Soldering Station RT1: Portable, Hot, Rad
Riccardo Pittini's Weller RT tip-compatible soldering station has a lot in a small package.
Portability is a big draw here. The open source soldering station RT1, created by Riccardo Pittini, offers some pretty handy features to boot.
The easy to use and portable soldering station has a simple design that uses an external power adapter with a rating of 12V/5-10A. It can also run on 7-24V batteries. Compatible with Weller RT tips, it has a 1.8” TFT full color LCD screen with two independent channels. It’s fully programmable for preset temperatures ranging from 150-450C. The micro-USB port provides required firmware updates (Arduino Pro Micro 5V 16MHz) and can be used for serial monitoring, parameter tuning and debugging.
To turn the soldering station on/off, simply use the classic toggle power switch. Both heater 1 (channel 1, on the left) and heater 2 (channel 2, on the right) have mini jack connecters that can connect each soldering tip. There are also two buttons that select corresponding temperatures to each channel. Standard stuff. Button one selects the channel on the left and button two selects the channel on the right. Pressing either one of the buttons for three seconds will display the preset1 or preset2 to the set temperatures of the selected channel, which will be highlighted. Pressing either one of the buttons for six seconds will allow you to program the preset1 or preset2 temperature.
The display is neat. It will indicate whether or not the soldering station is on or off (a LED would have sufficed), along with preset, measured and set temperature for the channel. ON/OFF will indicate whether the temperature regulation is running and NC means there is no connection to the station. If the temperature is below 60C, it will display as LOW. As soon as the device is turned on, the preset temperature for the corresponding channels will be displayed on each side.
In the future, Pittini could develop the soldering station to add support for tracking function for both channels and the SMD tweezers, UVLO for battery functionality, and duty cycle programming via the UI.
I have a suggestion. A feature. Momentary button press “hell mode.” Turn the heat up to the max as long as you hold it down. Sold solder just won’t melt. Or maybe you want to send the iron tip through the PCB like butter. Whatever you want.