Soldering Station

[horseboy]

I am looking to get a nice affordable soldering station for use at home. Around $100 would be nice. I am tired of having come to work any time I need to do any soldering. I am also going to be doing a bit of desoldering (which I have not done much of in the past), so any suggestion as to equipment for that would be appreciated too.

[endrien]

Hakko 936 station, many say it is better built than the Weller equivalent.

100$ with 4 extra tips, 90$ or so without the tips on ebay(Just search hakko 936).

I bought mine from here, it's a great iron:

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 380067938658

[nathanallan]

BUY a soldering station? Bah! make your own, you'll have a blast doing it. I did, out of an electrical junction box and it works very well. All I have to do is add a small sponge and a spring to what I have now.

 

to my video covering it.

[horseboy]

Hakko 936 station, many say it is better built than the Weller equivalent.

100$ with 4 extra tips, 90$ or so without the tips on ebay(Just search hakko 936).

I bought mine from here, it's a great iron:

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 380067938658

 

That is actually what I was looking at.

 

Anybody have any desoldering equipment suggestions?

[hex65000]

I typically use desoldering braid and occasionally one of the suction plungers for stubborn through-hole parts.

 

My workhorse is a Weller WES51 which at a glance seems comparable to the Hakko that was initially recommended. If you plan on doing fine pitch soldering, invest in a microscope of some kind. I have an old Leica that I pull out, there are some inexpensive USB models out there too that can also do the job.

 

Hex.

[ Can't be tired already... it's early! ]

[Longhorn Engineer]

I use a Weller WES52 with the tiniest tip I could find for it.

[endrien]

Hakko 936 station, many say it is better built than the Weller equivalent.

100$ with 4 extra tips, 90$ or so without the tips on ebay(Just search hakko 936).

I bought mine from here, it's a great iron:

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 380067938658

 

That is actually what I was looking at.

 

Anybody have any desoldering equipment suggestions?

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062731 works quite well, if your looking for something more professional hakko makes a desoldering gun that runs about 150ish? dollars.

 

I use a Weller WES52 with the tiniest tip I could find for it.

 

Unnecessarily small tips make soldering more of a pain.

[Longhorn Engineer]

Not when you solder really small painful things

[jamesk]

I recommend flux and a wave/drag tip for small smt chips, it will make things a lot easier. For de-soldering you should have wick, sucker and tweezers. A magnifying glass or microscope is not only good for checking smt but also for reading the numbers on smaller diodes. Something to hold things is good too.. either helping hand or a nice vice like panavise. Don't forget an ESD wrist strap and tweezers.

 

A lot of things you can get cheaply from dealextreme.

[endrien]

Not when you solder really small painful things

This man does speak the truth .

[saundby]

A good source for microscopes:

http://www.surplusshed.com/

 

Good metal body scopes cheap.

 

My soldering station is a cheap Weller station that I added a diode and switch to for temp adjustment. I got a desoldering tool, but it gathers dust now since I've gone back to wick, solder-sucker, and tweezers/pliers. I also use desoldering tips I made out of aluminum channel stock and screws that fit the Weller. They're fitted to different ICs. I can also use them for reflow.

[+orpheuswaking]

A good source for microscopes:

http://www.surplusshed.com/

 

 

 

So what kind of scope would you recomend?

[jamesk]

I bought a cheap USB microscope from Dealextreme.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.41186

 

I think this will meet my needs for now. I'd like to see solder jobs a bit better and read numbers off tiny diodes.

 

Once I get it I'll post some details and some pictures if anyone is interested.

[sloopy]

for soldering/desoldering in one...

 

http://store.sra-solder.com/product.php/6369/22

 

i have the 2702A+, which does soldering/desoldering, and hot air... i love the thing... i can pull a 40Pin DIP (from a 130XE no less) in 1min 20sec...

 

 

sloopy.

[iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin]

 

 

to my video covering it.

 

Watch out that you will never get atomized one day,nathan!

[jamesk]

 

i have the 2702A+, which does soldering/desoldering, and hot air... i love the thing... i can pull a 40Pin DIP (from a 130XE no less) in 1min 20sec...

 

 

sloopy.

 

That 2702A+ is rad. How well does the desoldering gun work? I use a hand pump but I could see how the gun would do a easier/cleaner/faster job.

[saundby]

Any metal body low end lab scope works fine. The lowest magnification should be no more than 10x.

 

I use 10x and 25x magnification the most. On my main triple turret scope, I usually keep it fitted out at 10x, 25x and 40x, plus I have a 4x magnifier on my lamp (which gets used for quick inspections and for reading numbers off components more readily than moving over to the microscope.) It's hard to get scopes that have low enough magnification, and then there are ones with plastic bodies now, which let in light and ruin the image. The key is to get objectives with low magnification, and a 10x or lower eyepiece. Just like telescopes, they tend to sell the low end models with magnification levels that are too high to be really useful, especially for beginners.

 

I've written a bit about choosing a good microscope in a blog entry about buying telescopes as gifts, the section on microscopes is at the end of the article:

Microscopes advice (Microscopes as Gifts).

Edited September 18, 2010 by saundby

[horseboy]

for soldering/desoldering in one...

 

http://store.sra-solder.com/product.php/6369/22

 

i have the 2702A+, which does soldering/desoldering, and hot air... i love the thing... i can pull a 40Pin DIP (from a 130XE no less) in 1min 20sec...

 

 

sloopy.

 

I've been doing a little reading on these and they look pretty solid. The only real complaint I have seen is that it is hard to get replacement parts. Have you run into this.

 

 

Anybody know anything about the Hakko 470B?

 

 

BTW, I have been looking on youtube to get a feel for these different desoldering tools and it is really interesting what you find if you search for Hakko. People are idiots. What happened to using a lighter?

[horseboy]

I went with the Hakko 936 and 808. Wow, the 808 is fantastic. I gave one of the Radio Shack desolder tools a try, but it just didn't cut the mustard for me. I desoldered 2 32 pin chips in just a few minutes with the 808. I am in love.

[jamesk]

I went with the Hakko 936 and 808. Wow, the 808 is fantastic. I gave one of the Radio Shack desolder tools a try, but it just didn't cut the mustard for me. I desoldered 2 32 pin chips in just a few minutes with the 808. I am in love.

 

The Radio Shack iron works for me.. but it gets the area around the solder hot. Too hot for my comfort but it's all I can afford at the moment.

[horseboy]

I went with the Hakko 936 and 808. Wow, the 808 is fantastic. I gave one of the Radio Shack desolder tools a try, but it just didn't cut the mustard for me. I desoldered 2 32 pin chips in just a few minutes with the 808. I am in love.

 

The Radio Shack iron works for me.. but it gets the area around the solder hot. Too hot for my comfort but it's all I can afford at the moment.

 

It worked for me too, but not nearly as well. It took a lot more work and still left some solder on some of the pins. I suspect is partly has to do with how wide the hole in the tip is. The Hakko is like magic compared to the Radio Shack tool. It is 15 times more expensive, but I have no doubt that it will pay for itself in time savings in no time at all.

[jamesk]

It worked for me too, but not nearly as well. It took a lot more work and still left some solder on some of the pins. I suspect is partly has to do with how wide the hole in the tip is. The Hakko is like magic compared to the Radio Shack tool. It is 15 times more expensive, but I have no doubt that it will pay for itself in time savings in no time at all.

 

I'm going to ask Santa

[horseboy]

It worked for me too, but not nearly as well. It took a lot more work and still left some solder on some of the pins. I suspect is partly has to do with how wide the hole in the tip is. The Hakko is like magic compared to the Radio Shack tool. It is 15 times more expensive, but I have no doubt that it will pay for itself in time savings in no time at all.

 

I'm going to ask Santa

That is a good plan.

[sloopy]

sorry it has taken so long to reply, i dont come to this section often... the 2702A+ is nice, but i wouldnt recommend it for serious work as you cant use the soldering iron and desoldering tool at the same time...

 

as for parts etc... they are easy to find for the Ayoue models... this company is the US rep for Ayuoe, and has rock solid customer service, randy is the man...

http://www.sra-solder.com/

 

i actually bought mine from their ebay store (which only sells certain stations from their catalog, and are $10 less then their online store)

 

and honestly i am selling my 2702A+ to get one of these:

http://sra-solder.com/product.php/6369/22/daabc30c2d2657fc20d8c537a44a7b7b

 

and one of these for hot air rework:

http://sra-solder.com/product.php/6264/26

 

edit: i am US born and shouldnt be speaking in engrish ;')

sloopy.

Edited November 21, 2010 by sloopy

[A.J. Franzman]

Anybody have any desoldering equipment suggestions?

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062731 works quite well, if your looking for something more professional hakko makes a desoldering gun that runs about 150ish? dollars.

 

For de-soldering you should have wick, sucker and tweezers.

 

I got a desoldering tool, but it gathers dust now since I've gone back to wick, solder-sucker, and tweezers/pliers. I also use desoldering tips I made out of aluminum channel stock and screws that fit the Weller. They're fitted to different ICs. I can also use them for reflow.

 

for soldering/desoldering in one...

 

http://store.sra-solder.com/product.php/6369/22

 

i have the 2702A+, which does soldering/desoldering, and hot air... i love the thing... i can pull a 40Pin DIP (from a 130XE no less) in 1min 20sec...

I just got a used desoldering iron like the one in this kit from eBay for about $30, with the stand that sells for about $80 on that site included. Then I spent more than that $30 to get more tips and several of those other accessories from Air-Vac... but it was well worth it. I have previously used wick and a rubber bulb sucker, and was thinking of getting one of those snap-action sucker/irons, and possibly modifying it to use a vacuum source for continuous suction, but this is a better solution as it's ready-built. You hook it up to a regulated compressed air source at a fairly low pressure (I haven't fiddled with it to find the "sweet spot" of best suction yet, but it worked very well at 20 PSI, before I got the proper exhaust muffler for it) and it uses a venturi to create its own vacuum. It could also easily be modified to work from a vacuum source, if you happen to have one handy. The desoldering assembly could be removed from the handpiece and a regular soldering tip installed as well; I believe Air-Vac sells them too.

 

From the same eBay seller that sold me the above, I have also seen a couple of pistol-grip self-contained desoldering irons that have built-in motorized vacuums. I would have bought one of those instead had I known about them, since you don't need to supply them with anything but power.