5 ms·

Meanwhile on planet Earth, my Metcal production iron doesn’t even have a computer in its brain. The important bit of the iron is not really the brain but the l

by m0xte 6y ago

Meanwhile on planet Earth, my Metcal production iron doesn’t even have a computer in its brain. The important bit of the iron is not really the brain but the latency of the control loop and the absolute power delivery which is easy enough to solve with a couple of lm358’s on the ts100 element/sensor.

sigmaprimus 6y ago
This device does not appear solve any problem, other than poor quality soldering irons made from QC failed components being sold by unscrupulous vendors. Maybe Pine64 should work on making their site load faster rather than putting BT in a paperweight.
- imtringued 6y ago
  I'm sure these irons are a thousand times better than those I bought as a kid.
  - m0xte 6y ago
    They're really not. They're quite dangerous. I flirted with the "T12" ecosystem for a bit and the designs are marginal to say the least. From a mechanical design perspective it's not uncommon for the mount to short the supply out which will blow the MOSFET in the unit to bits. Secondarily, if the power supply browns out, the devices tend not to fail safe and will quite happily give you a bright orange glowing fire hazard for a tip. Not only that some of the Quicko ones have firmware crash bugs which can trigger a reset while the MOSFET is turned on. Woosh.
- taylorfinley 6y ago
  Their site has recently switched over to running on a cluster of 24 of their own RockPro64 single board computers. As of their June update (https://www.pine64.org/2020/06/15/june-update-postmarketos-ce-pinephone-shipping-pine64-cluster/ https://www.pine64.org/2020/06/15/june-update-postmarketos-c...) the site, forum, IRC channel and Matrix servers were running on just 8 nodes of the cluster. Given the notorious Hacker News hug-of-death, I think they're doing pretty well!
userbinator 6y ago
I've been using a "936-style" (a clone of the famous Hakko 936) iron with an analog controller for many years and I see excessive complexity as a liability --- a soldering iron certainly does not need a microcontroller to function. That said, I haven't seen any models with an analog temperature gauge...
- myself248 6y ago
  Certainly doesn't, but I've come to very much appreciate my TS100's brains. And accelerometer. Being able to idle back when it hasn't moved in a while, but recover quickly when I pick it up, used to require magnets and a reed switch in the holder. But the TS100 can do it in any holder, simply by looking for movement in its accelerometer. Being able to turn itself the rest of the way off after a longer period seems a nice safety measure. Pushbutton temperature adjustment isn't perhaps as simple as a knob, but the realtime display of tip temperature is awfully nice to know how long it takes my commands to have an effect. And, since it can sense the input voltage, some firmwares have automatic shutdown for various lithium cell voltages, in case you're driving it directly from a battery pack like many R/C hobbyists do in the field. I've never met another portable iron with that feature. Is it excessive for a basic desk iron? Yeah, probably. But it's amazing as portable go-anywhere iron, which is also capable enough to replace my desk iron. I'm a fan.
- ficklepickle 6y ago
  I wired a triac inline with my cheap soldering iron. I turn it down a bit to save the tip during regular operation (it gets too hot at full mains voltage), and I turn it way down if I'm doing something else for a minute so it stays warm. The triac mangles the sine wave, but this resistive heater doesn't mind. I did this on a whim but it ended up meeting my needs quite well.
fragmede 6y ago
That's a weird flex, given that Metcals are a high-tech device, using a patented technology and were exorbitantly expensive before patent ran out. They still are, compared to the bargain basement soldering iron pricing. When the patent ran out, the original engineers ran off to start Thermaltronics. We've all accidentally left the soldering iron on, sometime in our decades. The sensors in the iron lets it shut off and not burn your house down. Having an firmware (like the TS100 or TS80) means you can fully customize its behavior unlike most consumer devices. (I wish there was a microwave oven whos firmware I could tweak in order for, eg the popcorn button to make popcorn how I like my popcorn.) Soldering irons are at this fairly unique intersection of consumer device and hardware hacker that I'm really surprised by the some of the luddite attitudes around here. I bet there's some cool firmware mods you could do if you have to solder something that looks like a heat sink. (Eg maybe it could do 18650 cells, if you don't have a welder.) The other innovation of the TS100 is that battery-power capably powers a soldering iron. The TS100 is a bit older than the TS80, and can use 12V rechargable battery packs (eg for RC cars/planes); the TS80P can use recent USB-battery pack powering standards. It doesn't do much at the workbench, but if you're one of those people that leaves the house (modulo Covid), it turns out to be really useful! In decades prior, butane (cigarette lighter fluid) powered soldering irons existed, but could be persnickety and were a special version to buy. Now, just bring the iron along with USB battery pack you were probably gonna bring anyway.
- duskwuff 6y ago
  > I bet there's some cool firmware mods you could do if you have to solder something that looks like a heat sink. At least one of the TS100 custom firmwares [1] has a feature which helps with that sort of thing. Pressing one of the buttons while soldering will force the heater into always-on mode, making it deliver heat faster than normal. [1]: https://github.com/Ralim/ts100 https://github.com/Ralim/ts100
- ghostpepper 6y ago
  > The sensors in the iron lets it shut off and not burn your house down. Isn't leaving it in the stand the best way to not burn your house down? I can't say I've ever left an iron heated up and also touching something flammable.
m463 6y ago
I have friends who know this stuff and said metcal worked well because they use RF to heat the tip. Could you say it's an analog computing solution?

by m0xte 6y ago

sigmaprimus 6y ago

This device does not appear solve any problem, other than poor quality soldering irons made from QC failed components being sold by unscrupulous vendors. Maybe Pine64 should work on making their site load faster rather than putting BT in a paperweight.

imtringued 6y ago
I'm sure these irons are a thousand times better than those I bought as a kid.
- m0xte 6y ago
  They're really not. They're quite dangerous. I flirted with the "T12" ecosystem for a bit and the designs are marginal to say the least. From a mechanical design perspective it's not uncommon for the mount to short the supply out which will blow the MOSFET in the unit to bits. Secondarily, if the power supply browns out, the devices tend not to fail safe and will quite happily give you a bright orange glowing fire hazard for a tip. Not only that some of the Quicko ones have firmware crash bugs which can trigger a reset while the MOSFET is turned on. Woosh.
taylorfinley 6y ago
Their site has recently switched over to running on a cluster of 24 of their own RockPro64 single board computers. As of their June update (https://www.pine64.org/2020/06/15/june-update-postmarketos-ce-pinephone-shipping-pine64-cluster/ https://www.pine64.org/2020/06/15/june-update-postmarketos-c...) the site, forum, IRC channel and Matrix servers were running on just 8 nodes of the cluster. Given the notorious Hacker News hug-of-death, I think they're doing pretty well!

userbinator 6y ago

I've been using a "936-style" (a clone of the famous Hakko 936) iron with an analog controller for many years and I see excessive complexity as a liability --- a soldering iron certainly does not need a microcontroller to function. That said, I haven't seen any models with an analog temperature gauge...

myself248 6y ago
Certainly doesn't, but I've come to very much appreciate my TS100's brains. And accelerometer. Being able to idle back when it hasn't moved in a while, but recover quickly when I pick it up, used to require magnets and a reed switch in the holder. But the TS100 can do it in any holder, simply by looking for movement in its accelerometer. Being able to turn itself the rest of the way off after a longer period seems a nice safety measure. Pushbutton temperature adjustment isn't perhaps as simple as a knob, but the realtime display of tip temperature is awfully nice to know how long it takes my commands to have an effect. And, since it can sense the input voltage, some firmwares have automatic shutdown for various lithium cell voltages, in case you're driving it directly from a battery pack like many R/C hobbyists do in the field. I've never met another portable iron with that feature. Is it excessive for a basic desk iron? Yeah, probably. But it's amazing as portable go-anywhere iron, which is also capable enough to replace my desk iron. I'm a fan.
ficklepickle 6y ago
I wired a triac inline with my cheap soldering iron. I turn it down a bit to save the tip during regular operation (it gets too hot at full mains voltage), and I turn it way down if I'm doing something else for a minute so it stays warm. The triac mangles the sine wave, but this resistive heater doesn't mind. I did this on a whim but it ended up meeting my needs quite well.

fragmede 6y ago

That's a weird flex, given that Metcals are a high-tech device, using a patented technology and were exorbitantly expensive before patent ran out. They still are, compared to the bargain basement soldering iron pricing. When the patent ran out, the original engineers ran off to start Thermaltronics. We've all accidentally left the soldering iron on, sometime in our decades. The sensors in the iron lets it shut off and not burn your house down. Having an firmware (like the TS100 or TS80) means you can fully customize its behavior unlike most consumer devices. (I wish there was a microwave oven whos firmware I could tweak in order for, eg the popcorn button to make popcorn how I like my popcorn.) Soldering irons are at this fairly unique intersection of consumer device and hardware hacker that I'm really surprised by the some of the luddite attitudes around here. I bet there's some cool firmware mods you could do if you have to solder something that looks like a heat sink. (Eg maybe it could do 18650 cells, if you don't have a welder.) The other innovation of the TS100 is that battery-power capably powers a soldering iron. The TS100 is a bit older than the TS80, and can use 12V rechargable battery packs (eg for RC cars/planes); the TS80P can use recent USB-battery pack powering standards. It doesn't do much at the workbench, but if you're one of those people that leaves the house (modulo Covid), it turns out to be really useful! In decades prior, butane (cigarette lighter fluid) powered soldering irons existed, but could be persnickety and were a special version to buy. Now, just bring the iron along with USB battery pack you were probably gonna bring anyway.

duskwuff 6y ago
> I bet there's some cool firmware mods you could do if you have to solder something that looks like a heat sink. At least one of the TS100 custom firmwares [1] has a feature which helps with that sort of thing. Pressing one of the buttons while soldering will force the heater into always-on mode, making it deliver heat faster than normal. [1]: https://github.com/Ralim/ts100 https://github.com/Ralim/ts100
ghostpepper 6y ago
> The sensors in the iron lets it shut off and not burn your house down. Isn't leaving it in the stand the best way to not burn your house down? I can't say I've ever left an iron heated up and also touching something flammable.

m463 6y ago

I have friends who know this stuff and said metcal worked well because they use RF to heat the tip. Could you say it's an analog computing solution?