Review: Tenma 21-2310 UK (AT980D) 80W Soldering Station

RE: Review: Tenma 21-2310 UK (AT980D) 80W Soldering Station

phoenixcomm — Tue, 29 Dec 2020 23:54:49 GMT

[mention:ef601b47037147bfb9b0b4a3ab63026a:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] thanks but I'll stick to my Metcal!

~~ Cris

RE: Review: Tenma 21-2310 UK (AT980D) 80W Soldering Station

mp2100 — Fri, 08 May 2020 18:03:49 GMT

I appreciate the accuracy testing you did. When you chose 10 Hz for the sampling, that seemed faster than I thought necessary, but the great thing is, it let you capture the latent heat bump when the solder melted and solidified. Nice touch. If you knew the exact alloy you were using, that could validate the accuracy of your thermocouple test rig. This document from Kester solder says 60/40 tin/lead can vary with the alloy quality from 183 C to 190 C. My reading of your heating trend shows the bump at about 178 C. Very close considering it is in the open air in your shop.

https://www.kester.com/Portals/0/Documents/Knowledge%20Base/Alloy%20Temperature%20Chart.pdf

RE: Review: Tenma 21-2310 UK (AT980D) 80W Soldering Station

Fred27 — Fri, 08 May 2020 15:38:14 GMT

I'm sure that measuring the soldering iron temperature with a thermocouple is accurate - that's how the commercial devices do it after all. However, on the commercial ones the thermocouple itself is a small disposable item that you discard after a few uses. I believe the reason for this is that being a third metal thrown into the mix the solder contamination starts to affect the thermocouple reading. It also may have a negative effect on the fragile welded joint. They are really cheap so I added a soldering iron thermometer to a recent Banggood order. It's on its way to me right now.

Very nice to see a temperature plot though. The commercial ones can't do that!