What is Reddit's opinion of Hakko 599B-02 Wire-type soldering iron tip cleaner?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

>The very tip does not seem to get hot enough to melt solder, but even a little bit down the iron (less than a cm) it functions as expected.

Are you sure it's not just the lack of wetting/tinning on the tip?

>I've seen mixed accounts online of whether I should use something abrasive to clean the end, is that advised for this particular iron/tip?

No pretty much never, unless you have an old weller soldering gun with an unplated copper tip. Once you expose the underlying copper, your tip dissolves.

You could use something MILDLY abrasive, like the brass tip cleaners.

https://smile.amazon.com/Hakko-599B-02-Wire-type-soldering-cleaner/dp/B00FZPGDLA/

>When tinning the tip, I apply flux and wrap solder around the tip and then heat it up to 300c

Seems like an unnecessary and ineffective method. Just get the tip hot, use lots of flux or dab flux core solder until it sticks in every spot.

> Having a lot of difficulty removing potentiometers from an old midi controller (i figure i can use these for projects) The solder especially on the smaller joints seems incredibly stubborn.

Add lead solder to the joint, a lot of stuff is soldered with lead free and it's hard to melt.

> Also, should I kill the heat after solder melts when tinning

You need to tin constantly when soldering, not like, once in a while. Always maintain the tinned state of your tip. Every time you set the iron down when you pick it back up you should be cleaning and retinning.

Sure thing! The one extra thing I got is this which is used to clean the solder off the tip as you go. I was using a sponge for a while but got tired of that because you lose heat using a sponge because you have to keep it moist so you have to wait a bit for the iron to heat up all the way again after cleaning it. I also tried using a dish cleaning brillo pad type deal which worked fine but left solder residue on my desk. If you're just doing one keyboard you can definitely just use a brillo pad or sponge or something, but if you're gonna be soldering somewhat regularly you might want something like that to clean your tip.

So I got into the first batch on massdrop for the WhiteFox by Matt3o. Price wasn't too bad, picked the Aria with Cherry MX browns, came out to 189 shipped I believe (I can look at massdrop, but I don't recall if that included shipping or not). I will say that this wasn't planned, or at least I didn't think it was planned. I thought I got the assembled version, but I actually got the kit. I contacted massdrop about it, who was very kind but simply told me what I ordered and provided the receipt. Yup, I fucked up... or did I?

For those who are like me, decent with there hands but never did this before don't sweat it. It isn't that hard, but here are a few tips (esp if you have a WhiteFox you need to assemble):

• Google. Matt3o had a great post on this with some videos / catchy music. There is also a video series from Input Club.
• Get a decent iron. I got the Weller WLC100 from Amazon, cost me 40 bucks with a thing of .3mm rosin core solder. I think the steel wool cleaner was another 5 bucks since I didn't trust a 500F tip against a sponge :)
• If you get the Weller WLC100, or any Iron that has a tip that looks like a screw driver get a chizzel tip. It was a pain in the ass to do the LED with that flat tip. I would recommend also a steel wool cleaner, not required but made cleaning the tip while the iron was hot easy as hell.

Soldering the switches was a breeze. Did I fuck up a few solders? Sure, but the switch works :) Did I fuck up a few of the LED and had to desolder / resolder them, fuck ya lol. The LED solder pads are fucking tiny. That is all I will have to say. My only tip would be take your time, and when you put the LED in make sure you bent the leads a bit to make sure they don't fall through (now you know why I had to desolder and resolder).

Besides that from unboxing to testing fully on my wife's laptop (ill get into that below, which is kinda funny) took me a little under 3 hours.. Not bad for a first time, and the feeling that I actually built something I will use for years to come is amazing. The keyboard overall is a joy to type on, and I love it.

The only non-keyboard related issue I had was with the LED actually. So I did the top row of LEDs, and then plugged it into my machine. Machine recognized the keyboard like it did with all the switch tests I did as I soldered them, the LED would turn on and then off about two seconds later. I panicked, checked the solder joints and then searched the internet. I got nowhere, so I emailed Mat3o. Since it was late, I went to my wife's laptop downstairs (mine is in the truck, and I am too lazy to undo the alarm to go outside and get it) and it worked fine. Everything worked fine. This computer will be formatted tomorrow since there is a number of issues I found with system files, thank you Windows 10 updates /s (I looked at the windows updates logs to when the issue started - or issues, and it was after an update which ended up corrupting a few system DLL).

TL;DR:

• Build my first mechanical keyboard
• Hate soldering LED(s), will never do it again
• Love the WhiteFox Aria

Edit

Does anyone understand how the hell you update the firmware?

Edit #2

Along with updating the firmware, a manual or at least tell me which controller is in here :)

Super Important Edit #3

Flash your firmware! /u/mister-la gave me a great article here but I wanted to add that for some reason my board came with some firmware issues which caused the LED issue. It was only happening on Windows 10 for whatever reason, and what would happen is the keyboard would be recognized by Windows and LED would turn on, along with do the little "device plugged in" noise. About 2-3 seconds later the keyboard would still function but the LED would not work, and then do the "device disconnected" chime. I did some Google FU along with searching the input club and realized back in late May they released a new firmware to solve a ton of USB bugs for the KLL board, which is what the WhiteFox runs.

I ended up following the article above except the GUI tool ended up crashing. What I did was take a blank Aria firmware from input.club, and flashing it with dfu-util.exe. It is really simple:

1) Download your firmware into a separate folder if you want, mine is C:\WhiteFox\Firmware

2) Download the KII-DFU into a separate folder. Mine is under C:\WhiteFox\KII-DFU

3) Open a command prompt as an admin (winkey + X, command prompt with admin) and then change directory to your KII-DFU folder (CD C:\WhiteFox\KII-DFU)

4) Connect a separate keyboard, and then on the back of your whitefox click the little button in the back of the keyboard (there is a hole in the frame so you can get to it with a small allen key). Hold it down until the keyboard disconnects from Windows and then release the button. It should be orange.

5) Run the following command, which will flash the firmware and then reboot the keyboard: KII-DFU.exe -D C:\WhiteFox\Firmware\kiibohd.dfu.bin

That is what fixed my keyboard, and now it works wonderfully. I think its pretty awesome how the configurator tool on Input Club allows you to remap a bunch of the keys with ease, and then using the command line flashing is a breeze.

Cheers!

1) buy some solder wick for removing solder where you screwed up.
2) buy a flux pen and use it often and generously.
3) lightly tin your pads and wires with solder before soldering them together. Don't use too much solder while tinning. A thin coat is perfect.
4) use a tool like forceps to hold wires in place while you solder.
5) with the soldering iron tip, apply pressure to both the wire and the pad at the same time -- put it right between them so you heat up both, then apply the solder to the wire and/or pad. The wire and pad both need to be hot enough to melt the solder. Don't apply the solder to the soldering iron tip itself.
6) buy some isopropyl alcohol and use it with an old toothbrush to remove the flux residue when you're done soldering. Flux helps the solder adhere to the wire and pads, and helps prevent oxidation, but when the soldering's done it should be removed. Some kinds can be slightly conductive and can have unwanted side effects in some circuits.

Edited to add: I forgot something -- watch out for anything that looks like tarnish or oxidation. All metal surfaces should be shiny and bright. If you see oxidation on the pad, or the soldering iron tip, it needs to be removed or you will have problems with both heat transfer and solder bonding. If the solder looks dull after you finished soldering the wire, it may not have adhered well to the pad. Flux will help, but only so much. I like these things for cleaning my iron tip. If a circuit board hasn't been stored properly, or if someone's grubby fingerprints are all over them, the connection pads can build up oxidation pretty fast. Prevention is the best solution -- flux early and often, and keep your grubby fingers off the pads. Removal of oxidation from pads is tough. You have to be really careful not to damage or lift them off the board.

one more thing: never, ever plug a Lipo into a circuit for the first time without going through a smoke stopper. Lipos can push amazing amounts of current and things can go very bad, very quickly.

If all this seems too much, yeah, buy a prebuilt quad. On the other hand, getting good at soldering is a really useful skill, and once you get decent at it, it's kinda fun. All the frustration you're going through now will seem like a distant memory. :-) Good luck!

Iron

Solder

Brass Sponge (optional)

The only things it doesn't come with that I would recommend picking up:

• Helping hands with magnifier and light
• Brass solder cleaner
• Solder sucker

Having a box cutter/razor and some little screw drivers has also proven helpful, but are definitely not necessary

That kit looks pretty good, though I haven't used it. From my own experience, I would recommend a couple of optional upgrades to be thrown in. First, a brass wire type soldering iron cleaner. The sponge on stations like these is fine, but it's much easier to clean with the brass type mid-project. There are cheaper versions available, but my experience is all with the Hakko. Second, I've never had luck with those wire cutters. I've had much more luck with strippers that give separate holes for each gauge. Here's a cheap one and here's the Hakko pair I have.

Like I said, these are optional as the kit comes with basic solutions for both of these tools, but maybe something to think about for the future.

I'd also add this tip cleaner, and a flux pen. Makes everything much easier.

Hakko 599B-02 Solder Tip Cleaning Wire and Holder https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FZPGDLA/

SRA #99-20 Rosin RMA Soldering Flux Pen - Refillable https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008OC3VMU/

I'm sure that kit will serve you fine for a while. You could definitely get a better value shopping for pieces individually, though.

Get one of these and throw that sponge away.

This is a great intro to soldering.

Loose the wet sponge and get a brass sponge/wire to clean your tips.

Hakko 599B-02 Solder Tip Cleaning Wire and Holder Hakko http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FZPGDLA/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_1MHPub0NEFXNF

I've used both the WESD51 and a few Hakko stations, they're both great. Personally I have the WESD51 because its easier for me to get tips, but either way hakko and weller and both pretty good, definitely go for the digital if you can afford it. Also I'd get a few spare tips and a tip cleaner along with some no clean flux. But I wouldn't get just a reflow, unless all you do is SMD, which you can totally do with a slightly steadier hand and an iron.