Understanding The T12 Style Soldering Iron Tip

February 4, 2025 by Maya Posch 16 Comments

Soldering irons and their tips come in a wide range of formats and styles, with the (originally Hakko) T12 being one of the more interesting offerings. This is because of how it integrates not only the tip and heating element, but also a thermocouple and everything else in a self-contained package. In a recent video [Big Clive] decided to not only poke at one of these T12 tips, but also do a teardown.

These elements have three bands, corresponding to the power supply along with a contact for the built-in thermocouple. After a quick trip to the Vise of Knowledge, [Clive] allows us a glimpse at the mangled remnants of a T12, which provides a pretty good overview of how these tips are put together.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, most of the length is a hollow tube through which the wires from the three contacts run. These power the ceramic heating element, as well as provide the soldering iron handle access to the thermocouple that’s placed near the actual tip.

With a simple diagram [Clive] explains how these T12 elements are then used to regulate the temperature, which isn’t too distinct from the average soldering iron with ceramic heating element, but it’s still nice to have it all integrated rather than having to try to carefully not damage the ceramic heater while swapping tips with the average soldering iron.

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A Cordless Soldering Iron With A Difference

February 3, 2025 by Jenny List 37 Comments

Many decades ago, when soldering was an activity more often associated with copper fabrication than with electronics, a soldering iron would have been a large lump of copper on a shaft with a wooden handle. You would heat it in a gas flame, and use its pointed end for your soldering. Electric irons have made this a thing of the past, but the basic idea is still one with some merit. [Shake the Future] is here with a modern take on such an iron, one that is heated in the microwave oven.

The business end of the iron is a normal soldering iron bit, but behind it is a piece of sintered silicon carbide wrapped in ceramic fibre and covered with Kapton tape and a high-temperature-resin 3D printed shield. On the back of that is a 3D-printed handle. The whole thing is put in the microwave oven for a few tens of seconds to heat to temperature, and thereafter, you have however long the thermal mass of the silicon carbide holds the temperature in which to do your soldering.

It’s an interesting idea that we can see has some use in situations where you need an iron for a quick job away from your bench but within reach of the kitchen. We like the lateral thinking, and it’s certainly fascinating to see the construction. But in an age of USB-C power packs and irons we have more convenient soldering on the go, so we’re not sure how useful it would be to us.

Silicon carbide is an interesting material, it’s not the first time we’ve written about it being used in a high temperature application.

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A dismantled drill on a cluttered workbench

Going Brushless: Salvaging A Dead Drill

January 29, 2025 by Heidi Ulrich 26 Comments

Let’s face it—seeing a good tool go to waste is heartbreaking. So when his cordless drill’s motor gave up after some unfortunate exposure to the elements, [Chaz] wasn’t about to bin it. Instead, he embarked on a brave journey to breathe new life into the machine by swapping its dying brushed motor for a sleek brushless upgrade.

Things got real as [Chaz] dismantled the drill, comparing its guts to a salvaged portable bandsaw motor. What looked like an easy swap soon became a true hacker’s challenge: incompatible gear systems, dodgy windings, and warped laminations. Not discouraged by that, he dreamed up a hybrid solution: 3D-printing a custom adapter to make the brushless motor fit snugly into the existing housing.

The trickiest part was designing a speed control mechanism for the brushless motor—an impressively solved puzzle. After some serious elbow grease and ingenuity, the franken-drill emerged better than ever. We’ve seen some brushless hacks before, and this is worth adding to the list. A great tool hack and successful way to save an old beloved drill. Go ahead and check out the video below!

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Testing At Scale

January 28, 2025 by Al Williams 15 Comments

We’ve said it before: building one-offs is different from building at scale. Even on a small scale. There was a time when it was rare for a hobbyist to produce more than one of anything, but these days, access to cheap PC boards makes small production runs much more common. [VoltLog], for example, is selling some modules and found he was spending a lot of time testing the boards. The answer? A testing jig for his PC board.

Big factories, of course, have special machines for bulk testing. These are usually expensive. [VoltLog] found a place specializing in creating custom test jigs using 3D printing.

They also have some standard machines. He did have to modify his PCB to accommodate special test points. He sent the design files to the company, and they produced a semi-custom testing jig for the boards in about a month.

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DIY Probe Clamps To Ease Your PCB Work

January 27, 2025 by Donald Papp 9 Comments

Those of us familiar with PCB work would agree that anything that helps hold probes secure and hands-free to components, traces, or test points is worth looking at. That’s where [2048bits]’ snap probe design comes in. With a little additional and inexpensive hardware, one can have all the hands-free probe clamps one’s workbench can fit!

That first link is where you’ll find a list of required hardware and the CAD files (in .step format) for the probe itself. The obvious approach to making the pieces would be to 3D print them, but we notice the design — while attractive — looks like a challenging print due to the features. We’re not the only ones to see that, and happily there’s already a remix by [user_2299476772] aimed at keeping the essential features while making them easier to print.

If you’re taking a DIY approach to PCB probes, we’d like to remind you that one of our readers discovered dental burrs make absolutely fantastic, non-slip probe tips. This seems like a good opportunity to combine two ideas, and having the CAD files for the probe clamp means modification is straightforward. Let us know on the tips line if you get something working!

[via Hackster]

A Low Voltage Solder Gun From Scratch

January 27, 2025 by Jenny List 15 Comments

We’re used to those high voltage projects which use a self-oscillating transformer circuit with a TV flyback winding, and we have even at times railed against them for their inefficiency compared to a real flyback circuit using the same parts. But what happens if the same idea is used to create a low voltage instead of a high one? [D. Creative] has a soldering gun project doing just this, making a low voltage at a very high current.

The video of the project is below the break, and while electrically it’s nothing unexpected, we’re taken by the quality of the build. All the parts come from scrap electronics, the main transformer is three ferrite cores with a piece of copper busbar as the secondary. The circuitry is built dead bug style, and it’s housed in a gun-style case made by hand from sheet Perspex. It takes 12 volt power from a laptop power supply, and feeds it to the oscillator which is perched up at the back of the device. The transformer fits in the “barrel”, and a pair of large capacitors fit in the handle. We expect it to get hot, but the duty cycle on these devices in use is probably low enough to keep it from melting.

We like anything that uses scrap parts to make something useful, and we’re particularly taken with the casing of this one. It looks as though the parts come from old switch mode power supplies, something we’ve been known to rob ourselves.

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Modulathe Is CNC Ready And Will Machine What You Want

January 20, 2025 by Lewin Day 14 Comments

Once upon a time, lathes were big heavy machines driven by massive AC motors, hewn out of cast iron and sheer will. Today, we have machine tools of all shapes and sizes, many of which are compact and tidy DIY creations. [Maxim Kachurovskiy]’s Modulathe fits the latter description nicely.

The concept behind the project was simple—this was to be a modular, digital lathe that was open-source and readily buildable on a DIY level, without sacrificing usability. To that end, Modulathe is kitted out to process metal, wooden, and plastic parts, so you can fabricate in whatever material is most appropriate for your needs.

It features a 125 mm chuck and an MT5 spindle, and relies on 15 mm linear rails, 12 mm ball screws, and NEMA23 stepper motors. Because its modular, much of the rest of the design is up to you. You can set it up with pretty much any practical bed length—just choose the right ball screw and rail to achieve it. It’s also set up to work however you like—you can manually operate it, or use it for CNC machining tasks instead.

If you want a small lathe that’s customizable and CNC-ready, this might be the project you’re looking for. We’ve featured some other similar projects in this space, too. Do your research, and explore! If you come up with new grand machine tools of your own design, don’t hesitate to let us know!

Thanks to [mip] for the tip!