Making Sense of Soldering Iron Tips

Pinecil v2 / TS100 Tips
The Big Tips Matrix™
Shape Identifiers (BC2, JL02, etc)
Cartridge Identifiers (TS100, T12, etc)

TS100 / Pinecil v2 Tips

There are a number of soldering irons that use these tips, including the $36 - $40 Pinecel v2, which can run IronOS, and is the only portable iron to date that can use the full power of 28v USB-PD EPR (such as an Apple MacBook charger) for over 100w of heating power (or 72w with a more typical 100w USB-C charger) - a little shy of the full wattage due to the resistance of the heating element itself.

Model	Size	Style	Angle	Tip Length	Tip Width
TS100-B	XL	conical (fat)
TS100-B2		conical		9.4mm	0.50mm
TS100-BC2	Fine	bevel	45˚	11.5mm	2.00mm
TS100-BC3	XL	bevel (fat)	45˚	10mm	3.30mm
TS100-C1	micro	bevel	60˚	12mm	1.00mm
TS100-C4		bevel	45˚		4.00mm
TS100-D24	Fine	chisel (flathead)			2.40mm
TS100-I	Fine	needle		9.5mm	0.20mm
TS100-ILS	micro	needle (narrow)		13.5mm	0.15mm
TS100-J02	Fine	j-hook/bent conical	30˚	~15mm	0.20mm
TS100-JL02	micro	j-hook/bent (narrow)	30˚	~15mm	0.20mm
TS100-K		knife	45˚	15mm
TS100-KU	Fine	knife	45˚	11mm	2.30mm

TS100 tips come in two lengths:

Normal: about ~105mm and 10g each
Short (or Mini): ~88mm and 8.5g each

There are also different resistances / wattages

6ohm, up to 92w @ 24v
8ohm, up to 72w @ 24v

Official, short 4-pack

TS-BC2 (2mm bevel-cut ballhead)
TS-C1 (1mm diaganal-cut)
TS-ILS (superfine needle point)
TS-KU (3mm knife shape)

Most Practical 5-pack

TS100-BC2 (2mm bevel-cut ballhead)
TS100-D24 (2.4mm wide flathead)
TS100-I (needle point)
TS100-J02 (0.2mm j-hook ballhead)
TS100-KU (3mm knife shape)

Normal (100mm+) 7-pack

TS100-B2 (2mm conical ballhead)
TS100-D24 (2.4mm wide flathead)
TS100-KU (3mm knife shape)
TS100-BC2 (2mm bevel-cut ballhead)
TS100-C4 (4mm diagonal-cut)

The Big Tip Matrix™

(just the tips)

The point of this matrix is to show which style of tip are available for which style of iron:

Shape	Style	TS100	TS12/TS15	TS80	Tip Width	Angle	Tip Length
B	ballhead/conical	✅	✅	-	0.2mm	-	7.50mm
B2	ballhead/conical	✅	✅	B02	0.50mm	-	9.4mm
BC1	bevel-cut	❌	✅	-	1.00mm	45˚	11.5
BC15	bevel-cut	❌	✅	-	1.50mm	45˚	-
BC2	bevel-cut	✅	✅	BC02	2.00mm	45˚	11.5mm
BC3	bevel-cut	✅	✅	-	3.30mm	45˚	10mm
BCF1	bevel (bottom tin)	❌	✅	-	1.00mm	45˚	-
BCF2	bevel (bottom tin)	❌	✅	-	2.00mm	45˚	-
BCF3	bevel (bottom tin)	❌	✅	-	3.00mm	45˚	-
BCM3	hollow bevel / hoof tip	❌	✅	-	3.00mm	45˚	-
BL	ball/conical (narrow)	❌	✅	-	-	-	-
C1	bevel	✅	✅	-	1.00mm	60˚	12mm
C4	bevel	✅	✅	-	4.00mm	45˚	11.5mm
CF4	bevel (bottom tin)	❌	✅	-	4.00mm	45˚	-
D08	chisel (flathead)	❌	✅	-	0.80mm	-	-
D12	chisel (flathead)	❌	✅	-	1.20mm	-	13mm
D16	chisel (flathead)	❌	✅	-	1.60mm	-	-
D24	chisel (flathead)	✅	-	D25	2.4/0.4mm	-	10mm
D32	chisel (flathead)	❌	✅	-	3.20mm	-	-
D4	chisel (flathead)	❌	✅	-	4.00mm	-	-
D52	chisel (flathead)	❌	✅	-	5.20mm	-	-
I	needle	✅	✅	-	0.20mm	-	9.5mm
IL	needle	❌	✅	-	0.20mm	-	12.7
ILS	needle (narrow, fine)	✅	✅	-	0.15mm	-	13.5mm
J02	j-hook/bent conical	✅	-	J02	0.20mm	30˚	~15mm
JS02	j-hook	❌	✅	-	-	-	-
JL02	j-hook/bent (narrow)	✅	-	-	0.20mm	30˚	~15mm
K	knife	✅	✅	K4	4.7/2mm	45˚	15mm
KF	knife	❌	✅	-	4.6/2.4mm	45˚	17mm
KL	knife	❌	✅	-	-	45˚	-
KR	knife	❌	✅	-	4.7/1.5mm	45˚	11mm
KU	knife (small)	✅	✅	-	3.0/1.2mm	45˚	11mm

How to Read the Shape Names

These naming conventions seem to have been invented by Hakko, and then copied by others along the way.

Designation	Meaning
B	Ball / Bead (conical)
C	Cut at an angle / diagonal
D	Flathead Screwdriver 🤷‍♂️ (chisel tip)
J	J-shaped (bent, hooked)
I	Needle tip / Fine point (like a straight letter I)
K	Knife tip
-	-
F	Flat-tinned (doesn't tin on the sides)
M	Multi-purpose / Modified / Special use
-	-
L	Longer, narrower, shaft of tip
S	Small (fine) point / shaft
U	?? apparently smaller, µ perhap?
-	-
n	Single-digit size in mm (1 = 1mm, 4 = 4mm, etc)
nn	Decimal size in mm, (02 = 0.2mm, 24 = 2.4mm)

There's loose usage and some abuse of the system, but in general you get descriptors that end up looking like this:

Example	Meaning
BC2	2mm Ball-Diagonal-Cut (bevel) tip
BCM1	1mm Ball-Diagonal-Cut, Multi-purpose (hollow bevel)
BCM	Ball-Diagonal-Cut, Multi-purpose (hollow bevel)
D24	2.4mm, wide (flathead) tip
JD2	2mm, j-hooked, wide (flathead) tip

How to Read Cartridge-Style Names

The cartridge refers to the whole tip - not just the tip of the tip - down to the shaft that gets inserted into the iron.

There's bascially "the new kind" - modeled after the likes of JBC, with the heating element and temperature sensor embedded in the tip, all the way up at the tip of the tip - and "the old, slow kind" that have the heating element in the iron, and a slip- or screw-on tip - meaning that it can't get a very accurate temperature, and it takes longer to transfer the heat.

Name	Description
TS100	~85mm-110mm, Shorter tips for the USB-C style mini irons
TS101	alias of TS100, branded for newer iron
TS80	~100mm, Uses 3.5mm stereo headphone plug, limited to 30w
TS80P	same as TS80, branded for newer iron
T12	~150mm, Hakko-style tip w/ built-in heating element and sensing
T15	same as T12, branded for EU
-	Legacy (inefficient) styles below
T18	Hakko-style (thicker) slide-on tip
900M	Hakko-style slide-on tip
ST	Weller-style screw-on tip