Hi thank you for designing this great product, I love it, it solders really well. I have made a case for your PCB that can be easily printed on a normal (FDM) 3D printer. The source files can be found on: https://grabcad.com/library/rt-soldering-pen-fdm-printable-case-1

Martijn, great job, thanks!

Hi Vik, thanks for making such a cool product, much respect! I do most of my soldering where there isn't AC power and storage space is limited, so this is an amazing tool for me.

I think I'm forgetting something on how to use:
- I tried to use my soldering pen(HW 1.0, SW 0.40) for the first time in a couple of months and something is wrong. 
- When I hit a button to start the heating, the display goes blank for a second and then comes back on, but no heating and 0Wh.
- On AC power, I tried 7, 9 and 12v supplies, no change.
- switching tips also didn't help

If you or anyone else has run into this I could use some help. 

Hi, I made myself a soldering iron based on your pcb. It works nicely! Do you know if it is possible to use Weller RTW SMD tweezers with this design? (I was wondering this because of this project: https://hackaday.io/project/171848-soldering-rt1 that you might already know)

Hi, 

It seems a mighty well project! Well done. 

Can you please share the schematics for the HW 1.0 (or newer)

I want to buy all the components and build one for myself. 

The current schematics mentions a different smaller OLED screen while in Components section it says it has a larger one.

If you could also share the board pcb design as well, it would be great (dimens, layout, etc..)

Thanks!

Dear Vlk, thanks for your support. I ran the tests you suggested and the result is the following:

1st Test
Power supply: 8V
Tip: RTM 002 C (Old RT 1)
All values are perfect and correspond to your indications.

2nd Test
Power supply: 12V
Tip: RTM 002 C (Old RT 1)
All values are perfect and correspond to your indications.
( Please watch attached video: http://www.filedropper.com/oldrtm )

3rd Test
Power supply: 8V
Tip: RTP 001 C (New RT PICO)
All values correspond to your indications but the set temperature has a long time to stabilize (Compared to old tip RT 1)

4th Test
Power supply: 12V
Tip: RTP 001 C (New RT PICO)
All values correspond to your indications but the set temperature has a peak of + 30/40 ° and has a long time to stabilize. (Compared to old tip RT 1)
( Please watch attached video: http://www.filedropper.com/newrtp )

Is possible that these temperature peaks of + 30/40 ° (compared to 4/5 ° on the old RT1 tip) could have broken the heating element of new tips? Why these temperature peaks? I await your precious opinion?!

Thanks for your help ; )

Hello, RTP tips are very tiny and the constants for PID regulation loop should be corrected, I have plan to fix this, or by selecting in menu

Can you indicate the values in the firmware to be changed or modified for perfect use with RT PICO tips?

Thank you

P.s. Have you seen the videos I have published?
Have you noticed any hardware malfunction?

Hello Azanot,

Yes, I have seen your videos,

I have noticed same unstable regulation after testing RTP tip, as I mentioned, there is necessary to update PID constants

I don't have enough time at the moment to tune the PID regulator for RTP tips, I can only promise that I will try to work on it as soon as possible.

If you have experience with SW dev, you can try this alone. Changing constants is possible in source code here: https://github.com/pavelrevak/rt_soldering_pen/blob/master/src/heating.hpp#L16-L18 but be very careful, you can easily broke the tip with wrong constants. I have spend really lot of time to tune this regulation loop.

please send me email to pavelrevak at gmail if you need more help.

I would like to mention that you use too high temperature, for normal soldering is enough to use 300°C, because 400°C can degrade the tip faster, personally I use 250-300°C (rarely 350°C) depends how thermal area is around soldering place.

Dear Vlk, I writing to report a strange case, detected on HW 0.3 with new RTM tips.
The welder "broke" the heating element on 3 RTM tips, model: RTM 013S TIP (T0054460399N)
The 1° tip: broken after 30 seconds, set temperature 400 °
The 2° tip: broken after 20 minutes of use, set temperature 350 °
The 3° tip broken after 1 day (with brief discontinuous use) Temperature 300/400 °
All three tips after use result broken to a heating element with a value of about 29 Kohm.
All the tips were new and sealed. (Different production lots)
N.B. Old RTM tips work well
Is it possible a safety system in new RT tips that burns heating element for non-original stations? What is your opinion?

HW used: 0.3

FW used: v0.4.0

Power supply: 12V Stabilized

I await your response
Thank you

Hello Azont,

it is very interesting, there can be two problems, first is that the regulation is not working correctly due to something broken on PCB of RT PEN

Or the TIP is not fully inserted into the jack, then sensing of temperature is wrong and it sends full power to the RT tip.

Didn't you notice that the tip glowed orange before it breaks? this mean that is overheated.

Dear Vlk, please read more carefully my previous message.
I insert the tip fully, with carefully and no sign of over heating has occurred.
(No glowed orange)
I will use 2 other RTM tip (Old version) without problems.

Can you suggest me some tests to do on electronic hardware?

I burned the heating element on 3 new tips, all were RTM 013 S (T0054460399N)

Thanks for your patient attention ; )

Ok, regarding some tests:

1. use lower voltage (about 7-8V)

2. set lower temperature - e.g. 100°C

3. turn ON and check tip temperature and actual heating power (in right - up corner)

4.a if the power will be still too high or temperature still low, then it should be problem somewhere in HW. (immediatelly turn it OFF) - stop here

4.b temperature should be stabilized to 100°C and during this the power should be less than 1W

5. check in menu measured heating element resistance, it should be around 2ohm - in this case is HW OK

6. 12V and higher temperature (200°C - power around 1.5W, 300°C 2.5W)

7. repeat this with 12V

if HW will be OK, then probably are problems inside tips - you can try reclaim them.

hope it helped you.

I don't think that there will be some 'safety system' from my point of view are probably these tips just wrong (wrong series). I broke some tips but I daily use RTM tips RTM008C and RTM002C and never see these issues.

In RT PEN is regulated and limited output power by PWM, so, if you use higher voltage, then PWM will generate shorter pulses to keep output power at least 40Watts.

HW 0.3 and HW 1.0 has largest difference that allow to set/measure higher temperatures and use higher supply voltage. but HW 0.3 has for example more precise temperature sensing OP-amp.

Yes, I broke some tips, but it was during SW development, because I overheat these tips by mistake.

I would like to see the priority on accelerometer, sleep/wake, battery protection/indicator, and usb power delivery with lower voltage mode so I can make use of my many common Li-ion batteries.

I am not sure the big power and ultra size tip compatibility seems worth it. So many changes for different jack size, power, and thermal concerns with the current design, but I am not the one needing/wanting big power in this compact size.

I like this project for a lightweight and convenient portable option, but of course, this is up to vlk where he likes to to focus efforts.  Thanks to you vlk whatever you decide!

What's is better over the RT Weller soldering pen and the chinese

TS80P soldering iron from MiniWare ????

Will v1.0 PCB files be open sourced?

Thanks for your attention and clear answer.

I have another little question please.. :-)
Why in HW 1.0 the maximum temperature is 500° but in HW 0.3 is limited to 400° ?
Hardware 0.3 does not support temperatures over 400° ?
If yes, why you limit it to 400° ?
Thanks.

P.S. I hope in the next firmware you make editable from the menu "standby  timer" and "display OFF timer" which are very useful.

Hello, yes, it is because on v0.3 has different resistor divider and maximum measurable temperature is around 500°C (regulation cannot exceed 400°C) and on v1.0 is around 1000°C, limit to 500°C is from reason to protect the soldering tip.

There is way to replace certain resistors and change FW.

FW features: yes I have this in my TODO and also other thinks, but currently I have limited time to work on this project, but hope soon I will have more time.

Hi vlk, congratulations for your wonderful project.
I have 2 questions please
1) What functions you have added on HW 1.0 with gyroscope ?                                                     2) is it possible to install the same gyroscope on old HW 0.3 ? (You can publish one installation scheme ;) For the people who purchased HW 0.3. This is to reassess and equalize HW 0.3 to the new 1.0

Thanks.

Hello Azanot,

thanks for asking

1: gyroscope is not currently used by SW, planed is in next releases for detecting free fall and or for wakeup,...

2: yes, it is possible but everything is so small, probably with some gyro module. and currently it has no sense while is not used by SW ,-)

Personally I don't need the gyro, there is automatic turning off by detecting if you do not solder and wake up is not necessary, while it heat-up in 4 seconds, ok I need to press button before..

Hi awsome project! Do you know if/when it will bee restocked at tindie again? 

Awesome project, Pavel!

Will there be PCBs available on Tindie anytime soon again?

Alternatively, I think about building one myself. Did not see board/gerber files for the current version, though. Do you mind adding them to github? Thx.

Hello Andreas, thanks for interest, everything is restocked back

Manufacturing data will be shared later, currently you can build older revision.

Hello, 

Can anyone tell me if I can use TC55RP3302ECB regulator instead of LMR14203?

I just received your soldering iron. Works like a charm - Thank you for making it!
If anyone out there is unsure about buying it, I warmly recommend it. Cheap, and quite effective.

Pros:

- uses weller rt tips which got very good heat-recovery performance (much better than T12, almost as good as jbc tips).

- many different tip geometry to choose.

- portable and have a wide range of input voltage.

Cons:

- no case and other accessory for now.

- doesn't want to use other irons after using it.

I Just bought one of your controllers and I'm looking forward to using it. I am just thinking about a case and looking at the RT tip that I have here, Do Weller hold the tips in with a ring magnet in their official hand-pieces?

Hello Chris, Thanks, Case is available for download. I don't know nothing about magnet in original Weller hand-piece.

be careful if you wan't add magnet, because the magnet can influent the current sensor, which is HAL-based, although if there is compensation for surrounding magnetic field, large error can stop correct measurement.

Hi,

Congratulations vlk for the job.

I have a doubt I am manufacturing my own PCB, which connector do you use for the display connection? Can you show an example of how you assemble the screen with the PCB? 

Kind Regards.

Hello antop, I don't use any connector, display is directly soldered to the PCB and glued with double-sided adhesive tape (1.5mm thick)

I love this, It would be really cool if it could have a USB-C PD connection. I carry about a big high power USB C battery bank and it would be very convenient if this could have something like a STUSB4500 integrated to get the most out of it. this is where the TS80 is lacking.

Hello Chris, there is a problem with USB-C because at 12 V there are 6Amps pulses and not all  power sources can withstand this load. Normally USB-C PD can deliver at 12V 3 Amps. (maybe some power supplies can deliver at 12V 5Amps)

In general the average power load is still smaller than USB-C PD power supply, so some filters with high capacity can help to decrease the current peaks.

If you still want to use USB-C you can use ZYPDS (it is easy to pack it because it has same width like my board)

Hi there,

Just wanted to let you know I'm very interested in your project.

Do you know when the HW revision is going to be available?

Also, I wanted to design a 3D printed case for this (with two side that can be clipped or screwed together). Would be interested if I shared the design?

Cheers!