iFixit Launches FixHub Portable USB-C Soldering System To Encourage Repair Projects

iFixit has created its own USB-C soldering iron and portable power station called FixHub, "designed to allow all types of users to handle soldering work wherever they may be," reports MacRumors. From the report: The Portable Power Station serves as the command and power center for FixHub, including a 55-watt-hour battery to support over eight hours of continuous soldering on a single charge. The power supply delivers up to 100 watts to a pair of USB-C ports, allowing it to run two soldering irons simultaneously, and the fact that it's simply a USB-C power output device means you can also use it to power or recharge an array of devices like phones.

The solidly built power station includes a handy display to show the status of your soldering iron, along with a convenient dial for adjusting the power being delivered to the iron, supporting temperatures up to 400C (750F). A flip-up bracket raises the front of the power station a bit to make the display easier to see while in use, while attachment points on the left and right side allow you to clip on the soldering iron's cap for convenient access as a stand. A USB-C port on the rear of the power station allows for up to 45 watts of input to recharge the station, and iFixit says it is safe to leave continuously connected to power so it's ready whenever you need it. [...]

iFixit is of course known for more than just hardware, and it has hundreds of free soldering guides on its website, ranging from the basics of soldering to specific repair projects. It also wouldn't be an iFixit product without repairability being front of mind, so the FixHub system is designed to allow for easy repairs and iFixit will be releasing a number of guides to help users replace batteries, repair parts, and more. Supplementing the FixHub is an optional Portable Soldering Toolkit, which provides an extensive set of tools and consumables to get you going on soldering projects. The USB Smart Soldering Iron and Portable Soldering Station are priced at $79.95 and $249.95, respectively.

$250 ??

[RitchCraft]

Wow, that's quite pricey. I get that it's portable but still. I can get a really nice Weller or Hakko bench unit for much less.

Re: $250 ??

[oneiros27]

About the only thing that I could think this MIGHT be useful for would be a HAM trying to make repairs during a power outage / disaster situation.

But then I remember that the HAM would need power to run their radio, so would need to have some sort of backup power anyway. ... and you can get a butane soldering iron for 1/3 the price

Maybe this would be useful in countries with regular blackouts, so Ukrainian drone assemblers could continue their work, then recharge when they have power again?

Re:

[ufgrat]

I bought a TS101 and a 145W powerbank for $80 each. Granted, because the powerbank is "only" 65W, the soldering iron takes 20 seconds to heat up instead of 10, but I think I can live with that.

And I have a 110v adapter that will put out the full 90W.

Re:

[retchdog]

is it still diy? I thought Eric "Do Some Evil" Schmidt's company White Stork was going to have off-the-shelf AI-enabled flying murderbots for ~$500 a pop or whatever.

I wonder if they will respect the "right to repair"? ;-)

Re:

[Powercntrl]

About the only thing that I could think this MIGHT be useful for would be a HAM trying to make repairs during a power outage / disaster situation.

Cordless tools of all sorts are convenient anytime the thing you're working on happens to not be in close proximity to an outlet. Thing is though, at some point it just makes more sense to get one of those Jackery-style portable power stations and just use inexpensive corded tools plugged into it.

I have some really cheap soldering iron that I got from Amazon and it works just fine plugged into this inverter I have, which uses the same 40v batteries as my yard tools. It will power the soldering iron for fa

Re:

[tlhIngan]

Thing is though, at some point it just makes more sense to get one of those Jackery-style portable power stations and just use inexpensive corded tools plugged into it.

Not really. Pros will generally use battery tools. If they have a portable generator, it almost exclusively is used to charge spare batteries. Not having a cord for others to trip over and pull the tool out of your hand is well worth it for safety of everyone concerned.

Though, they are often used for tools that don't have battery options - l

Re:

[serviscope_minor]

It's one of those things that's very much "it depends". Battery drills, impact drivers and so on have had so much work they're basically better than the corded equivalents anyway. If you have a ton of work, people just get a bunch of chargers and swap batteries.

Dust collection is available battery powered. Great for small jobs, but they are less powerful. Also, the wired ones have power takeoff. Festool have a remote control option, but then you're stuck in their product line for everything.

Re:

[thegarbz]

About the only thing that I could think this MIGHT be useful for would be a HAM trying to make repairs during a power outage / disaster situation.

Along side my trusty Hakko bench station I do have a small butane powered soldering iron. You'd be surprised how frequently it comes in handy to have something actually portable. Not everything can easily be dragged to my bench.

Re:

[r1348]

I think the idea behind this product is to allow soldering when an AC plug isn't available. Think of i.e. having to fix your drone during outdoor filming.
It's a niche product for niche use cases, but i don't think we need more AC soldering irons, there's literally hundreds available.

Re:

[drinkypoo]

e.g.

Re:

[ceoyoyo]

You plug your phone into a ~ hundred watt outlet all the time. A dumb one too, that's happy to provide those hundred watts to anything that wants them, including your finger. USB-C is a lot safer, you have to actually ask it for the extra power.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

I'd get a Hakko. Been around for decades, and you know you will be able to get new tips in 20 year's time. They also have a wide selection of bits available.

At least the iFixIt one comes with what looks like a bevel tip. Whenever I see bad soldering on YouTube it's almost always a conical tip. They are just useless for 99% of soldering tasks, and I'm sure many manufacturers supply them by default so you are forced to immediately buy a better one.

Re:

[serviscope_minor]

At least the iFixIt one comes with what looks like a bevel tip.

Boo to that! Hoof tip all the way. Best of both worlds. One way up it has a lovely wide area great for larger things. Rotate 180 degrees and you have effectively a really fine wedge tip. I've always found the wedge tip awkward and inflexible compared to a hoof. The only think I generally change a hoof for is a larger hoof.

Though IIRC I changed out for a conical top to deadbug a .5mm pitch QFN. Or maybe just used my finest hoof which might actual

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

I always use a bevel tip, slightly concave. You can load a small amount of solder and apply it to pins or wire easily that way. For QFN stuff I switched to using hot air. I got a cheap Yihua hot air gun off AliExpress, intending to upgrade to a proper one at some point, but it's actually be fine for everything I've ever needed. I'll add a hot plate at some point.

The Hakko tips are worth the investment, they last forever.

Re:

[serviscope_minor]

Bevel is the same as hoof, right?

I got one of those Chinese hot air+ solder station devices. I upgraded to a hakko 888 for the iron but still use the hot air for rework, but the iron for dead bugging. I got one of those much maligned eBay Chinese reflow ovens and I must say no complaints. A little uneven, but I haven't bothered with the firmware hacks honestly it's good enough.

I've seen the hot air stations let out the magic smoke from the main transformer though so I always and I mean always switch mine of

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

I mostly try to avoid doing too much soldering these days. Just pay to have stuff assembled by the same people making the PCB if it's not trivial. Or at least partially assembled.

I also have a few specialised soldering irons for specific things. The latest one was for heating the adhesive strips that connect LCD ribbons to pads, although my latest one isn't working for some reason. Was trying to repurpose an LCD clock.

It's about time

[50000BTU_barbecue]

If there's one thing that you never see anymore it's an AC outlet at a technician's shop

Re:

[thegarbz]

If there's one thing that you never see anymore it's an AC outlet at a technician's shop

Most tinkerers and technicians will realise that not every job can be done at their workstation. I myself have a butane powered soldering iron to go with my Hakko station and it comes in handy quite often.

I just got one from AliExpress

[gweihir]

Just the iron. A lot cheaper and I already have a 100W capable power-bank.

The hippy dippy solder man.

[az-saguaro]

I learned electronics and circuits and soldering with discrete components and DIP chips. This new system doesn't seem like it will help me solder surface mount devices, which I have yet to become good at. Wake me up when it can do that.

Re:The hippy dippy solder man.

[ufgrat]

I bought a flashlight, but it can't do laser engraving. Who should I complain to?

Re:The hippy dippy solder man.

[jenningsthecat]

This new system doesn't seem like it will help me solder surface mount devices, which I have yet to become good at. Wake me up when it can do that.

With a bit of practice and technique, you should be able to solder resistors and caps as small as 0603 with that iron. You can probably solder SOIC and some QFP devices as well, if the lead pitch isn't too fine - look up "drag soldering" if you're not familiar with it. But realistically, if you're doing much of that kind of work you really want a hot air setup. And even at that, de-soldering braid is sometimes your best friend, so be prepared to break out the iron anyway.

Re:

[az-saguaro]

Thank you, a good answer.

I am quite familiar with drag soldering, and I suck at it - thank you very much.

I know a guy who works at one of the big tech companies around here, Raytheon if I recall correctly. His biggest value to the company he says is that he can de-solder anything. He loves his braid. I guess even among the pros, whether due to design updates or "oh shits", custom and one-off devices need unplanned fixes now and then.

Re:

[jenningsthecat]

I am quite familiar with drag soldering, and I suck at it - thank you very much.

I'm self-trained at it, and in soldering in general, so what I'm about to say may just be an incorrect practice for some reason. But do you tilt the board to let gravity help? I tilt it so it's lower both on the side I'm dragging the tip toward and on the side that's away from the chip. I find that, and sufficient flux of course, very helpful.

Total aside - if you're removing a chip and don't have a vacuum tool to suck the body of the chip up when the solder melts, aluminum duct tape - as opposed to fabric d

Re:

[thegarbz]

Wake you when it makes you more skilled, or wake you when it can do the task with the appropriate skill. This soldering iron looks like it has a perfectly fine tip for soldering fine SMD devices, about the same as what I have on my soldering station.

I suggest some practice. You should be able to do surface mount devices on any soldering iron with a pencil tip, the exception being BGA or other devices with hidden pins for which you need a hot air station.

Davinci wasn't taught to paint by his brush.

Catch USB 22

[kackle]

One drawback: You can never solder the USB jack you're using.

Re:

[az-saguaro]

Funny you said that (clever indeed), because when I first read the title, I thought they had invented a device to solder USB ports, to put them on a board or fix broken ones. Yossarian!

Re:

[kackle]

Being that my mother just paid to have that done to her tablet, a quick, fix-it-yourself, USB tool wouldn't be a bad idea.

And how long until.

[vrhelmutt]

You need a subscription to use it? Will it need firmware updates? They brick it when it becomes obsolete?

Re:

[jenningsthecat]

You need a subscription to use it? Will it need firmware updates? They brick it when it becomes obsolete?

If you were familiar with iFixit's origins and history [wikipedia.org] you'd realize just just how unlikely it is that the things you suggested will ever happen.

Re:

[RitchCraft]

Very highly doubtful given iFixit's ethos, but I think they missed the mark on pricing for this iron. I can't imagine too many of them selling at this price point. Now I'm sure iFixit will counter the price with, "It's repairable so it will last longer", but the thing is that means it's easier to open which translates to easier (and cheaper?) to build.

If I'm gonna spend those bucks

[Revek]

I'm gonna buy me a better rework station.

Crazy price.

[ThumpBzztZoom]

Or you could buy a Pinecil USB-C powered soldering iron for $40. a 65W USB-C PD power bank for about $40, and I'm sure you can find a cable and stand for less than the remaining $170.

Sure, the Pinecil only goes up to 400C and not 420C like the iFixIt, but outside of special cases, if you need temperatures above 400C to solder (or even close), you're probably doing electronics wrong. I'm sure there are other brands of USB-C soldering iron that are similar, Pinecil is just the one I have.

Re:

[CaptQuark]

Actually, the Pinecil is still only $25.99 https://pine64.com/product/pin... [pine64.com]

And their desktop power station is only $37.99 https://pine64.com/product/pin... [pine64.com]

I have both and they work great for small soldering jobs. Adrian's Digital Basement review [youtube.com]

Re:

[BeaverCleaver]

Actually, the Pinecil is still only $25.99 https://pine64.com/product/pin... [pine64.com]

And their desktop power station is only $37.99 https://pine64.com/product/pin... [pine64.com]

I have both and they work great for small soldering jobs. >

Thanks for the link to that power station, it looks great. I wish it had a battery option though. A rack that could hold, charge and deliver USB-PD from a bunch of 18650 cells would be great. I know such portable power banks already exist, but they tend to be wildly overpriced "prepper" stuff, or dangerously cheap Amazon/Aliexpress stuff. Something midrange and open source from the Pine team would be welcome.

Re:

[ThumpBzztZoom]

I just checked Amazon for the price, I've owned it for a couple years now and forgot what I paid for it. So even cheaper than I thought.

Thanks for the link to that power station, it looks great. I wish it had a battery option though.

It does, just use a USB-C PD power bank, as I linked in my first post. It is way over spec for the power draw of a soldering iron, no idea why you think it would be dangerous.

Re:

[serviscope_minor]

if you need temperatures above 400C to solder (or even close), you're probably doing electronics wrong

How else do you solder enameled wire? The two other options I know of are 1. tediously scrape it off with a knife or abrasive (bonus points for nicking the wire and having to start again) and (b) burning it off with a lighter then slightly less tediously scraping off the carbonized crap.

The easy way is crank the iron to 480 degrees and then just tin it.

Re:

[ThumpBzztZoom]

outside of special cases, if you need temperatures above 400C to solder (or even close), you're probably doing electronics wrong.

You left out the important part of the quote.

Your choice to solder enameled wire in that particular way, when you know of at least two alternative methods that do not require the higher temperatures, is a textbook example of a special case.

Oh. USBC-powered

[bill_mcgonigle]

Darn, I thought this might be a clever dedicated jig for resoldering broken USB-C connectors.

Oh, well.

Doubious Article

[BrendaEM]

Companies often introduce soldering irons.

More discussion on Hackaday

[BeaverCleaver]

There's an in-depth review on Hackaday, and some good tidbits in the discussion that follows: https://hackaday.com/2024/09/1... [hackaday.com]