Pinecil is 26$ and has a screen.
this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2024
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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.
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For 250 dollars. iFixit is turning to the Apple of repair.
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.
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.
same. no more knuckle busters for me. I've got spanners that are 20 years old that I bought, not inherited.
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.
Does it matter if the products last longer than an apple product and can likely be repaired?
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So basically a copy of the battery pack T12 devices from China. Well done. You fixed an already fixed problem.
Tying a rechargeable battery to a single function device seems off-brand for iFixit.
- edit, I am wrong. I didn't RTFM. Humble pie is good sometimes.
It’s a multi-use battery.
The battery can be used to charge whatever you want. A phone, laptop, headphones, or anything else with USB. Also, the battery is user replaceable and the product repair diagrams are posted online.
IMHO, it looks like they’re practicing what they preach, and it’s all designed for longevity and right to repair.
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The Smart Soldering Iron will set you back $80, while the Soldering Station, which includes the soldering iron and the battery pack, costs $250.
Most interesting to me is that they put the display on the soldering station/battery pack thingy instead of the iron itself.
Temperature is measured in Farads.
Very non-standard
I bought my soldering station with air solderer and iron solderer for about 40$ from AliExpress, the ones with IR bottom heater cost around 90-100$
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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.
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Having used an expensive Metcal, I would like someone to develop that level of performance for less. I want the precise thermostat and high quality tips, but I don't solder enough to justify the expense. I am happy to see iFixit driving innovation in this market though. Weller needs some real competition.
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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?
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.
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This looks like a heavy rebrand of the Pine64's Pinecil soldering iron.
Ah any reason why Firefox decided not to include WebSerial?
Maybe you don’t want to buy the Station, or you left it at home. In either event, you can simply plug the iron into your computer and configure it via WebSerial.
You’ll need a browser based on Chrome to pull this trick off, as Mozilla has decided (at least, for now) to not include the capability in Firefox. In testing, it worked perfectly on both my Linux desktop and Chromebook.
Unfortunately, plugging the iron into your phone won’t work, as the mobile version of Chrome does not currently support WebSerial. But given the vertical layout of the interface and the big touch-friendly buttons, I can only assume that iFixit is either banking on this changing soon or has a workaround in mind. Being able to plug the iron into your phone for a quick settings tweak would be incredibly handy, so hopefully it will happen one way or another.
The WebSerial interface not only gives you access to all the same settings as plugging the iron into the Power Station does, but it also serves as the mechanism for updating the firmware on the iron.
I believe this is one of those Google "F it I am going to make this protocol my own way without anyone else's input" which results in security concerns and also Mozilla prioritizes it being a browser more.
Searching serial looks like this is still the case. There are security and privacy concerns over it.
For those not wanting go search:
Mozilla's Position
Devices that offer serial interfaces often expose powerful, low-level functions over the interface with little or no authentication. Exposing that sort of capability to the web without adequate safeguards presents a significant threat to those devices. A user deliberately installing a site-specific add-on may be adequate, given sufficiently understandable consent copy.
Seems reasonable to me.
Google mainly built this WebSerial shit because they HAVE TO to make Chrome OS more than just a useless web browser.
Good news, I guess?
https://github.com/kuba2k2/firefox-webserial
I've only used it to do some esp32 stuff with homeassistant, but it does work.
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