Hot air station 858D

Tear down and modification of a hot air station

For a couple of years I have been using this Chinese hot air station. It was a yule gift from my better Womble.

I think maybe I should have pulled it apart years ago! However once it was plugged in it just got used until I had reason to unplug everything on the desk to rearrange things.

The item should really be replace with something more capable from what I read. However it is working and all I have for now. I

I decided to tear it down and improve what I could.

I found a few issues that mad me glad I had taken it apart.

First the mains fuse and switch were wired in the neutral phase. The fuse was a higher rating then I think necessary.

The mains plug was far from standard. The Earth pin is insulated and the small footprint had me thinking there was no internal fuse. I cut it open. I was expecting to find the rubber like outer shell covering a plastic inner shell. I was wrong it is all rubber moulded.

I terminated the mains switch and fuse input to the live side, replaced the fuse and fitted a standard UK plug with a 3 Amp fuse

Next my attention turned to the PCB where I adjust ed the output that was set to low to allow the unit to reach 450 to 500 degree as advertised. Mine was set to only reach about 370 degrees. This still needs to be calibrated. I recall seeing a website explaining the calibration sequence and how to access calibration mode once. I must look that up and finish the job properly at some point.

Perhaps the main reason for taking this apart in the first place was to extend the rather limited cable from the station to the heat gun. I roughly doubled the supplied length. Which is ideal on my work bench. I have used my own non conforming cable here. I used some Cat 6 cable that I keep for networking, 3d Printer builds and general odd jobs.