A company made me smile last week, and
that is the sole reason I'm making this
video today.
You might have seen a new soldering iron
on my bench. It's this one from iFixit.
Their iFixit portable kit. It's got a
big old honking battery. I'll show it in
a second, but I wanted to give the
background on this. I have been using
this soldering iron significantly since
I got back home from DEF CON. You've
seen I built a couple of radio kits. I
built some SAOs, some simple add-ons for
badges. I've used it in a couple of
different builds, unrelated things. I
absolutely love it, and I talked about
how much I enjoy this soldering iron.
Well, maybe because I've beaten the
pants off of this thing using it
constantly, a piece came loose.
Specifically, here's the issue I had.
Here's the pencil that I'm sending back.
You can see this black bit here is just
there's there's nothing there. You just
plug the
tip in, and there's no magnet holding.
This is the one they sent to replace it,
and there it is. There's the little
collar, the little ferrule. And you can
pull this out. It doesn't rip this guy
out or anything like that. Oh, this one
might be used. It doesn't really matter.
And there you go. That's the the kit.
And then when you drop it, it holds the
end on. So, it gives you a little bit of
tension when you pull it out to go and
solder the bit there. And you can see on
this one it just there's nothing there's
nothing there. It just falls off. Now,
that piece is kind of important. I could
have got on without it, but it helps the
little pencil stay on the soldering
iron, the battery. So, I reached out to
iFixit, and I said, "How much does it
cost to buy the little fuller?" I think
that's what you'd call it, that goes
onto the end of the pencil. Now, keep in
mind, this is a quick change soldering
iron, so you literally just pull the tip
off and you can swap in another one and
they have a variety of different
options. I should mention, I'm not
affiliated with this company, at least
at the time that I'm making this video.
I just really appreciate a company
that's doing good job at what they do,
supporting people using their product as
a product, and so I wanted to get the
word out on it. They said, "No problem.
We'll send you the replacement pencil
because we don't sell the individual
bit, and we're including a label to
return your old pencil. Just ship it all
back to us." That's it. And it include
the wire, the pencil. I think it's like
an $89 piece of kit that they're just
That's it. Just ship it back to them. No
harm, no foul, all good. That is a
fantastic company, fantastic customer
support, and I'm really thankful that I
bought your iron. All right, so here is
the iFixit kit. I've made some changes
to this that I'm going to talk about.
Also, I have some alternatives to the
changes if you don't want to do what I
ended up doing. The first, off to the
side Oh, I don't know how That's a
castaway. He shouldn't That's a
stowaway. He shouldn't be in here, but I
added the OmniFixit. I'll talk about
this in a second. This is unaffiliated
with the kit.
Uh very expensive, though.
I will drop the link for the Amazon copy
It's not made by Amazon, but sold on
Amazon copy clone version of this.
You'll see it later. You might be
interested. Link's in the video
description. I don't think the clone is
good as this, though. So, just be
forewarned. This is if you want to save
money. Okay. So, going down the list uh
here, we're going to walk through all of
this. Man, there's a there's a lot to
do. So, we'll start at the end.
So, this is a Fix Hub.
It's your full kit and caboodle if you
actually want to do repairs or solder a
project or whatever on the go, or maybe
just at your home, and you can't have a
permanent place for your soldering
station. So, it has a uh silicone mat to
solder on. I think I stated before What
is this hair just stuck on here?
I stated before that I think this is a
little bit too small. When I was at the
Maker Show in Orange County, I picked
this up from
opensourcehardware.learntosolderkits.com.
I really like this soldering mat more so
than the one that comes stock, but
obviously it doesn't really fit in this
kit and like I don't really want to roll
it up. I don't know that it would
survive that, but yeah, it's pretty
slick. It covers things like LEDs,
diodes, number of other things, and of
course the very important resistance
chart for your resistors. So, I'll drop
the link for that in the video
description. Unaffiliated with those
guys, too. Just companies I like today,
I guess.
I will pull this out. This is the base
station. The base station has a leg at
the bottom.
A little rubber feeties, a charging
port, and then two ports
on the side and it has a spot on either
side if you're left-handed or
right-handed or just preference on where
you want the soldering iron to come off
of on the left or right, so you can do
either one. We'll put that over here
while we move to the next bit. Tools.
This was a pack-in that I didn't even
realize was included until I started
putting this kit away and I was like,
"There's nowhere for this to live. Where
does this go?" Uh it's a
What?
What? There's just extra screws in here.
I didn't even know there was extra
screws in here. Oh, maybe it's for
pieces
for the for the soldering iron.
So, it's got a Phillips head, a Torx
bit,
and then a small pin. Interesting.
Is there anything else in there? No, I
don't think so. So, okay, leave those in
there. That's obviously for the station.
They felt this was needed, and so there
you go. I just been kind of shoving it
in like that and and rolling about my
way. Next,
this is a refillable chemical dispensing
pen. What kind of chemical would you
dispense in this? Well, it's it's
isopropyl alcohol and that's it. This is
a fun little way
uh to do a spot clean. I wouldn't
necessarily want to clean a whole board
with it cuz you'll probably just damage
the tip or dirty it uh beyond repair. It
looks like this cap has been I filled
this up
all the way. I filled this up all the
way and it's about half evaporated. So,
there is some evaporation and that's
been about 2 weeks since I filled that
up.
My second replacement, I took out the
non-solder or solder-free solder and I
replaced it with a tube of 63/37,
right, nickel-lead solder.
Recommended by me. I think 63/37
is the solder for new solderers.
Very little liquid pooling time. It It
hardens relatively quickly. So, for
those of you who are doing a part and
you need it to like dry really fast,
this is going to be the one you want.
So, it is in there.
Next is the
cable. We'll get to that in a second.
And of course, the pen. The pen
mentioned here has a chisel tip, which
you might be able to see.
I've already used it some, so
my brand new one.
And they make replacement bits for
these, all the different tips. This is a
bevel 1.5
up to 100 W
and a max, what is that? IF17 V
iFixit. Yeah, pretty cool.
Going down the base here, there is a
bayonet-style connector. Yeah, it's
actually a bayonet connector. You go in
and then kind of turn the collar until
you find the slot and then turn it into
place and then it won't come out. And
then you've got a
switch.
Meaning you can have this plugged in to
your soldering station. The soldering
station can be on
and maybe you don't want to turn the
soldering station off, you just want to
come back in a second. Well, you can
just switch it to off blue and then when
you come back switch it to red. So, it's
a nice little backup.
You don't necessarily need it, but there
you go. So, we'll throw that on the side
here, too, and I'll bring this out as
well.
I honestly
don't know what this is. Oh, is it
self-amalgamating tape? Uh this looks
like a heat barrier or self-amalgamating
tape for when you are doing maybe some
SMD stuff or you have a close proximity
soldering bit.
You want to keep that safe.
No clean flux. Um
this is middling it best. I I found it
okay. The tube that it comes in is kind
of annoying and it and it dries pretty
pretty grossly.
It worked fine. It's not a lot of it, so
if you crack into this, you probably
will need to replace it in short order.
Make sure you squeeze that on there and
you squeeze some of the air out while
you go. Okay, okay. Moving on.
Huzzah! Tools. You have a pair of
stripping pliers with a bit of tactile
end here. These function as kind of like
needle-nose pliers and strippers for
those of you that, you know, would have
had two. I have two. I have a pair of
strippers
and a pair of needle-nose pliers because
I prefer needle nose
and I use diagonal cutters.
So, these are not diagonal cutters. They
have diagonal cutters. We'll get to that
in a second. Needle-nose pliers though
are where it's at. I will probably just
swap these out for a pair of my
needle-nose pliers because we have the
diagonal cutters here.
Now, I should note the way that these
lock up. Watch the little arm right
here.
And then they're open.
So, you go from closed
you just
kind of get close to where it is closed,
right? We get close, close it down a
little bit, and then fold this over, and
then let it go. And that kind of locks
it in a almost closed, but not totally
closed
situation, and then you click it, it
falls down, and now you have uh you have
flush cutters. These are pretty flush.
The jaws are almost lined up on top of
each other.
They do a pretty good job.
I
can't really complain.
It came as the pack-in,
and that's what I'll say. I don't love
them. They do a fine job. Would I want
them as to go cutters for whatever time
I'm in the field and I need to cut?
Sure. They'll be fine. Next section.
All right. The first thing I do I don't
like uh this is a helping hands. That's
why I added that Omni fixo.
This is just a bunch of rubber in a
zigzag, and you put a wire here, and you
put a wire here, and then you solder
them together or a component
or something like that.
I I don't like it. I don't like it cuz
the zigzag, you have to really push it
in there. It adds a kink to the wire.
It's fine because it's there, but I'm
nonplussed by it. This, however, is
super cute. It is a solder cleaner, and
you can see I've I've already been using
it quite a lot actually. Let me bang it
out here. And in here is a little bit of
scouring pad.
So, you can just go right into that.
This is what cleaning
looks like during the all the badges I
built at the Orange County Maker Faire.
Cuz I was going into this thing like a
madman.
I will say that what how you would use
this is you're kind of like lined up
with it and you go in like that. Stab,
stab, stab.
Easy.
Should it be in the case? Absolutely.
This is a great thing to have um and I
like the size of it. I would almost buy
this as a backup in other cases. All
right, next thing you probably also need
is soldering wick. We've already talked
about this and I think I also deployed
this. Yes, I did at
at the Maker Faire because we had not
me, of course. I I don't make mistakes
with soldering, right? As everybody
knows. No, we I was helping to desolder
some badges for both the young and the
old. Everybody needed help um
and I pulled this out a couple of times.
The folks at the show had everything
under cover uh covered, but somebody
randomly came up to me while I was uh
solo soldering by myself. Yeah, I found
an empty table
and started just whipping out my
soldering station uh with all the badges
I had to do for like the six or seven
kids on my my kids robot team. They
asked me to just do it. Like I did a
quick demo and then I just started
busting through them because it was
going to take too long. Uh a couple of
them, good kids, decided that they would
go off and go and wait in line at the
soldering station because mine was in
use. They waited in line for the regular
soldering stations and they actually did
a good job. They they got I believe most
of them got their badges going, but all
right, tweezaz.
So, these tweezers are pretty dang good.
They uh line up, which is a fundamental
important thing. Line up pretty well.
This one could probably just use a
little bit of a a knock down with a
file.
They're straight in that they line up
with each other straightly.
And they are
ESD safe as stated there. So, there you
go.
Kind of a Okay, so this is a spudger,
right? It is a like
flat-bladed screwdriver
made of plastic and a little pokey bit
and a bit of a notched thing for lifting
up on stuff.
Uh this is a little bit too big to be a
tuning screwdriver.
So, something
something like this that you would use
to tune up a receiver. In fact, this is
a bad example. Where's my good one?
Here's my good one.
This one has like a thick piece of
plastic. This might be carbon No, it's
like
I think it might be fiberglass or
acrylic or something like that, but it's
a small flat-bladed screwdriver and you
go in and you use that to tune radios,
radio receivers. And then on the other
side it has a hex bit.
I only ever use the flat blade end, but
yeah, these are great. Anyway, should
that go in the kit? Yeah, probably. Uh
in fact, I could probably put my other
one in there.
Let me see if I can wedge that in just
for having it.
Can it go here?
Yeah. It can probably go there. This way
it might be better though cuz I only
care about the flat end bit down here.
So, I want to somewhat protect that. Oh,
but then it sticks out.
Uh
okay, fine.
Do your best.
Do do your best.
Okay, and then uh last but not least,
the most important thing is safety
glasses and they are pretty nice.
They have the bit of the side coverage.
They're not fancy, but they're wide
enough so you can see everything.
I quite like these. They don't add any
like visual effects or artifacts.
Pretty good.
So, let's take a look at the iron and
see how it sets up and runs. All right,
so how I would use this is on the
left-hand side. I am left-handed. I
apologize to my viewers. Just slide it
on like that and kind of pull towards me
and pop up the kickstand.
And then there you go. Now we have
soldering iron time.
This is a brand new cable. Literally,
they sent me a brand new cable for the
replacement of the one that we swapped
out. So I will go in here. Let's take uh
that is in the off position. Bayonet
myself on there.
Take out all the loops. Absolutely no
loops in the wire.
And then just hold this down.
You let go.
Uh-oh, firmware mismatch. Nope, there we
go.
>> [laughter]
>> I was about to freak out.
So I just turned it on. Uh it's going to
heat up.
I definitely did not leave this only a
little glowing collar here.
I definitely did not leave this in this
setting.
Units, we want to
change it to Fahrenheit. I'm sorry
everybody, that's just how I roll.
So 640-ish
about, but I've gotten clowned on that.
Thanks Steve for clowning me.
Let's bump that up to 700. And there we
go.
700, pretty good. Let me show you my
other handy addition, right? I mentioned
the OmniFixer, so that's the OmniFixer.
Again, I'm I'm not affiliated with the
making of this uh video, but if they
wanted to affiliate with me, I would
affiliate with them.
So boom.
Boom.
This can go chill. It's got four, but um
you really only need like three if you
got a board and you want to hold it
still, you want to flip it, all that
stuff. But, if you're doing a wire,
well, let's say you bring two wires
together.
These guys are squeezy.
Squeezy bits.
Flat clamping.
Very nice.
The
tops of this is the same. So, this goes
up when you're on the project, so it
doesn't move, which is nice. I was going
to re-terminate this anyway, so we'll
just take uh a bit out of this mobile
radio wire.
Now, yes, I won't be going through the
heat shrink process or anything like
that. Um this is some fat wire. You
would definitely want to always
terminate your solder joints.
Like that. Nice little piece.
And this guy
Hold this guy in the clamp.
And I will hold this guy in the clamp.
And I can kind of manipulate them
to bring these together.
We can kind of wiggle wobble
until they start coming together like a
so.
Try to
wrap cables around or wires around. This
is not I'm not going to pretend Steve,
I'm not pretending this is the right way
to join wires. I'm I'm doing an example
of holding wires while we while we
solder, okay? So, so just calm down,
Steve. Calm down, Steve.
Calm down. You're getting You're getting
crazy.
And then we can go in here and heat heat
heat.
Got the underside going. A horrible
horrible joining of solder. But, an
example
of of how you'd do it. So, there you go.
I think it got so hot it started melting
that side. Yeah, that's that's wicked
hot. Anyway, there you go. That's an
example. And then you're like, "Okay,
let's let's see. Are these hot?"
Not hot. And then we can just drop it
out. We're done with it.
Now, come to the back of the video to
say, "Is this soldering iron for
everybody? Should everybody go buy it?"
No. In fact, go watch my soldering
video, how to solder, my tips, my
tricks. I run through three options that
I would recommend, and I still recommend
all of those. The Pinecil and the Hakko
are both less expensive than this
sans kit. Just the battery and the
pencil bit alone with the wire is more
than the Hakko, at least I think that's
correct.
I love this for portable operation. I've
used it extensively on my bench to test
it out, and frankly, I really just like
it. I just like the fast on-off. I like
the temperature control. It's very easy
to use. Is it as easy to use as my
Hakko?
About the same. Yeah, the battery lasted
without issue through an entire QRP
radio kit build, and probably had the
other half still remaining to go if I
wanted to do another one. It's a
fantastic iron. It costs a lot,
but that's kind of what you get. Like,
if you want something really good, this
is a prime example, and I support I fix
it for that purpose. Do I know anything
about any of the other products? I have
a spudger for separating cases from I
fix it, and that's about it. So, it
could be a nightmare in many other
situations [laughter]
with this in this company. I don't know,
but here's how I have my kit configured.
I really like it, and that's why I'm
making this video. Good job. Appreciate
the customer support. 73 from me, Josh,
KI6NAZ.