Following up on a previous post about modifying the FX-888 - I’ve upgraded my soldering station to a Hakko FX-951. The main motivation for the upgrade was my work on tiny Accutron coils; the FX-951 has both better tips available, and more handle options including a very fine one, and another with off-the-shelf support for inert gas soldering.

The bases are obviously a bit different between the FX-888, and the FX-951; with the first being more of a technician or high end hobby tool, and the latter being a production tool. I prefer the analogue dial on the 888 to the pushbuttons on the 951, and would rather not have to deal with the key card on the 951, but the 951 fits better in my bench. The FX-951 system also adds a switch to the iron holder, which puts the iron to sleep to save tips.

But, the big difference to me, is in the handles. FX-8801 is the default handle included with the FX-888 (or FX-888D), and FM-2028 is the default with the FX-951. There are two substantial differences between these handles, which don’t seem to get mentioned in reviews much, so I’d like to highlight:

Tip-to-grip distance is much shorter with the FM-2028 - as can be seen in the photo its grip is about 4cm closer to the tip of the iron. This results in considerably finer control, especially with the 2028 also being a bit lighter and having a slightly more flexible cable than the 8801:

Hot tip changes are much quicker and easier with the FM-2028. Changing FX-8801 tips involves unscrewing a nut, removing a sleeve, then pulling the tip off the heating element - all of those parts are metal, which are hot when in use. To contrast, changing the tip (or “cartridge” - the tip and heating element are combined in to one piece) on the FM-2028 is simply done by squeezing tabs on the back side of the grip, and separating the cartridge+grip from the rest of the handle. The grips are relatively inexpensive (especially from aliexpress), so if you buy a couple spares, they can stay with the tip cartridge. And, most importantly, you don’t need to touch hot parts to swap tips!