RT soldering pen

Name: RT soldering pen
SKU: 13142
Price: 70.00 USD
Availability: OutOfStock
Rating: 4.78 (15 reviews)

(15 Reviews)

Soldering pen for Weller RT tips with OLED display - assembled and tested PCB

Designed by vlk in Czechia

$70.00

Out of Stock

Sold out since Sep 05, 2023

Soldering pen for Weller RT tips with OLED display - assembled and tested PCB

RT soldering pen Every hardware hacker needs a good soldering tool. The idea was to build my own but with very specific qualities. On one side it's not so expensive, on the second side, it's high qua…

RT soldering pen

Every hardware hacker needs a good soldering tool. The idea was to build my own but with very specific qualities. On one side it's not so expensive, on the second side, it's high quality and also small with precise control and features.

I found some projects which used Weller soldering tips designed for a WMRP soldering iron with standard 3.5mm jack and inside the tip is also thermocouple for sensing temperature. These tips has great quality, especially for fine soldering.

The hardware design is based on similar projects but with some modifications and improvements. Also my request was to make the hardware as small as possible to fit into the handle and capable to supply from hobbyist LiPO battery (2S to 4S) to be mobile.

This Soldering pen is my initial product and is sold as it is - only PCB, without enclosure, if you want, you can make a case yourself (use your 3D printer or CNC milling machine, ...). Ideas are welcome. If sales are successful, I will also add the case.

Basic specification and features:

Supported pens: all Weller RT tips with 3.5mm JACK.
Supply voltage: 5 - 18V (recommended: 7 - 15V)
Supply current: pulse with peaks to 5A @10V, 6A @12V, 8A &16V, .. (average resistance of RT heating elements is 2 Ohm, so current peaks depends on supply voltage)
Supply current in idle: max 15mA
Regulation: PSD (PID) regulator with PWM power transfer (125ms period)
Set-point temperature: 50°C - 500°C
Maximum measurable temperature: 999°C
Maximum heating power: is limited by SW to 40W or by supply voltage: 40W @11V, 20W @8V
Heating speed: 30°C -> 300°C: about 4s with RT-2 pen and 40W limit
Temperature accuracy: about +/-5°C (calibration is planed)
Other features: Celsius / Fahrenheit, right / left handed mode, normal / advanced mode display
Full reverse polarity protection with FET-diode
Protect display by turning off while device is inactive for 15 minutes
Brightness setting
4 Layer PCB
FW updating: by any SWD programmer (ST-Link) actual firmware, firmware is still under active development

User manual

Warranty:

This product is sold "AS IS" without any warranty if you broke this or for any damage or injury caused by this product! But in general, all products are fully tested, and no broke items are sent. Also it can happened that some problems can be found, then contact me, within 30 days you are entitled to a refund or you can get new working item.

License

Product is open source under GPL and also open hardware. Source code can be found at GitHub.

Support: at Github issues or also comments at hackaday.io

Package includes:

Assembled PCB, tested with latest FW: "RT soldering pen HW v1.1"

RT TIP is not included!

Production:

This product is made in Slovakia (EU)

Shipping:

Orders are shipped from Slovakia.

No country selected, please select your country to see shipping options.

Change Destination Country:

Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

Product: (5.00)

Documentation: (4.60)

Shipping: (4.73)

Communication: (4.80)

Tomáš | March 13, 2024

Great little package

It's a makers must have. It heat's up quickly, uses Weller tips. I have no complains beside the fw. The seller should implement adjustable automatic cool down. Overall it's great. Thanks

Sukandar | March 28, 2021

my new favourite iron

It's amazing how fast this tiny board heats up the tips. It's great to have such a capable iron on the road - however I like it so much, this might even become my main stationary solution! Thanks also for making the source available - I might like to try some mods, e.g. I'm not sure the two button control is optimal for me, as I still prefer the simplicity of a single analog knob. Also looking forward to making a nice case for it.
The Weller tips are new to me - curious to see how long the tip life is compared to my other irons.

Frank | April 11, 2020

What a fantastic little device!

Finally got mine yesterday. It's no fault of vlk, he packed and shipped my order within hours of me placing it, it's just the reality of shipping from CZ to the US, especially right now.

I have no words to express how much I love this thing. I bought a 2.2mm chisel tip to start because it's a nice middle of the road size for the soldering I do. It is at least as good on big pads and wires as the 5mm tip on my Hakko station, if not even better. It heats up literally within seconds, like the video shows. It's really easy to set two temperatures and switch between them as needed. It's very comfortable with the Weller tips.

vlk has been super responsive when I had questions, and given me helpful recommendations.

The only issues I have are no fault of the device or its builder. 1) The case that I printed for it doesn't fit all that well. It's probably a combination of my print not being perfect and the tolerances being a little tight. So I'll have to work out a solution to give it a nice case. And 2) my Hakko 888D will complain that I never use it anymore, because I don't think I will. This little portable iron is going to be my soldering iron for all the work I do. I have a 12v supply on my bench, and when I'm away from the bench, I can put a 3S LiPo in my pocket.

Just, absolutely fantastic. Best soldering iron I've ever had in my life.

Micah | March 10, 2020

Amazing product and communication

Amazing product especially when you print the case for it, the product arrived on time and the seller responded to my messages within 1 day. The documentation is kind of hard to find as you have to browse through a github repository to find it and it isn't complete as I had some (pleasant) surprises that were not in the documentation but overall I enjoy this product.

Yakov | Feb. 24, 2020

Yakov

The soldering iron received, the quality is very good. Delivery was fast. I recommend printing the soldering iron body on an SLA printer! Thanks!

Berk | Jan. 31, 2020

Warmly recommended

Awesome soldering pen, very good for SMD soldering. Interface is really intuitive, and the soldering iron itself seems to be faster than a Weller station.
You might want to 3D print the casing which is linked and do some mild shaving/sanding on the inside of the casing - If it's slightly off, it'll break the screen when you try to close it.
Overall great product.

Gregor | Jan. 23, 2020

Awesome

Update 18-1-21: just came back here to say I'm still in love with this. Used it on the road today and am amazed every day at the performance.
---

Great hack of the Weller ecosystem. Thanks for creating this! It's working wonderfully. I'm curious what the guys at Weller will think about this ;-)

Arturo Sekhmet | Nov. 18, 2019

easily converted into a desktop station

Amazing design, but without a case I find it kinda uncomfortable to work with, so... My solution?.

I installed the board inside a small box with a fixed power supply, used an 3.5 male to female extension and it works perfectly.

Is not portable anymore but it heats RT tips in seconds, even a heavy work tip is heated in just 15 seconds to 400 degrees.

And my handle is more comfortable to use this way, I may need to upgrade in tje future, but right now I'm in love with this project, it matches perfectly my TS100, even worked together to take out some components, now I have two irons hehehe.

Keep the good work.

P | Nov. 1, 2019

Bravo! Excellent product which does the job!

Amazing implementation of the idea, I really like it!

It's easy to use and it just works! Nice menu options, very intuitive and complete.
Overall I think this is a very good and professionally implemented design, and would recommend it to anyone serious about this.

Thanks for all the hard work!

Cheers,
Peter

Jon | Sept. 10, 2018

Works well

A good product that works as expected. I tried it with a heavy duty, shielded mini-jack cable and it seemed to work fine. I don't have anything to check temperature, so I can't say if this controller is accurate or suffers from any overshoot. Would be interesting to see some data.

If you like Weller RT tips, this is a good way to go. Making your own controller will take a lot of time and Weller's controllers are expensive.

Kelvin | Sept. 8, 2018

Great product

This has to have been one of the best purchases that I have made in some time! Having got it setup now (and designed and printed a case for it) I can say this is better than my dedicated thermally controlled soldering iron.

It heats up amazingly quickly and is at it's operating temperature within seconds. The display (I went with the white) is a little dim but perfectly legible and gives all the information needed to use it. The buttons on the side are, understandably, a little small and my case design uses them directly so I need to use a finger nail to adjust. On the plus side this means it is hard to accidentality change the settings while in use.

If there is one thing I wish was different is the programming process to update when new firmware becomes available. It would have been nice if it used an Arduino like serial interface, however I understand this is more due to the uP and its method of programming.

Overall if you are looking for a small temperature controlled soldering iron this is a brilliant device (after a bit of DIY for a case etc!)

Matthew | Aug. 20, 2018

Awesome little soldering iron

Really great innovative product with a nice user interface, a quality soldering iron for 10x less.
Shipping to AUS could be a bit faster but not the sellers fault :)

Vladimir | Aug. 16, 2018

Made a case

Made a simple case with the acrylic tube 16mm.
I had to make small recesses for the buttons.
http://www.picshare.ru/view/8921379/

Claus | Aug. 9, 2018

Super handy, nice design

Very nice formfactor and intuitive to use, my new best friend (in the soldering pen category that is ;-)
Initially it didn't want to heat up when connected to a 4S LiFe (A123) pack of 13.7V, but this was fixed in firmware 0.2.0, thank you.
The shrink wrap tubing 'casing' is fine with me, but if a nice case comes out I will of course consider it.

Robert | Aug. 2, 2018

Well designed and a joy to use!

Although there is a bit of DIY work when you get it, it is well worth it! Interface is simple and intuitive. A reasonable sized 3 cell Li-Po battery pack provides a great portable power unit that makes this the perfect soldering solution on the road as well as in the shop. I found some very flexible AWG 20 wire for power and a bit of clear heat shrink for a case and made this the perfect lightweight soldering too. Well done!

+ Show 10 more

$70.00

Out of Stock

Sold out since Sep 05, 2023

vlk

Prague, Prague, Czechia

Ships from Slovakia.

15 Reviews | 247 Orders

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RT soldering pen

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Soldering pen for Weller RT tips with OLED display - assembled and tested PCB

RT soldering pen

Basic specification and features:

Warranty:

License

Package includes:

Production:

Shipping:

Rates to

Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

Great little package

my new favourite iron

What a fantastic little device!

Amazing product and communication

Yakov

Warmly recommended

Awesome

easily converted into a desktop station

Bravo! Excellent product which does the job!

Works well

Great product

Awesome little soldering iron

Made a case

Super handy, nice design

Well designed and a joy to use!

Out of Stock

vlk

We thought you'd like these too…

AxxSolder 3

PCB Reflow Soldering Heat Plate

PortaStation: The Portable Soldering Station

Aluminum soldering tabletop, size 80x45cm