Closed Soldering Station or Info

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jazzmarazz
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 17
  • Views Views 3621
Status
Not open for further replies.
Jazzmarazz

Jazzmarazz

New member
Rating - 100%
2   0   0
Joined
Nov 7, 2011
Posts
240
Country
United States
Region
Michigan
I am in need of a soldering station, either used or new preferably in the US. I am even open to opinions on brands, so please share!

What I am looking for is a station with iron and hot air, but can do without the hot air. It will also need to have easily-purchased tip replacements.

What are some good ones under $80?

I will also be purchasing an oscilloscope within the next month or two. Again, I need info on good ones and prices. I hope to find one new with two channels and at least 20MHz. Good ones under $300 maybe?
 
these are all prety basic and interchangeable.
the tips are all prety standard too. easy to replace..

I would not really expect to get much more than 18 month of use out of one of these things if you use it for 6 hours a day.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-2in1-SM...941?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item460b421d2d

But a definate viable choice for a 1st station. ESD tip and hot air with variable temp..
if all you used before was a 15w soldering iron, then you will be amazed how much easier things are when you have variable temp..

You do get what you pay for though..
they do work and they are viable. but like i said if you use the things for most of the day every day they wont last that long.

you may notice that you have a temp dial on these things and a lcd display. the lcd display usually tells you the SET temperature, and not the actual working temp.. so its a good idea to have a themal mesurment device at the area you are working on.
 
I've got one of the cheap off-brand ones like is linked above and it works great for my purposes. I've done some fairly precise soldering with it. :)

Heather
 
ShambleS1980 said:
these are all prety basic and interchangeable.
the tips are all prety standard too. easy to replace..

I would not really expect to get much more than 18 month of use out of one of these things if you use it for 6 hours a day.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-2in1-SM...941?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item460b421d2d

But a definate viable choice for a 1st station. ESD tip and hot air with variable temp..
if all you used before was a 15w soldering iron, then you will be amazed how much easier things are when you have variable temp..

You do get what you pay for though..
they do work and they are viable. but like i said if you use the things for most of the day every day they wont last that long.

you may notice that you have a temp dial on these things and a lcd display. the lcd display usually tells you the SET temperature, and not the actual working temp.. so its a good idea to have a themal mesurment device at the are you are working on.
Click to expand...

I am actually used to 30W for my iron and 45W for my desoldering pump. I can't say I use them every day, however, when I do use them it is for around a 4-6 hour stretch.

This station does look very nice though. 18 months could be worse I suppose. What are or is the first part to go bad?
SkydivinGirl said:
I've got one of the cheap off-brand ones like is linked above and it works great for my purposes. I've done some fairly precise soldering with it. :smile:

Heather
Click to expand...

Oh? I haven't had any problems with my current setup, but I am expected to do a lot of SMD soldering within the next few weeks. The board that I am printing requires an FTDI and an Atmel8515, both SMD. I can do either of these chips with what I have, but it would not be fun on ten boards, one after the other!
 
from my expirience with them they blow resister and a cap on the pcb inside them. and that takes out a few things along the line too..

But I tend to use the things for 8 hours a day every day.. so with my lame old maths id say thats about 4thousand hours of use before catastrophic failure..

It could just be the long hours they stay on for. im not one for switching the iron off when im off to make a coffee or similar.

But just to add. a 30w Soldering iron is a bit over kill for delicate work. i dont really like to use more than 15w if i dont have a variable temp. pads and traces dont really like 30w from expirience.
 
I can vouch for Kada 850D/850+ soldering stations(like the one listed here).

You can't go wrong with one of these puppies.:nod:

The only parts that need spares are the heating elements (from both the air gun and the soldering iron). You can also be more elitist and buy extra tips and nozzles for the odd soldering.

BGA stations are only for the soldering jedis.
 
ShambleS1980 said:
from my expirience with them they blow resister and a cap on the pcb inside them. and that takes out a few things along the line too..

But I tend to use the things for 8 hours a day every day.. so with my lame old maths id say thats about 4thousand hours of use before catastrophic failure..

It could just be the long hours they stay on for. im not one for switching the iron off when im off to make a coffee or similar.

But just to add. a 30w Soldering iron is a bit over kill for delicate work. i dont really like to use more than 15w if i dont have a variable temp. pads and traces dont really like 30w from expirience.
Click to expand...
Ok, so these are good stations. I never eally had any problems with 30W, but then again, I never had anything running less. Maybe the listed station will be a good change for me.
rkauer said:
I can vouch for Kada 850D/850+ soldering stations(like the one listed here).

You can't go wrong with one of these puppies.:nod:

The only parts that need spares are the heating elements (from both the air gun and the soldering iron). You can also be more elitist and buy extra tips and nozzles for the odd soldering.

BGA stations are only for the soldering jedis.
Click to expand...
One of those is entirely out of the question! I am not starting a business, after all. :lol:


THANKS EVERYONE!

Now lets talk about scopes like I asked in the OP. I found this one;
http://www.sainsmart.com/oscillosco...-oscilloscope-50mhz-500msa-s-7-2-channel.html
Which has two inputs and at 50MHz. I have always used Tektronix at school but now I am graduated and need one of my own. This one is substantially cheaper than Tek's.
 
I realize it is a double post, but I have decided to purchase the 852D+ soldering station. I have a lot of youtube videos to watch on hot-air gun usage though.

Anyone have some SMD tips for me? I will be buying some solder paste too and am going to try my hand at making my own stencils.
 
To me.. smd components are all about placement. a steady hand and some tweezers help. if we are talking about easy stuff like a smd cap or resister. then just get it in place and hold it down then you can either hot air, or if you have a small enough tip solder 1 end at a time (soldering 1 end at a time is faster imo)

more complicated things like ram chips i use flux on the pads (no solder) and then tack down either corner. then i use hot air to slowly solder the legs in place. then use a magnifying glass to check all joins are good. add more flux and heat up legs that are not connected with a fine soldering tip. (be sure there is no exess colder on the tip.)

to be honest i use the solderiong iron a lot more for soldering things To a pcb, and i use the hot air for removing things..
IC removal is easiest if you flux up al the legs and then heat it then use a suction pen to lift the chip off.
i find for putting things back on hot air is not perfect and many legs wont be making a good connection, but it does help.

always remember flux is good. and i prefer paste flux vs liquid flux.

Solder flux (flux and solder in one paste) is also really usefull with hot air, but you do need to practice a bit 1st so you know how much to use. it seems to make a lot more solder than you expect once you heat it up. but it is very usefull for pads that do not have enough solder on them but if you use to much you will end up spening a lot more time with the solder wick than you had planned.
 
I can heartily recommend the Kada 852D+, as I've got one. :thumbsup:
 
ShambleS1980 said:
To me.. smd components are all about placement. a steady hand and some tweezers help. if we are talking about easy stuff like a smd cap or resister. then just get it in place and hold it down then you can either hot air, or if you have a small enough tip solder 1 end at a time (soldering 1 end at a time is faster imo)

more complicated things like ram chips i use flux on the pads (no solder) and then tack down either corner. then i use hot air to slowly solder the legs in place. then use a magnifying glass to check all joins are good. add more flux and heat up legs that are not connected with a fine soldering tip. (be sure there is no exess colder on the tip.)

to be honest i use the solderiong iron a lot more for soldering things To a pcb, and i use the hot air for removing things..
IC removal is easiest if you flux up al the legs and then heat it then use a suction pen to lift the chip off.
i find for putting things back on hot air is not perfect and many legs wont be making a good connection, but it does help.

always remember flux is good. and i prefer paste flux vs liquid flux.

Solder flux (flux and solder in one paste) is also really usefull with hot air, but you do need to practice a bit 1st so you know how much to use. it seems to make a lot more solder than you expect once you heat it up. but it is very usefull for pads that do not have enough solder on them but if you use to much you will end up spening a lot more time with the solder wick than you had planned.
Click to expand...
Hot air is better for 'removing' things, you say...That is a very good tip. I have been using Chip Quik which work wonders in removing, but is very expensive. Glad you suggested this station now.

Merlin said:
I can heartily recommend the Kada 852D+, as I've got one. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Good! that makes me feel better about my $80 purchase. I always have trouble spening more than ... 10 at one time on anything. :oops:
rkauer said:
I have the competitor Ya Xun 702. Another good station.:nod:
Click to expand...
Didn't see one on the other bay, otherwise I may have considered it.
 
I work with a weller repair station it has a hot air gun and desoldering iron.(all bels and whisles)

For SMD i can advice to get a hot air gun it really makes a difference.
As to where to get something cheap that holds both a hot airgun and soldering iron I wish you luck on it.
 
Since you not bought the unit from inside Amibay I'll makr the thread as closed.

If you prefer we can move it to amioracle or general chat. :-)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

roy_bates
check replacement part's for soldering stations etc
Replies
0
Views
106
roy_bates
roy_bates
MMaximus
  • Locked
Sold AOYUE Int968A+ Hot Air Soldering Station
Replies
9
Views
1K
ala_borbe
A
S
  • Locked
Closed CSI 2901 Soldering Station with 6 cartridge tips (REDUCED)
Replies
5
Views
2K
Simon_G
S
A
  • Locked
Weller WTCP50 soldering station
Replies
1
Views
2K
Amigafanboi
A
fitzsteve
  • Locked
Sold KADA 852AD Hot Air Rework/Soldering Station
Replies
5
Views
2K
fitzsteve
fitzsteve
Back
Top Bottom