking up the 24 and 38 respectively year old mother boards by attempting the work myself. Maybe this soldering iron is more precise but I can’t afford it anyway. Eventually I guess I’ll have to pay a tech to do the work, if I don’t die of old age first. Now that I’ve typed all this out on my phone it seems like a pointless post. Sorry 
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Replacing caps is not that hard. My first “big boy project” was recapping a macintosh Classic analog board 
You just need patience and a soldering iron that can regulate temperature and sink heat fast. Proper tips (as in solder tips, not as in suggestion) helps.
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Looks cool, but for iFixit’s typically too-high prices.
I recently bought a Pinecil USB-C soldering iron, and it was an massive upgrade to my previous soldering iron. The display is tiny, and you will need a kit of tips, but at currently $30 or so it is a steal for a temperature controlled soldering iron. And I do appreciate that it is lightweight and the USB-C cable they sell is very flexible and does not get in the way.
Since I have it, I soldered a lot more than before, because it‘s more fun, and the results are better. Highly recommended.
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+1 to this. I used to have a clunky soldering workstation that was overrated for the small, delicate work I usually needed to, and worse, it did not heat fast enough to sink heat into copper pours (like those in multilayer computer motherboards). I got a TS-80 (later upgraded to the PD model) and suddenly I realized that it was not only me lacking experience, it was my choice of tools.
These new, small, USB-C powered soldering irons are much more easier to handle than old tools, totally recomend.
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The design of the iFixit soldering iron is nice, it looks like it is great to handle, I especially like heat indicator, that the cable attaches securely to the soldering iron, and that it has a cap. All portable soldering irons should have a cap!
What I don’t like is that the display and controls are built into the battery box, because nobody likes having to change the temperature of their soldering iron through a web interface, so you practically have to buy the battery box for any serious work, even if you already own one, or you have no use for the battery at all, because even with a battery pack, you will still have the soldering iron tied to a cable. The result of this design choice is unnecessary waste, which you have to pay for, too.
But for people who desire web access to their soldering iron for one reason or another, the pinecil has one, too
From the linked article about the iFixit solderin iron:
Presumably they designed the Smart Soldering Iron and the Power Station to hit a perfect ten by their published standards, and from what I’ve seen, they nailed it.
So let’s compare the Pinecil to that:
- iFixit has not rating for the Pinecil, but it does have a teardown, with 6 steps, and all you need is a screwdriver
- iFixi does not have service guides for the Pinecil, because Pine64 Site already provides an extensive guide on how to repair it and schematics are available, too
- parts (shells, contacts etc.) are available in the Pine64 shop
- the firmware is OpenSource
Speaking of battery packs, one user on reddit recoomended this Baseus 20000mAh 65W Power Bank for the Pinecil.
I also dig this beautiful 3d printed case for the Pinecil, you can find this and many others on Thingiverse
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after your glowing report very tempted of buying a Pinecil. I love my current iron, but is very finicky on which batteries accepts, and that printed case looks gorgeous.
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Well, if it’s primarily the case, here’s one for the TS-80, with magnets even:
The TS-80PD seems like a good iron. Are you using the latest version of IronOs?
I don’t know much about how the Pinecil works with batteries. However these things do require a lot of power, I would expect that not every battery can deliver that, and older batteries often have no support of PD, or simply a bad implementation.
Maybe you can test what’s happening with a power meter that’s ready for USB-c 3.1? - This one is apparently $30, other models exist, maybe better or cheaper.
You’ll see what the battery actually delivers when connected to the TS-80PD, and where it breaks down when you turn up the heat.
To test how much power a battery can hold, you’d probably need a
I have one of these cheap load testers to test chargers and batteries
This one just can test standard and QC modes, and only draws a maximum of 25W, Haven’t found a similar one that supports PD though, all I’ve seen is ones that take more load (up to 100W) but without PD, or expensive desktop devices. Looks like you’ll be stuck with using your TS-80PD as a load for now.
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The TS-80P, even with the latest OS, has some limitations with PD that stems from the microcontroller used. Basically it was never meant to use PD (they designed for QC 3.0) and the microcontroller emulates some of the PD modes in software. Unfortunately, most batteries -and some chargers - don’t support these modes, specially the more modern ones (as in, it wants EXACTLY 12V but the battery only provides 9 OR 15 or something along the lines of, and the controller basically assumes the battery is a no-good USB adapter, and refuses to run).
I basically run the iron with a QC charger, and I resigned myself to not use a battery. But sometimes you need a portable iron, specially when doing hackatons at someone else’s house 
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