1y ago

Recommendation request: What is a good minimalist soldering iron setup for flashlight mods? (ANSWERED: Pinecil v2)

There are some great posts by experienced modders here. I’m not one, but I want to start making simple modifications beyond swapping reflectors. For example, swapping out a 5a linear driver for a 5a buck in a Convoy S6.

For a simple job like unsoldering two wires then soldering them, is there a small usb or battery-powered iron that would do the job without spending too much on the initial investment?

Any input is appreciated!

11 comments

Pinecil, TS80P, TS100, and TS101 are what you want to look into
- I'll second this. The Pinecil is probably the best bang for your buck that you're gonna get. Just be sure to grab some of the larger tips, especially the conical tips like the bc2 and c4
  
  I appreciate it! This looks like the one. Just going to look into the UI first but presumably I will only need to set a temperature or two and turn on and off, simple enough.
- Thank you for the great rec! Will check each of these out. Looks like the Pinecil runs something that might be (at first glance) the soldering iron counterpart to Anduril: IronOS.

I have a nice Weller soldering station that I use and have for years, but I find myself reaching for my Pinecil for flashlight stuff. It’s super handy and works with a usb c power adapter.
https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-soldering-iron/
- Thank you! I’ll also look into Weller’s product line for reference.
  The “smart” aspect of the pinecil gives me a slight pause as I wouldn't need it at the moment, but I suppose that just like in flashlights with Anduril I could simply ignore the advanced features.
  Edit: indeed, from IronOS
  the TL;DR is to press the button near the front of the iron to heat up
  
  The Weller I have is a WES50, probably a newer model out that’s similar. I don’t think they make it anymore. But I bought it 15 years ago and it’s still working great!

Also found this earlier thread (a bit late) with more details: https://lemmy.world/post/245083

11 comments