When UPS runs out of soccer balls

[PoDuck]

I decided to buy a relatively cheap hot air station as a spare that gets good reviews, so I put in an order with Adafruit for a Quick 957DW+. When it got here, I opened it, and everything looked fine on the outside, but I heard a hell of a rattle that shouldn't be heard. Thinking it might be something simple, I opened it up and saw this:

I have never seen such a thing in my life. It had to take a hell of a fall. If you look, that transformer hold down is bent out, and the bolts broke through the holes. The pots on the front are apparently all that hold that circuit board in place, and they are pulled apart.

Luckily Adafruit quickly replied and is sending me out another one, and told me to dispose of this one responsibly. Well, responsibly to me means repair it so it doesn't end up in a landfill, so I guess I get two for the price of one.

 

[PoDuck]

Well, that was actually a very simple fix. I straightened out the sheet metal around the transformer , and put it back together and in place. I then removed the front pieces of the pots from the front panel, straightened out the sheet metal on those, put them back together, and bent the tabs around to hold them in place. Then I put everything back together, and it works perfectly.

After playing with it a bit, this thing is surprisingly good. I have an old Hakko FR801, and I might even like this one better. It is quieter, it has a digital display of the temperature, and although I haven't done any good comparative testing with it yet, it seems to work about as well in terms of getting chips off boards. On top of that, it doesn't take up as much bench space.

Since this is for my second bench, I didn't want to go spending $500+ on a hot air station, but I didn't want to try another cheap Chinese station. I got one of those really cheap $30 hot air stations once, and was not impressed. The tips on it would fall off really easily, the temperature wasn't very stable, and it sounded like a jet engine. On top of that, after using it half a dozen times, it got stuck increasing the temperature somehow, and almost caught fire.

Who knows, when the new one comes, I may use it in place of my Hakko, at least for a while. If it works as well, it can't hurt.

 

[sonoma]

I bought a Hakko about 4 years ago and when I got it the same thing had happened. . the transformer was broken loose and the main board was knocked off the pegs it mounted too. got another sent out to me so have 2 also. the seller told me to just keep the broken one for parts. it was a easy repair also. the postal services thrown packages like they are a soccer ball. tell ebay sellers I buy radios from to make sure they package the radio good due to how the packages get thrown around so much. some will do it and some will not. . no telling how many radios I have received all broken up. mainly the knobs and switches broken.

 

[nomadradio]

Reminds me of some med-therapy equipment we serviced 30-plus years ago.

Shipments from the northeast that arrived via UPS would have every, single threaded fastener loose and rattling around in the bottom of the carton. As if someone had painstakingly unscrewed every bolt and nut inside the thing.

The explanation I found was that UPS had a bottleneck problem sorting shipments from that part of the country. They hired a subcontractor who used a vibrating conveyor in their facility. I had always thought those were used only for moving small-particle stuff like grain or gravel up a stepped "ladder" by vibrating the surface.

But it turns out someone adapted it to moving cartons uphill in a sorting facility.

Bad idea for threaded fasteners. The vibration will loosen them until every threaded screw, nut and washer is in a pile at the bottom of the carton.

Sure hope they don't try that again.

Again.

73

 

[PoDuck]

Update on this thing. I think it is actually a slight bit stronger than the Hakko. It seems to be at least as good. These Hakko stations sell used for $350-$400. This Quick unit sells new for $97.50 through Adafruit, and $90.25 at Tequipment.net. So far, I haven't been able to see any huge difference between the two though. The specs say that the Hakko unit is 430 Watts, while the Quick is 580 watts.

I used each one to remove a ram chip from a board. The Quick took about 50 seconds, and the Hakko took about a minute. They were identical chips from different identical boards.

As for shipping damage, I have seen transformers yanked out of the sheet metal on things before, but not little ones like the one in this hot air station. It has always been the large transformers that have a bit of gravity to them. Like a a few pounds. This one probably weighs half a pound. My guess is that the transformer is what tore off the front board too. The transformer got torn loose, and hit into the front panel, which ripped it off the potentiometers. I guess that says something for the build quality of the board though. I didn't have any parts fly off the board itself. No apparent solder joint problems. No cracks, etc.

 

[CyberRider]

...and told me to dispose of this one responsibly. Well, responsibly to me means repair it so it doesn't end up in a landfill, so I guess I get two for the price of one.

I interpret "dispose of [it] responsibly" to mean that I shouldn't chuck it over the fence into my neighbor's yard. But also, I have no clue how to repair it.

 

[Handy Andy]

They are a lot like those puzzles you get at the toy store - only they aren't made out of cardboard...

 

[PoDuck]

I interpret "dispose of [it] responsibly" to mean that I shouldn't chuck it over the fence into my neighbor's yard. But also, I have no clue how to repair it.

I think just about anyone could have repaired this one. It looked much worse than it was. A bit of bent metal was straightened out with a pair of pliers and everything fit back together just fine.

 

[Rwb]

I interpret "dispose of [it] responsibly" to mean that I shouldn't chuck it over the fence into my neighbor's yard. But also, I have no clue how to repair it.

its like those easy assemble kits we buy thats furniture and kids playthings.open the ripped up directions ,get a cup of coffee n try to read tore up directions.when coffee is all drank,package it all up n return to walmart

 

[PoDuck]

Another update. Here is a video of the replacement they sent. LMAO

I am apparently the luckiest guy in the world.

 

[Dmans]

PoDuck,
Another call to Adafruit? Third times a charm!!

Unbelievable construction and packaging! Lock nuts have been around for a loooooooong time!

73's
David

 

[PoDuck]

I would like to complain, but I don't care to try and return this one. I have two now for the price of one, they both work fine, and I would feel like I was taking advantage.

They don't make it easy to just complain to Adafruit. I would have to send a message for some other reason, such as suggest a return again. I would like to get the message to Quick that they need to start putting loctite on their nuts to keep them from backing out during shipping though.

 

[Handy Andy]

This type of shipping speaks volumes of Adafruit.

I'm reconsidering NOT looking at their kits...

 

[PoDuck]

This type of shipping speaks volumes of Adafruit.

I'm reconsidering NOT looking at their kits...

I don't know where the damage happened. It seemed packed in Adafruit's box just fine. I think it's more a problem with Quick cutting corners myself. If they had simply used some cheap locking washers, I believe both problems could have been avoided. The first, because the transformer would not have pulled over the top of the screws, and the second, because the nuts would not have backed off so easily.

 

[Handy Andy]

Well, there's the rub, I can't exactly tell Adafruit how to do their packing so they can ship anything anywhere and it'll survive a drop from the ISS and subsequent reentry then promise to make it land ten feet from my doorstep when smacked by a drone playing catch with the latest Snapchat hottie parking out behind the local Speedway...

But what I can do is wait and see if short hops from local places arrive in better condition - a lot of the "kits" I'm looking at, in Adafruit, used to be available at Radio Shack locally before they went - well, - away...

I don't want the parts to be scattered between the post office, UPS DHL and Ship N' Shaft Delivery Service...

It's just sad to see you having such issues, it looks like there's' something if a vendetta against shipping companies...

"Oh look another Adafruit."

The other guy grabs the box, tosses it out on the ground....

"What are you doing?"

"Wait for it"

A School bus full of kids screaming rolls by and over the box...

Both amused, watch in amazement as the box rolls tumbles slowly to a stop along the curb...

Ok, we got our money out of it - those cheap <*EXP!*>

Hard to find good help these days...