Lead-Free Soldering Stations, Factory Direct
Separate heater, integrated cartridge, and two quite different kinds of induction – including one that needs no sensor at all. What each architecture actually buys you, and what it costs.
Sn63Pb37 melts at 183 C. SAC305 melts at 217-220 C. That 35-degree gap is the root of nearly everything that makes lead-free harder – including the dull joint you should not be trying to fix.
A soldering tip is a consumable, and it has a specific cause of death: hot tin dissolves the iron plating. Here is the metallurgy, the four other ways tips fail, and what actually extends their life.
Eddy currents, the skin effect, and why the tip is its own heater. With oscilloscope captures at the transformer primary, the secondary and the load – a square wave in, a clean sine out, both at about 203 kHz.
You set 350 C, your meter reads 342. Neither instrument is wrong. The sensor is not where the heat is, the signal is eight millivolts, and there are two different kinds of calibration in play.