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Finally decided to buy the Hakko FR-301 desoldering gun over the cheaper knockoff, and honestly it made fixing that stack of five old VCRs feel like a breeze.
Tbh I was stuck for a week trying to clear those stubborn multi-pin connectors with my old pump, but the Hakko cleared each board in under ten minutes, so has anyone found a good source for replacement tips that won't break the bank?
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jordancarr2mo ago
Man, that reminds me of the time I melted a whole row of pads trying to fix a Game Boy.
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sean_green441mo ago
Melting a whole row of pads" - oof, I feel that pain. Did that to an old SNES once trying to swap a capacitor. The iron was way too hot and the tip was too big and I just dragged it across like a dummy. Learned my lesson after that - now I always test on a scrap board first and keep my iron at 300C max for old stuff. Those Game Boy boards are delicate too, the traces lift so easy if you breathe on them wrong.
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karencampbell2mo ago
Yeah, I got my last batch of tips from a seller on eBay called "circuit_doctor". They're not official Hakko, but they fit perfectly and I haven't had one clog yet after six months of steady use. They were about half the price of the ones from the big electronics sites.
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