Projects / Tear Down Original post date: 06/02/2015
I ordered a hot air SMT tool. This should make life much easier to work with the small parts as well as transplanting the parts from the Ultrasonic modules. This is DOA as there is a break inside the cabling for the temperature feedback which is not a very safe thing.Shown here with error message. It makes a lot of sense why the thermalcouple reading was going all over the map. Even though I could fix it by cutting off the last 7-8cm of the cable and reconnecting it. Having the cabling fails DOA makes me question the long term reliability of the wires used inside the cord.
When it did work, it is very quiet and the handle is much lighter than it looks. It also heats up fast.
New $60 US hot air tool arrived. This one works. I don't need the soldering iron as I am mainly using hot air, but it is actually cheaper. This one looks like it is for industrial use. It's end of July 2018 and it still works.
Going to be handy for SMT assembly work.
Seems like they have gone out of their way of not having a company logo at all! Nothing on the back, in the manual nor inside!
Fun fact: no-name products exists IRL and not just in the "Repo Man" movie!
Curiosity kills the cat... Had to open it up. Got to have some filler or this page is a bit short and boring...
Important: According to NEC/IEC wiring code Black wire is Live while White is Neutral. They fused the Neutral side (White wire) instead of Live (Black wire).
The massive black object at the back is the diaphragm pump - it works on 110V AC, has a reserve tank. it is sitting on shock mounts! The tube on the top side is the air inlet. It is loud and not sexy, but I like it that way. I suspect that they might use the same pump as suction for their de-soldering tool. May be this could be double duty as the suction for vacuum pick up tool one of these days when I get bored?
Some of their other models has gone to the brushless blower at the tool side. I suspect it is the same design as the Sigma R700. BTW when I switch on the soldering iron without plugging it, the LED also reads 5-E. I think they are at least using same firmware if not the same design. The advantage is that it more quiet and not to have drag around a bulky air host while you work. I wasn't impressed at the cheap wires they had on the Sigma. Running the 600W heater on cheap wire is a disaster waiting to happen.
The cable is a combination of air hose and wiring harness to the hand held unit which includes the heater. The transformer is always on. Someone decided not to install an On/Off switch at the punched out panel on the back side which is now covered with a sticker.
The main PCB looks green, but it is not FR4. Probably phenolic with green dye. The air speed is controlled what looks like a dimmer switch - a TRIAC with a LM555 phase control circuit at the lower left of this. The reason why I opened it up was to see if I could turn down the air flow a bit. Not going to touch the 10 turns trim pot there. The air temperature is via some feedback control of some kind. There is a LM358 dual opamp (for signal conditioning?) at the upper left corner.
The centre top is a socketed Samsung chip - the manual confirmed that it is a microcontroller. They claim that they are using digital PID loop for temperature control. Display is on the right hand side. There is a SMT chip under there probably a display driver.
The bottom section is for the soldering iron. I have enough irons in my collection, so won't be using it for now.
If you ever have the air flow is so high even at the lowest setting that it keep trying to blow your tiny parts away, here is a reversible way of reducing air flow. Instead of pushing the tool tip all the way in, leave a tiny gap for some of the air to leak out. Just watch out for burnt fingers.
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