# SDTM Cary Hardy: The Hakko FR301 Desoldering Tool Review

**Source:** Straight Down the Middle  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2021-01-05  
**Duration:** 14m 47s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub6KrL68O4M

---

## Analysis

Cary Hardy from Straight Down the Middle reviews the Hakko FR-301 desoldering tool, a professional-grade device priced around $250 that he uses to remove components from a high-voltage rebuild kit sourced from Marco Specialties. He demonstrates its effectiveness on small electronic components and circuit board traces, comparing it favorably to his previous methods (wick and single-pump desoldering) and expressing strong satisfaction with the tool's performance and ease of use.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] The Hakko FR-301 desoldering tool costs approximately $250 — _Speaker states 'the price is about at least 250 dollars' early in the review_
- [HIGH] The FR-301 is the successor to the FR-300 model — _Speaker explicitly identifies it as 'the successor to the FR 300'_
- [MEDIUM] The optimal temperature setting for the FR-301 is 'just below the number two setting' according to Kevin, who also uses the tool — _Speaker attributes this recommendation to 'my buddy Kevin that uses the same tool'_
- [HIGH] The desoldering tool comes with interchangeable nozzles of different sizes — _Speaker demonstrates using different size nozzles and notes that 'nozzles with ease even while it's hot'_
- [HIGH] The single-pump desoldering tool belongs in the trash compared to the FR-301 — _Speaker states 'after playing with my new desoldering tool that place is the trash' regarding the single pump tool_

### Notable Quotes

> "the pinnacle of mobile desoldering"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~1:00
> _Establishes the FR-301's position as a top-tier desoldering solution_

> "i should have bought this a long time ago"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~8:30
> _Strong expression of regret about not purchasing the tool earlier, indicating high satisfaction_

> "i honestly regret not getting this sooner in this hobby"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~14:45
> _Reinforces the speaker's recommendation and satisfaction with the tool_

> "if you have to force it and you're going to be taking traces or contacts with you and you then messed up the board"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~11:00
> _Provides practical guidance on proper desoldering technique to avoid damaging circuit boards_

> "oh man i'm loving it"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~7:30
> _Repeated expression of enthusiasm during hands-on demonstration_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Cary Hardy | person | Host/presenter of this video review from Straight Down the Middle, demonstrates soldering and desoldering techniques on pinball machine circuit boards |
| Hakko FR-301 | product | Professional desoldering tool being reviewed; priced around $250; successor to FR-300 model; features interchangeable nozzles and temperature control |
| Hakko FR-300 | product | Previous generation desoldering tool; predecessor to the FR-301 |
| Kevin | person | Acquaintance of Cary Hardy who also uses the Hakko FR-301 and provided temperature setting recommendations |
| Marco Specialties | company | Parts distributor from whom Cary Hardy sourced a complete high-voltage rebuild kit for demonstration purposes |
| Straight Down the Middle | organization | Pinball-focused YouTube channel/podcast featuring this equipment review |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Desoldering tools and techniques, Pinball machine self-repair and maintenance, High-voltage circuit board repairs, Circuit board component removal techniques
- **Secondary:** Soldering station equipment and setup

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.92) — Strong enthusiasm and satisfaction throughout the review; repeated positive expressions ('i love you', 'i'm loving this', 'this is great'); regret expressed about not purchasing sooner; minimal criticism beyond initial price concern

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Content creator providing practical educational resource for pinball machine self-repair and maintenance, aligning with community emphasis on DIY repair skills (confidence: high) — Entire video dedicated to demonstrating desoldering technique on pinball circuit boards; explicit statement that 'soldering a skill set that is required for self-repair on your pinball machine'
- **[product_strategy]** Equipment upgrade addressing previous limitations in pinball machine repair workflow (confidence: high) — Speaker contrasts new tool with previous methods (wick and single-pump desoldering), noting significant efficiency and quality improvements

---

## Transcript

[Music] soldering a skill set that is required for self-repair on your games i have quite a few items in my soldering station but there is one item that i have been lacking that item is a reputable to soldering tool i've been using wick and the desoldering single pump for too long the single pump desoldering tool has its place and after playing with my new desoldering tool that place is the trash and here it is the successor to the fr 300 the hakko fr-301 desoldering tool this baby is the pinnacle of mobile desoldering now the price is about at least 250 dollars now the price sucks but what about the device let's find out when opening the box you will find the instruction manual that i immediately set to the side using this you are able to remove and replace the nozzles with ease even while it's hot [Music] at the bottom of the fr-301 you will find your temperature setting according to my buddy kevin that uses the same tool the setting that works best for what i will be doing is just below the number two setting okay let's power it on we have an led indicator right here let's start sucking that's what she said [Music] i can already tell that i'm glad i got different size nozzles because these are too big to get me on top of this portion right here if i can get that up here difficult but i cannot get that to go over the entire top of it so the nozzle that currently comes with this is good for these small components which is good because i think everything that i'm about to be dealing with on this board coming up is all small components so let's just go a little further [Music] oh my god i'm loving this [Music] oh [Music] seriously guys that is like just taking that out of there i'm not sure if i can get that on camera or not i got those first three wow okay uh and i can already see the solder is already starting to be contained inside of this right here and i think i'm ready to move on to the next board uh yeah this is just a test board and let's move on to the real mccoy all right got a complete high voltage rebuild kit i got this from marco specialties and we need to start removing items to do this now normally i would probably only have to replace maybe a voltage regulator on this maybe even a bad diode but the operator overfused this thing and we've blown out for sure this disc capacitor right here and more than likely everything else in the line that goes with it as well so let's start out with this diff capacitor and uh see how we do here trying to get this right you can still see it on the camera now the tricky part is guys is that you don't want to get too aggressive with this and pull up the contacts with the traces so i'm not getting too over confident here because i still had a little bit left over out there all right so this one's gonna be difficult because it's got a little hook on the end so that's why i brought this over i'm gonna clip this off and just push it through the other side if i can [Music] there we go nice and clean loving this thing so far guys because that was super easy right there and i want to say this kit requires me to remove all of those so why not let's start removing all these things [Music] loving how clean these are so far all right well [Music] it it just falls right out are you kidding me oh man [Music] oh my god oh man i should have bought this a long time ago well that one's got a little more left over on it you don't want to force it [Music] well yeah i can still see it soldered on the middle one at the top right here there we go oh man clean oh my goodness look at that man all right i think they give me all new ceramic resistors and if they don't it won't be a pain to get them back on here again or get them off whatever [Music] look at this i'm just oh i love you i love you oh man this is great this is awesome oh i know i'm going to replace this voltage regulator on this thing this thing shot so see if i can get make sure i'm getting good angles right here where you can see what i'm doing here or my what am i removing okay this one goodness gracious [Music] i think that yeah and just to make sure i don't pull any kind of traces i'm going to try to straighten this out either straighten it or clip it out but i definitely don't want to pry it up too much it should come out with ease guys if you have to force it and you're going to be taking traces or contacts with you and you then messed up the board guys seriously if i was still using the single sucker and the wick i would probably still be on these top portion capacitors right here maybe beginning on the transistors but oh man i'm loving it i'm gonna be able to get this thing all removed up high voltage whole area and uh soldering is easy in comparison what i've been doing right here yeah so as of right now i love this device [Music] challenging part is getting to where these leads are straight up and down so i can get the this one's still got some suction it needs to be performed on this one's tricky because i'm unable to get suction to where it's getting the other side up here let me try just putting it on there a little bit longer maybe it just needs to there we go it just needed a little more heat and then there we go yep so my recommendation is i love this thing yep i honestly regret not getting this sooner in this hobby i just had to talk myself into getting it and now i've got it all right guys well i'm going to continue working on this board getting everything all removed i think you've pretty much seen everything you need to [Music] see just able to just pull things off of this thing so easily oh yep and there is your hakko fr 301 and here is what the board looks like after all of the components have been removed you can see that none of the traces or contacts have lifted the board is completely intact i went back over all of the holes actually just to make sure that they were even more clean and here you can see how clean that this tool makes it this thing makes sucking easy that's what she said

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v3)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 2e575f0a-a1f3-40dd-b2c2-82b259021c4b*