Wrong consept.
But even so, when you are limited to a very low budget, you have only one alternative which is to not buy anything.
The person who feels really sad is a qualifying professional with a poor tool at hand, currently there is only four soldering stations ( four models from several brands) that qualify enough as worth having them and Hakko is not one of them.
It would be more sincere your topic to include your budget limit up front.
I work in the repair department of a Calibration Laboratory, hence I repair a lot of Military as well as high end Test equipment (Fluke, Agilent etc). While The Metcal station is far superior to the Hakko for SMD there is nothing wrong with Hakko for general purpose soldering. In fact I use an Atten 980D at home and find this more than adequate for home projects as well as the occasional through hole repair ( I would not use it for SMD), it replaced my Weller soldering station.
Yes there have been occasions where I was forced to use a BIC lighter when there was no other option at the time or even concoct flux when none was available. None the less, having the best isn't the most important factor, skill is. Skill comes from learning and knowledge of both the tool, the material and how to use it properly.
I can see skimping with substandard tools if one is experienced, but less so without. Have recommended better quality tools for years and all to often your voice goes unheard, or the budget consious gets the better of them everytime. Often spending at least triple in the long run for their short sightedness.
Not sure why you put the Hakko so low on the list. Care to share your experiences? 🙂
+1 for Metcal. I picked up a barely used MX-500 with wand, hot tweezers, and a fistful of tips for dimes on the dollar on eBay. That's the same as we use at work (multi-layer boards with many SMDs on them). The 6.3 mm chisel tip is awesome for the big jobs, such as connectors, thermal tabs, and the like.
~Tom
~Tom
Their most powerful version is up to 60W and therefore is not enough for an all around solution.
Another detail that matters allot and I discover it recently is the importance of heating up (warm up) time.
Soldering stations at 6 to 9 seconds ( 30 to 340C) does miracles in keeping the tip at stable temperature.
While this seems important mostly in sensitive electronics, to me as electrician it did miracles too when tried to solder an 50mm cable over an 8A transformer.
While my tip is sharp with small footprint the temperature sensor behind it did sense the rapid drop of thermal load due the large surface that I wanted to solder, and just in milliseconds it did start sending more heating power to the tip.
With one poor performing tool you get frustrated and you do add force over the tip by rubbing it over the area that you need to solder and this causes damage and stress.
In my case I just waited for 4 seconds by my small tip attached on the soldering spot and I did an amazing job, no emotional stress, no pushing and rubbing.
Mr. Onion...I think by now you can summize which advice is grounded in the real-world (soldering technique, tip preparation, care and feeding of your iron ) vs. name-brand-ism...anyone that dismisses a Hakko, Weller etc. outright is too enamoured with their own choice instead of offering some good choices that might include a wide number of manufacturers. Gawd! Makes me wonder how any of the old-timers did any proper soldering at all yesteryear without benefit of all the fancy pants equipment.
It might be helpful to give us a $$ budget range you have to work with. Thus far Greebster Tomchr, Warrjon and MaicoDoug are giving you the straight goods....a decent iron is important surely, but knowing how to solder and care for your equipment will get you a long long way even with less esoteric equipment.
It might be helpful to give us a $$ budget range you have to work with. Thus far Greebster Tomchr, Warrjon and MaicoDoug are giving you the straight goods....a decent iron is important surely, but knowing how to solder and care for your equipment will get you a long long way even with less esoteric equipment.
You have all the hints to search by your own.
Keywords : 90W, Fast warm-up in less than 10 seconds.
This Do It Your own search will work to you also as education, of the available soldering stations technology.
The last step is the final filtering in a consumer level, which answers the question of WHO is the one who does not sell technology in a extreme overpriced level?
And the very last filtering will be to locate the true street price for the specific item and a honest seller so to get it.
I do market research regarding technology professionally, and so I do not share my data.
But there is a sortcut, if you find what soldering station I own by your self. 😀
Last edited:
How very unhelpful
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I would recommend a Hakko FX-888D. It's a good station for basic soldering and Hakko is a reliable brand. I have heard that the cheaper knock offs don't last as long and break fairly easy. It's digital and temperature controlled so you will always know what temperature the tip is at, so it won't overheat and oxidize. It also has preset modes which come in handy as well as a sleep and auto shut-off which are good safety features. Tips are also easy to find.
'' knock offs''
Look like i bought a knock off Weller(WESP51).It only lasted about 2 hours and died.
The sensor went bad.
Where would be a good place to by a station and not worried about getting a knock off ?
Look like i bought a knock off Weller(WESP51).It only lasted about 2 hours and died.
The sensor went bad.
Where would be a good place to by a station and not worried about getting a knock off ?
RS Components or Element14.
Mr O - which ever station you decide to buy, (and ANY of the brand names will be excellent for Home use) make sure you buy a GOOD quality pot of tinning paste and keep the tip in good condition.
In the OLD days leaded solder was used (we still use it) nowa days lead free is (what I use at home) is the norm. Lead free solder reduces tip life considerably.
SO here are some tips for your TIP.
Wipe the tip regularly on a wet sponge - wire wool works to keep the tip free of buildup but a wet sponge will have the tip shinny again.
Buy a tip cleaning wire brush for removing contaminants that are stubborn.
DO NOT leave the iron on for extended periods without wiping the tip on your sponge. Hence an auto shutoff can be useful, (although I hate it at it usually shuts off when I am in the middle of desoldering )
Mr O - which ever station you decide to buy, (and ANY of the brand names will be excellent for Home use) make sure you buy a GOOD quality pot of tinning paste and keep the tip in good condition.
In the OLD days leaded solder was used (we still use it) nowa days lead free is (what I use at home) is the norm. Lead free solder reduces tip life considerably.
SO here are some tips for your TIP.
Wipe the tip regularly on a wet sponge - wire wool works to keep the tip free of buildup but a wet sponge will have the tip shinny again.
Buy a tip cleaning wire brush for removing contaminants that are stubborn.
DO NOT leave the iron on for extended periods without wiping the tip on your sponge. Hence an auto shutoff can be useful, (although I hate it at it usually shuts off when I am in the middle of desoldering )
Are you implying that I do not worth even a lollipop payed by your money for all my posts in this topic, because of my last one?
In this case if I am very unhelpful, you are very ungrateful mister.
choosing a soldering iron by wattage is like choosing a vacuum by amperage, looks good in advertising but other design factors are more important and how well it does the job is what matters.
Hi,
where you guys buy GOOD quality pot of tinning paste? Can you recommend US suppliers? (btw, still using tin/led solder and no plans to go led free).
where you guys buy GOOD quality pot of tinning paste? Can you recommend US suppliers? (btw, still using tin/led solder and no plans to go led free).
Pico :
light, well in hand, heats quickly (12 s).
Lacks an LED to show if it's on or off.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.