Show us ya joints!

@Dnollie made for you :slight_smile:

Not the most mechanically pretty, but it’ll be electrically fantastic and definitely serviceable.

Here’s a picture of another one I did that I didn’t heat up enough/use enough solder

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Is that a Pinecil /TS101?

If so, what is your power source, and the target temperature?

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Pinceil, yes, good eye! I use my steam deck charger, 420C

PS. only $26 right now. shockingly cheap

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Aporeciate the quality Video.
I see the steam deck charger maxes out at 45 watts.

I’ve been using a 5s2p Ridgid drill battery and 2.5’ of 16awg to 5.5x2.1 plug while figuring out my TS101.
Been seeing a max of 58 watts when battery is warm off charger at 20.7v.

Seems when battery is lower it takes a noticeably longer to heat up.
I think it can handle 6s input.

Do you pretty much choose 400C+ on most non Delicate PCB jobs?

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Yeah, not ideal. But it’s good enough for me to avoid spending $30 or whatever on a proper spec usb block :rofl:
It was a temporary solution when I first got the Pinecil years ago, and, well, I haven’t changed it.

I change the temperature a lot, I’m not super consistent with what temp I use where. I use everywhere from 390~450C

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Thanks for doing that, that was great to see a video and not just pictures, though pecos also did. I have a question, what kind of ventilation/ airflow tools do you guys use to not inhale the fumes of soldering? I have just been using a little fan but I was wondering what you guys do considering its literal lead, or at least partially.

I guess I’d need to update Firmware on my TS101, to exceed 400C?

Have you tried different soldering tips?

I keep thinking about a 6s battery just to get more out if it, but 10awg and XT90s are not a Problem on fully charged 5s.

When soldering yhe lead doesnt get hot enough to vaporize, the smoke you see when soldering is fumes from the melting flux. Flux fumes are still bad though so def keep soldering with ventilation.

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But it even happens when I don’t use flux? Or am I thinking flux is something else

You are probably using rosin core solder, which is basically flux inside the solder wire.

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Erm…. Ya 400 is probably good. Ya he he he

IMG_7587

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Where are you getting purple and light blue wire???

Most solder is flux core, including the 63/37 we recommended

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Skp probably, but you can find all the colors if you look hard enough.

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Ahh yeah I remember my skp motors having fancy wires.

Purple is cool is should be used more often.

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Great question! Saftey is important :slight_smile:
Anything on amazon when you seach ā€œsolder fume extractorā€ would work.

That said, my setup is DIY; I had salvaged a bunch of high-airflow fans from the a dumpster (college dumpsters have great stuff), so I just bought some activated charcoal filters and bolted them in front of it :rofl:

Basically all the commercial units are, anyway.

I tried a fine point one, but it had issues with the TC, so I just went back to the standard one. It’s worked for everything that I’ve done with it :person_shrugging:

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@HAIRYMANJACK was soldering at my place the other day with a soldering iron that was literally glowing dark red hot :sob:

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Been using Kester 63/37.
I know 400c/752f s more than enough.

The ā€˜smart’ soldering iron is a different beast compared to what I have learned with.

Watching the wattmeter, set at 400f, it takes 6 to 10 watts to maintain that tip temp in free air. Add a blob of sokder, toucht it to tinned 10awg and tinned xt 90 and it ramps up to 54+ watts, and then wait.

If set to 380c, the wait is longer.

What I love about the TS101, is not having to wait 2+ minutes for it to heat up.

I connect my APP to 5s drill battery, crank it to 400C, and can solder 10 seconds later.

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pc fan gang!


im just using a single 140 though, and no carbon filter yet. I legit just soldered it directly to a barrel jack and use the plug for my filament dryer :grin:

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If you’re worried about lead exposure, you’re much better off wearing gloves and/or washing hands after handling than worrying about vapours.

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