Review of the KSGER 2-in-1 soldering station with T12 tips and hot air gun

A year ago, I reviewed a Chinese soldering station built around T12 tips and an STC controller. I planned to buy a hot air gun for it, but, as often happens, my plans changed while I was comparing options and looking around. Browsing the selection at the KSGER T12 Store, where I was looking for a hot air gun, I came across a versatile 2-in-1 soldering station with an STM32 controller. Today, I’d like to share my review of it with you.

Shipping and packaging
The station cost $188.78 at the time I bought it."
I placed the order on October 17, and less than a month later I picked it up at the post office. To be honest, I was sure it would be delivered to my home by a courier service. That’s how all the large boxes I’d ordered from China recently had arrived. But this one was delivered by Russian Post. The well-known changes to customs clearance hadn’t happened yet, so I didn’t mind who delivered it.
Everything was packed in a cardboard box bearing the store’s name and a QR code linking to its AliExpress page.


The inside of the box was lined with pieces of foam, but unfortunately not completely. One large piece of foam was missing.


I was lucky, and my station arrived undamaged. Perhaps that was because the station and hot air gun were also wrapped in bubble wrap.


What’s included
Inside, I found the station itself, a hot air gun, hot air nozzles, a soldering iron handle, a T12-K tip (hoof tip), and a power cord with a European plug. Everything matches the listing on the website.


Let’s take a closer look at each item.
T12-K tip. The packaging bears the manufacturer’s name, KSGER, and says it was made in China. HAKKO isn’t mentioned anywhere, and personally, I prefer this kind of honesty to unbranded counterfeits.


The tip is 155 mm long and extends 68 mm from the handle. It weighs 8 g. The heating element’s resistance is about 8.7 Ω.
The tip is well tinned, and solder wets it and stays on well. You can read more about possible uses for T12-K tips on the official HAKKO website. Here’s a diagram from the same site.


This is actually my favorite tip (I bought my first station with the same kind of tip), and I use it as an all-purpose tip. I’ve read on forums that the K-type tip has a very thin, flat copper core, so the temperature at the tip differs significantly from the temperature where the thermocouple is located. In practice, it’s very comfortable to work with, and I haven’t run into any problems. I’ve already bought other tips from this store. I have no complaints about them; the quality is perfectly acceptable, but I use them much less often.
Soldering iron handle (951). This handle is well known to users of Lukey soldering irons with 900-series tips. Its advantage is that the tip is held securely by a nut and won’t rotate while you’re working—for example, when removing components.


Inside is a special circuit-board insert for T12 tips, with a ball switch (for Standby and Sleep modes) and a thermistor (for cold-junction temperature compensation) soldered onto it. If you like, you can replace the ball switch with a mercury switch. It’s more sensitive and reliable, and it doesn’t rattle.


The seller’s photo shows a different ball switch; my old handle has exactly the same one.


The tip extension (68 mm) on this handle works fine for me and doesn’t cause any discomfort while working. Other types of T12 handles are available too, such as the FX-9501, which has a shorter tip extension. I have one, but I don’t like it. Here it is next to the handle I’m reviewing.


The cable is soft silicone and can withstand high temperatures. It’s 5 mm in diameter. It connects to the soldering station via a GX12-5P aviation connector and is secured with a nut. The wiring inside my handle also differs from what’s shown in the seller’s photo.


The seller’s photo shows a different arrangement.


The handle is 135 mm long (162 mm with the rubber cable protector). It weighs 80 g with the cable and connector. The handle itself weighs about 42 g.
The hot air gun has a turbine in the handle.




The hot air gun is easy to disassemble: just remove the 2 screws and the plastic protective cover over the metal tube. The design is standard. It’s worth noting that the controller in this station is configured to work only with this particular hot-air gun. If you connect a gun with a heating element of a different resistance, temperature regulation won’t work correctly.






The cable is silicone as well, and quite flexible. It’s 6 mm in diameter. There’s no connector on the station itself, so you can’t disconnect the gun without opening the case. At the other end of the cable are plastic connectors that plug directly into the circuit board. I think a GX16-8 connector would have been more convenient. The photo shows how the gun cable is attached to the inside of the front panel.



The hot-air gun handle is 220 mm long and weighs about 190 g.
To activate Standby mode, place the gun on the special stand, which has magnets on the sides. They need to make contact with the reed switch in the gun handle. The stand is attached to the right side of the station. I’m not too keen on this position (it takes up a lot of space), so I’ll come up with something later—perhaps I’ll move it above the station.



The gun comes with 4 metal nozzles of different diameters. Their inner diameters are 11, 7, 4.5, and 2 mm. They fit onto the gun quite securely.


The station’s aluminum case looks absolutely fantastic! The clean, professional design is slightly let down by the unevenly installed OLED displays, though you can’t see that in this photo. The front decorative panel is made of brushed aluminum. Besides the displays, it has the encoder knobs, the soldering iron connector and hot-air gun cable, as well as an extra button for switching off the gun.


The port marked VACUUM isn’t used in my version of the station; it’s for connecting a desoldering pump. I might buy a handle and compressor for it someday—the circuit board is fully equipped to support it. I found photos of this station with compressors installed.




Case dimensions.


The side and rear panels are painted black.




The bottom is also a black-painted panel, with soft feet.


The power switch is on the back, which isn’t very convenient in my case. It’s combined in one unit with the fuse and mains inlet. The switch only breaks one wire, which isn’t ideal.
You can see the power cord with its European plug in this photo.


Disassembly
To open the case, you have to remove quite a few screws. They also have different heads: the sides and rear use countersunk Phillips screws, while the front has decorative hex screws.
Inside are 3 circuit boards: the power supply, the controller board, and the power board.


Let’s take a closer look at them.


The power supply board is mounted in the case on brass standoffs, which earns the manufacturer extra points right away.


I liked the soldering quality, and the board itself looks good too. The manufacturer clearly put in some effort.



My UNI-T UT61E measured 23.9 V at the power supply output. A quick calculation for the included tip, with its 8.7 Ω resistance, gives a power output of about 65.6 W. It won’t deliver the advertised 75 W.
The input has a quick-connect terminal block, a fuse, an X2 capacitor, a dual-winding choke, a KBP307 bridge rectifier, and an NTC 5D-9 thermistor to limit the capacitor's inrush current.


The input capacitor has a capacitance of 82 mF and is rated for 400 V.


The high-voltage switch is an N-channel MOSFET, 20N60C, rated for 600 V.

PWM controller.


The interwinding noise-suppression capacitor is a Y-type JNC JN222M.


Feedback optocoupler.


The output diode is an MBR20200CT, with plenty of headroom.


The output filter includes a noise-suppression choke.


And two 1000 mF capacitors rated for 35 V each.


You could say all the components are correctly selected and have plenty of headroom. Every component is soldered in; there are no empty spots. The power supply passes with flying colors!
The next board controls power to the hot-air gun (and more), so let's call it the power board. It's soldered directly to the switch assembly. The red and black wires coming off it carry 220 V to the power supply. If you're assembling a similar station yourself and connecting the power supply, be careful! Don't connect these wires to the power supply output.


Slots divide the board into two sections: high-voltage and low-voltage. They are connected by a current transformer and an optocoupler.
The current transformer is on the underside of the board, and its markings aren't visible. I couldn't get a good photo of the underside without desoldering the board, but there's nothing interesting there—just a few resistors and capacitors, and a couple of diodes.


A 400 V optocoupler with a triac output, MOC3020 from Fairchild Semiconductor.


The power switch is a BTA16 MBR triac.


The connector above it, labeled POUT1, supplies power to the hot-air gun's heating element. Other manufacturers' soldering stations, such as Lukey, use a similar heater circuit, which has a significant safety drawback. If you leave the station on, even with the hot-air gun switched off, a voltage spike could cause the BTA16 triac to fail short, sending 220 V to the heater. With the fan off, the hot-air gun will quickly catch fire. So don't leave the station unattended, and when you're not using it, unplug it from the mains—or at least switch it off using the switch on the back panel. One possible modification is to add a relay in series, or at least a varistor to absorb voltage spikes.
There are four connectors on the low-voltage section of the board, but only two are used in this version of the soldering station: CIN and POWER. The other two connectors are for connecting desoldering pumps.
Two small ICs sit below the POWER connector. Their markings aren't visible in the overall photo: a linear voltage regulator, LM2940IMPX-5.0/NOPB (L53B), and an N-channel MOSFET, 4800B. I took a separate photo of them.


The controller PCB is secured by two encoder nuts on one side and an extra screw on the other. It carries the STM32 controller and its supporting components, connector contacts, displays, and encoders.




Here's the controller board with the wires disconnected. The only wire that's soldered rather than connected through a plug powers the hot-air gun's illuminated power button.


The front side has nothing on it except the encoders and two display boards. Unlike on the 2.1S soldering station board, the crystal is on the other side.


The last photo shows that the upper display is crooked. It's attached to the board with double-sided tape. I carefully peeled it off the little board and stuck it back on straight.


The whole station is controlled by an STM32F101CBT6. It's a fairly powerful and promising 32-bit microcontroller. The soldering stations support, in addition to the standard functions, a tip database, 3-point calibration for custom tips, and presumably more precise PID control.


Below it, at the very bottom of the board, is an ATHYC532 EEPROM that stores settings and tip profiles.


Right in the center of the board, we can see a connector for a 3 V battery (CR2032) and a watch crystal. The battery is connected to pin 1 of the STM32, and the crystal to pins 3 and 4.


In the upper-right corner, you can see an 8-pin chip: a TPC8107 MOSFET, which is often used in laptops to control battery charging. On our board, it controls power to the T12 heating element.


Here are a couple more photos of areas of the board with voltage regulators.



The seller's website has a couple of diagrams showing how everything connects, which make it easier to explain what goes where. This photo shows the power board as well as the controller board.


There are 9 connectors on the board, of which only 7 are used. In the center of the board is a small connector for the battery; it isn't labeled in the diagram. Then, going clockwise from the upper-left corner:
The first 2 connectors are unused: UART (for connecting to a computer) and SWD (Serial Wire Debug) for programming the microcontroller.
In the upper-right corner is the POWER connector, which supplies the board with 24 V from the power supply. Below it is the connector for the soldering iron handle—or, more precisely, for the GX12-5 connector that the handle plugs into.
In the lower-right corner is the COUT connector, which links the controller board to the power board via a cable. This cable carries signals for controlling power to the hot-air gun's heating element and returns feedback from the measuring transformer.
On the bottom edge is a 5-pin connector, of which only 4 contacts are used. One of the hot-air gun handle's connectors plugs into it. From left to right: reed switch, thermistor (for cold-junction temperature compensation), common wire, and thermocouple.
To its left is the connector for the hot-air gun's power button.
The hot-air gun's blower connects to the connector on the left side of the board.
The soldering iron handle wiring diagram is shown in the next photo.


Specifications
1) Soldering iron power: 75 W
2) Soldering iron temperature range: 150-480°C.
3) Hot-air gun power (heating element): 800 W
4) Maximum hot-air gun temperature: up to 550°C.
5) Automatic cold-junction temperature compensation over a range of 9-99°C.
6) PID temperature control, with temperature stability of 2°C (no load).
7) 5 temperature presets.
8) Full library of Hakko T12 tips and desoldering tips, plus six additional custom settings for less common tip types.
9) Automatic standby mode (the activation delay can be set from 1 to 60 min).
10) Automatic sleep mode (the activation delay can be set from 1 to 60 min).
11) Two OLED displays (one each for the soldering iron and hot-air gun).
12) Automatic sleep mode for the hot-air gun: place the handle in its holder to cool it down automatically before switching it off.
13) Digital adjustment of hot-air flow (as a percentage).
14) Informative display when the hot-air gun is off, showing the date and time.
15) The hot-air gun heats up quickly, reaching the set temperature in 5 seconds, with precise temperature control.
16) A desoldering function can be added (additional accessories required); software support is available.
17) Independent power button for the hot-air gun.
All functions are controlled using the encoders. The available actions are turning clockwise or counterclockwise, pressing the encoder briefly or holding it down, and turning it clockwise or counterclockwise while pressed. Depending on the mode, these actions can have different effects. A short press either confirms an action or opens the operating temperature selection; a long press enters or exits the menu.
Turning on and setting up the station
When switched on, the station blows air through the hot-air gun for about 1 second and is then ready to use. If ERROR appears in large letters on the upper display, you have most likely forgotten to connect the soldering iron handle.
The station starts up in Chinese the first time you turn it on. You can switch it to English if you find Chinese hard to understand or less convenient. Russian is not available in the firmware.


You can change the language in the menu (item 14 for the soldering iron and item 7 for the hot-air gun), but there's an easier way. Turn on the station while holding down the encoders, and it will go straight to the language selection screen. Turn the encoders to choose the language you prefer, then confirm with a short press on each encoder. Although there is only one controller on the board, you need to select the language separately on each display.
If you did everything correctly, you should see a screen like this. The top display shows Sleeping in large letters, which means the soldering iron is in sleep mode. The hot air gun display shows the time (it’s wrong, but that doesn’t matter right now), which means the hot air gun is also off. This is the startup mode the station is configured for, and it works fine for me. If you’d prefer a different startup mode, I’ll explain how to change it later.


Let’s wake the soldering iron by briefly pressing the top encoder and take a look at what’s on the display. Be careful! The soldering iron will get very hot, so don’t forget to put it in its stand.


First, the top display. As we already know, this is the soldering iron display (and the desoldering pump display, if you connect one). The current soldering iron temperature is shown in large numbers in the center. After you first turn on a new tip, the soldering iron usually needs some time to adapt to it. During this time, it may beep, and the displayed tip temperature may fluctuate considerably. This lasts a few seconds and won’t happen again with that tip. To be honest, I missed this when I tested the station, so I don’t know whether it happened. The top-left corner shows the operating mode (currently SET) and the soldering iron’s set temperature, which it will try to reach. The top-right corner shows the power currently being supplied to the soldering iron’s heater, in %. The bottom-left corner shows the installed tip type and whether it has been calibrated: (0) means not calibrated, (*) means calibrated. The bottom-right corner shows the temperature from the thermistor in the soldering iron handle, which is used to compensate for the cold-junction temperature.
The information on the hot air gun display (the bottom one) is different. This screen is shown when the station is on but the hot air gun button is off. The current time is shown in large numbers in the center; you can set it in the settings. The top-left corner shows the date. The top-right corner says Thes, but I don’t know what the Chinese designer meant by that (Thermal Energy Storage?). The bottom-left corner shows POFF (Power off) and the thermocouple temperature. The bottom-right corner shows the temperature from the thermistor in the hot air gun handle.
If we now press the hot air gun power button, the display will change. It now looks like the soldering iron display when it’s in use. The temperature is shown in the center, with the current time to the right. The top-left corner shows the operating mode and set temperature. We currently see SBY (Standby), since the hot air gun is in its stand, but when you pick it up, the mode changes to SET. The current temperature is shown in large numbers in the center, with a timer to the right counting the minutes and seconds since the set temperature was reached. The top-right corner shows the heater power in %. The bottom-left corner shows the hot air gun fan speed in %. The bottom-right corner shows the temperature from the thermistor in the hot air gun handle.
While I was writing this, the soldering iron went to sleep.


The default settings will be enough for most users, so you can get straight to work. I suggest we take a closer look at what the station can do, starting with the soldering iron.
As we already know, to wake the soldering iron from sleep mode (Sleeping), just briefly press the encoder. Let’s do that. The soldering iron has switched to operating mode, as indicated by SET in the top-right corner.
Turn the encoder 3 clicks clockwise to activate BOOST mode, which provides forced heating. Its temperature and operating time can be set in the settings. It can be useful for quickly heating large copper areas. To turn it off, turn the encoder one click counterclockwise.
You can activate SBY (Standby) mode by turning the encoder 3 clicks counterclockwise. This mode also activates automatically if the soldering iron is left unused for the time set in the settings. The default is 15 minutes. The tip temperature is then reduced to the value set for this mode, which defaults to 200 degrees. Standby mode turns off automatically when you pick up the soldering iron (a ball sensor in the handle is triggered), or when you turn the encoder one click clockwise.
Sleeping mode is activated from Standby by turning the encoder 3 more clicks counterclockwise. It can also activate automatically after the time set in the settings. The default is 30 minutes. The soldering iron beeps several times before entering Standby. The soldering iron’s heater is completely disabled in this mode. You can wake it only by briefly pressing the encoder. The ball sensor in the handle will not wake the soldering iron from this mode.
After some time without activity, Screen Saver mode activates. The current tip temperature and operating mode then drift across the display. By default, this mode activates after 5 minutes of inactivity.


Briefly pressing the encoder in SET mode takes us to the operating temperature menu (Set Temp). This soldering station has 5 preset soldering iron tip temperature profiles, labeled [G1]-[G5] to the right of Set Temp. You can switch between them by turning the encoder while holding it down. The following temperature profiles are saved by default: G1 - 200°C, G2 - 250°C, G3 - 300°C, G4 - 350°C, G5 - 400°C.
For the selected profile, you can set the temperature anywhere from 150 to 480°C by turning the encoder clockwise or counterclockwise. Confirm your selection with a short press on the encoder.


As you may have noticed earlier, the station is set up by default to work with a T12-J02 tip (shown in the lower-left corner of the screen in operating mode), but the kit came with a T12-K tip. Let's change that in the settings. Hold down the encoder and turn it one click clockwise to open the Tip Select menu.


Select the K tip we need and confirm with a short press on the encoder. Now K(0) will proudly glow on the display.


If that zero bothers you and you have a suitable thermometer, you can calibrate the tip. Each tip in the tip library can be calibrated separately; there are 98 entries in total. To calibrate, hold down the encoder, turn it one click clockwise, and open the Tip Adjust menu. Then select Start.


The station will prompt you to calibrate the tip at three points: 445°C, 350°C, and 250°C. After you enter all three values in sequence, the station returns to the main screen, where K(*) will glow even more proudly.


You can reset the calibration in the same Tip Adjust menu by selecting a different option, Init Adj, and then Confirm.
Hold down the encoder for about 2 seconds to open the soldering iron menu (Setup Menu). It has 17 items, each of which you can open with a short press on the encoder. To exit any menu item, hold down the encoder or turn it three clicks counterclockwise. Let's take a closer look at the menu.
01. Standby – standby mode settings. It includes the following subitems:
Mode – selects how to exit Standby mode.
SHAKE – the default setting. Wakes the station when the ball sensor in the soldering iron handle is activated.
SWITCH – I haven't figured out how this works yet. Maybe someone knows?
MANUAL – wakes the station when you press the encoder button.
AUTO – I haven't figured out how this works yet. Maybe someone knows?
Time – how long it takes to enter this mode. Can be set from 01 to 60 minutes.
Temp – tip temperature in Standby mode. Can be set from 150°C to 300°C.
02. Sleep – sets the idle time before the station goes to sleep and switches off the soldering iron heater (1 to 60 minutes).
03. Boost – sets the temperature increase in Boost mode (forced heating) and how long it runs. Can be set from +10°C to +100°C above the temperature set in SET mode.
04. Cold end – calibrates the thermistor in the soldering iron handle. If there isn't one—some handles don't have one—you can select CPU instead of NTC.
05. Tip Enable – enables or disables tips. This setting controls the tip library, which has 98 entries in total. Go to the entry you want and press the encoder briefly to enable or disable that tip in the Tip Select menu (see above). This lets you hide tips you don't have so they don't get in the way when selecting the tip currently installed. Enabled entries are marked with a check on the right; disabled ones with a cross. Entries 93 to 98 are labeled USER. These six slots are reserved in case you have a rare or homemade tip that isn't on the list.


06. Stepping – temperature adjustment increment. 5°C by default.
07. Password – lets you set a password to access the settings.
08. Scr saver – enables or disables the screensaver and sets its activation delay.
09. Buzzer – turns the beeper on or off.
10. Desolder – desoldering pump operating mode (if installed).
11. Pump set – desoldering pump run time (if installed).
12. Zero-Adj – zero adjustment. I haven't figured out what this applies to yet; perhaps the desoldering pump as well.
13. Power On – sets the mode the station starts in. Sleep is the default. Standby and Running are also available. I'm not sure what the last option does either.
14. Language – selects the language (Chinese/English).
15. Version – firmware and board versions. My board is 1.10 and the firmware is 1.02.
16. Init – resets all settings to factory defaults.
17. Exit – exits the menu.
The hot air gun is controlled a little differently.
Turning its encoder clockwise or counterclockwise takes you straight to the temperature adjustment.


The default setting is 350°C. The available range is 100°C to 550°C—and it really does go that high!


A short press on the encoder lets you adjust the airflow (fan speed) from 20 to 100%.
Pressing the encoder and turning it clockwise activates preset selection. Each preset includes a temperature and airflow setting. This menu lets you select one of the presets or save the current temperature and airflow settings to a preset.
Pressing and holding the encoder also opens the menu. It has 13 items.
01. Stepping – sets the adjustment increments for temperature and airflow.
02. Cold end – calibrates the thermistor in the hot-air handle. Similar to item 4 in the soldering iron menu.
03. Buzzer – turns the beeper on and off.
04. OpPrefer – selects which setting is adjusted first: temperature or airflow.
05. Scr saver – enables/disables the screensaver and sets the delay before it activates.
06. Password – lets you set a password to access the settings.
07. Language – selects the language (Chinese/English).
08. Sys info – firmware version and mains voltage parameters. Since the board is shared with the soldering iron, the version isn't listed in this menu, and the firmware number is the same. The mains readings showed 49 Hz and 270 V; the latter is clearly too high.


09. DateTime – sets the date and time.
10. RTC Adj – clock calibration. The value, in seconds, is the correction applied after 24 hours.
11. RTC Init – I haven't figured this one out yet.
12. Init – resets the settings to factory defaults.
13. Exit
The hot-air gun has no sleep mode at all. Standby mode is activated automatically when the gun is placed in its holder—or, more precisely, when the reed switch in the handle is triggered. The heater then switches off, the fan cools the gun to 70 degrees, and then switches off too.
If you switch it off with the button instead of putting the handle in the holder, the same thing happens; the only difference is the indicator, which displays Power down.
This version of the station has no hot-air temperature calibration. That's a shame—it would be useful, especially when using hot-air nozzles.
To wrap up the review, I'd like to make a brief comparison between soldering stations using T12 tips and those using 900-series tips. The latter have been well known and popular for a long time, while T12 tips appeared relatively recently and, like anything new, have been met with considerable skepticism.
I compared the station reviewed here with a Youyue 8586. It is now sold under a different brand and called Eruntop 8586. Its soldering iron is rated at 50 W, so you can expect it to heat up a little more slowly. The soldering iron temperature on both stations was set to 350˚C. By the way, I previously compared my old T12 station with the popular Lukey 702 and got similar results, but I don't have video to prove it.




The video needs to be interpreted correctly. What matters here isn't that the Eruntop 8586 took several times longer to heat the tip, but how it did so. While the tip is heating, an LED beneath the display stays lit for about 30 seconds. It then starts flashing, indicating that the station has received a signal from the temperature sensor that the set temperature (350˚C) has been reached and has switched to temperature maintenance mode. But the solder on the tip (POS-61) still hasn't melted. This happens because, unlike T12 tips, 900-series tips aren't monolithic, so there's a delay in transferring heat from the heater to the tip. The heater's response will also be delayed when the tip temperature drops on contact with a large component. To compensate for this lag, you need to set a higher temperature for 900-series tips or heat the component for longer, which isn't always acceptable. T12 tips generally have lower thermal capacity, but because the heater switches on almost instantly, they quickly compensate for temperature drops.
To sum up what I've written above, I'm completely satisfied with the build quality and design of the station for the price. I liked it, and it's convenient and even pleasant to work with.
Pros:
• Compact size;
• Good build quality (minor flaws don't affect the station's operation);
• T12 tip;
• Comfortable handle;
• Software calibration of tip temperature at 3 points for standard HAKKO tips and 6 user-defined tips;
• Informative displays.
Cons:
• The graphic display is installed crookedly;
• Power switch on the rear panel;
• No soldering iron stand;
• Power is slightly below the stated rating (65 W instead of the stated 75 W).

Video version of the review


Kudos to everyone who stuck with my review to the end! Happy and useful shopping!
Yours, dSave.