So, recently I did some work on a board, and to my surprise it was a very negative experience. I needed to desolder a few through-hole components, a task I have found easy in the past, and it was not easy at all, with plenty of damage to the traces. It was a hybrid PCB with both SMD and through-hole. I suspect my secret-weapon desoldering tool, one of old ones with a rubber squeeze bulb on it, struggled with Pb free solder or cheap PCB substrate or cheap cladding. My soldering iron is also cheap and long in the tooth.
So what is out there for me to look for? Think cheap. Thinking both of the auction sites and also used Weller stuff. These are sometimes on online classifieds, but I don't know enough about how to mix and match irons and stations sold separately.
So what is out there for me to look for? Think cheap. Thinking both of the auction sites and also used Weller stuff. These are sometimes on online classifieds, but I don't know enough about how to mix and match irons and stations sold separately.
Parts Express and Amazon have Solder sucker tools, spring loaded aluminium tube device and temperature controlled solder stations. Stations in the $30-$40 range are fine. The solder sucker runs about $10.
I use a Jonard DP-200 (Digikey: K414-ND) solder sucker. Works great. Back it up with some solder wick if you need to.
For soldering irons, I find my Metcal MX500 with wand and hot tweezers tough to beat. Hakko is supposed to be good as well, though I have no personal experience with them.
You'll want an iron where the heater and temperature sensor are located in the tip. Anything else won't respond quickly enough when a tough solder joint sucks the heat right out of the tip.
Tom
For soldering irons, I find my Metcal MX500 with wand and hot tweezers tough to beat. Hakko is supposed to be good as well, though I have no personal experience with them.
You'll want an iron where the heater and temperature sensor are located in the tip. Anything else won't respond quickly enough when a tough solder joint sucks the heat right out of the tip.
Tom
I have had one of those spring loaded solder suckers for years. I have always found it weak sauce compared to my squeeze bulb iron. Anything higher end, like with a vacuum pump?
"Think Cheap"
Not in the "Think cheap." category. Maybe you should mention how much you want to spend.
Not in the "Think cheap." category. Maybe you should mention how much you want to spend.
For the "cheap" category I am entirely satisfied with a chinese T12 clone KSGER V2.1S T12 Digital Temperature Controller Soldering Station Electric Soldering Iron Tips T12 K + 9501 Handle Electric Tools|Electric Soldering Irons| | - AliExpress and the desoldering station ZD-985 (bought locally after watching YouTube )
A friend here has a Hakko 888, which he really likes. The electronics dept. at work has a bunch of the pro. style Hakko irons, but I've never tried them. I haven't heard anyone complain about them, that's for sure.
jeff
> Think cheap
Why? Are you going to quit the hobby very soon now?
I have *rarely* regretted spending food-money for tools that work. Even to the point that I could have hired the job out instead of tooling to DIY.
Why? Are you going to quit the hobby very soon now?
I have *rarely* regretted spending food-money for tools that work. Even to the point that I could have hired the job out instead of tooling to DIY.
I recently needed for short term a heat gun for pulling up some big SMT parts, so rather than just that, I got a "SMD Rework Station" which included soldering iron and some hNS tools. Turns out, the tips from my Hakko 636 fit it, and I might actually like the iron part of it better than the Hakko. It's something like this one, not expensive --
YAOGONG Automatic 2 In 1 Hot Air SMD Digital Rework Soldering Iron Station Mobile Phone Repair Tools With 6 Pieces Iron Tips … - - Amazon.com
YAOGONG Automatic 2 In 1 Hot Air SMD Digital Rework Soldering Iron Station Mobile Phone Repair Tools With 6 Pieces Iron Tips … - - Amazon.com
I agree with you, and probably in my other posts I have made reference to buying proper tools, because I have wasted much time on using the wrong tools.
I was imprecise in my language, I was thinking "bargain" but instead wrote "cheap". Not looking for advice on going to retail and paying top dollar, rather looking for recommendations on Chinese knock offs and the like. Frankly, with ebay and Aliexpress and the fact that I have not been inside a commercial electronics lab in 25 years, there is just a plethora of stuff out there that I don't even know about.
For a solder sucker, I recommend a Soldapullt. Can be had for not much money and work really well, got one on recommendation from others and have not regretted it. They're not expensive, like $30.
The iron I use is a Chinese hakko clone, works very well. It's one with the newer type ntegrated heater/tips. I find I use a 2mm wedge tip for pretty much everything from tubes to smd. It has been very reliable for a couple of years at least so far.
That's my 2c anyway. Hope you find it useful.
The iron I use is a Chinese hakko clone, works very well. It's one with the newer type ntegrated heater/tips. I find I use a 2mm wedge tip for pretty much everything from tubes to smd. It has been very reliable for a couple of years at least so far.
That's my 2c anyway. Hope you find it useful.