Aoyue 128 Motorized Soldering Iron Tip Polisher

These motorized tip cleaners are not going to clean a corroded or damaged tip. They are for cleaning surface debris and contamination that can't be removed from simple sponge wiping, be it wet or brass sponge.Sometimes "stuff" gets on the iron tip and just will not wipe off so no amount of solder or cleaning compound will clean it off and stick to that part. That's where these things come into play.The dual spinning brass brushes scrape off the surface of the tip way better that you can with any sponge or cleaning compound. It's not used in place of a sponge every time you solder a joint. It's only used when you see the tip is contaminated with something that won't wipe off.If you use it soon enough after seeing the problem, you can prevent the contaminated area from taking off the tin plating and destroying the tip.The Aoyue model is much cheaper that the Hakko, or JBC models, but it gets the job done. It's made well enough and seems to be made of reasonable quality parts. But it's built to a price, and pretty light weight so it's easy to move in use. Just be careful where you place it, and put a couple of drops of Flux on the brushes before you turn it on.All in all, it's good value if you understand what it's used for and how to use it.

I bought this to clean and polish my soldering tips, which I rarely replace and always let get to uber-crappy condition. There's a least a couple of other similar products on the market, including a Hakko that costs at least twice as much, but looks to be better constructed. This one has a lot of plastic in the construction. It has a pair of brushes, driven by a motor and a belt (the belt looking much like an O-Ring; It must be a wear component as a spare is included). The brushes are fine and appear to me to be of brass construction. There's no polishing compound of any sort included. In comparison, I think the Hakko tool does include polishing compound (Hakko sells the compound separately; I may buy some). It includes a 12V2A transformer with US plug.I have bought Aoyue brand tools before, a hot air station, without experiencing any problems. I think this thing is probably going to work out fine.I've attached three pictures - a before and after picture of my soldering tip (I did "tin" the tip immediately after cleaning, and this is reflected in the after picture), and a picture of the Aoyue 128 connected to my bench supply showing that the motor draws about 730ma of current while running. I peaked around 950ma if I stall the brushes with my finger. I think the 2A power supply it comes with is adequate.I'm giving it three stars because I'm just kinda 'meh' about the purchase. The construction is very plastic dominated, and it doesn't really feel to me like there's a full 50 bucks worth of value. I think it's going to hold up fine, and I think it's going to perform a useful function. If you have a need for this, and don't want to spend the extra money for the Hakko, then I wouldn't hesitate to buy it.

Fine, a good alternative polisher Hakko, for a reasonable price.

Works well, but is a bit pricy for what it is