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Hello,

Can anyone recommend a decent soldering station for around $100 to the low $100's or perhaps more importantly any i should stay away from.

I plan on using this for both through hole and SMD soldering, the latter of which i currently have no experience. I ran a search on this forum but found no similar topic.

Thanks.

Personman wrote: Can anyone recommend a decent soldering station for around $100 to the low $100's or perhaps more importantly any i should stay away from.

I plan on using this for both through hole and SMD soldering, the latter of which i currently have no experience. I ran a search on this forum but found no similar topic.

Are you a hobbyist, or using this for business?
What soldering iron(s) do you have today?
Are you doing repairs/hacking or original design work?
Are you going to use PCBs in the future?
Will you future PCBs be homemade or outsourced (or kits)?

@ Bigglez

Listed below are responses to you questions in respective order;

hobbyist, microcontroller related stuff mostly
a radio shack 25 watt junker
original
i use PCBs now but typically prototype boards
kits and homemade/custom fabricated, however probably mostly prototype boards.


Hope thats helpful and thank you for your time.

Personman wrote:@ Bigglez

Listed below are responses to you questions in respective order;

hobbyist, microcontroller related stuff mostly
a radio shack 25 watt junker :smile:
original
i use PCBs now but typically prototype boards
kits and homemade/custom fabricated, however probably mostly prototype boards.

What is the largest pin count device that plan to use?
What is the smallest pitch PCB feature that you plan to use?
Do the protoboards that you use have PTH (plated through holes)?

@ Bigglez

So far the largest is 40 pin count however typically less.
I honestly have no idea.
PTH and single sided.

Again thanks for your time.

I've got a hakko 936 which I really like. TH and SMD, large pin count as well.

I think you can get it for under $100

Personman wrote:@ Bigglez

So far the largest is 40 pin count however typically less.
I honestly have no idea.
PTH and single sided.

The two features you should search for in a hand
soldering iron are:
(1) Temperature control
(2) Changeable tips

If you plan to do a lot of SMT soldering or rework
consider a hot air soldering station.

My "everyday" soldering iron is this one from Weller.

I also have this one from Weller, but I've stopped
using it everyday.

For serious SMT work or rework I have a Metcal,
which is superior to the Weller in every regard,
but quite a bit more money!

I also use a Weller hot air gun for removing big ICs,
and "mass-soldering" SMT parts on bare boards.

Consider buying on eBay. All the tools I have listed
I bought through eBay or similar on-line used sources.

I have a Station2A from Circuit Specialists. It uses Hakko Tips. Is uC controlled. and is only $45. I got two irons for mine so I can have a Small tip - for smt - in one and a general purpose tip in the other.

You can see it here:
http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/7508

If you get this one, I would also recommend that you look on ebay for extra tips. If I remember right, I got 10 tips for less than $20
On the other hand, Circuit specialists want ~5/tip.

Also, if you do order from circuit specialists, make sure you check out their free gift stuff. I got a nice meter from them. It's not a Fluke but it works well.

Kevin

Not sure how relevant this is to the US hobby market but if you intend to use lead free solder, make sure you get an iron that has enough heat capacity and comes with so called lead free bits.

Sadly, bits do not last very long in the pb free environment,

If you can afford it, then I quite like the Metcal range they have hot swappable bits. If I could remember the name of a large soldering iron retailer that is in the US (Howard Soldering Supplies ?? ) they have cloned or secondary label soldering stations slightly cheaper than the primary label ones.

Antex might be worth looking at, but they don't do pointed bits, the UK versus US exchange rate might not be that good at the moment.

www.antex.co.uk or in the US http://www.mmnewman.com/

Hmm $500 five times too much, hunt for a company called Groot or Micron, they should be in the price range, or maybe make your own controller and buy a very good iron to plug into it.

If you intend to do lots of SMD soldering, then although with practice this can be done with a fine tipped bit, worth its' weight in platinum is a hoof bit - this has a little well on the underside which fills up with solder. Use electronics gel type flux, flux the component foot print plonk component on, and just wipe the hoof tip down the pins surface tension does the rest. QF packages are a doddle this way.

Colin

Well that gives me a good foundation for choosing a station.

Thanks to everyone for the info/suggestions. Again I appreciate your time.

Personman wrote:Well that gives me a good foundation for choosing a station.

Please post a follow up and let us know what
hardware you got (and where).

The more expensive units have features useful for commercial or light industrial use like they can handle being left on all day every day, excellent temperature regulation (particularly adding heat when you land on a large metal pin or trace and the tip gets cooled) and sometimes standby modes and very fast heat up. Some even have an operator lockout so only the supervisor can set the temperature

A hobbiest station can heat slower, shouldn't be left on for days and may have fewer tips to choose from and may have more primitive temperature control (no feedback or temp sensor in the tip, just variable power. But they're good enough for light duty use.

For SMT you will want a very pointy tip. I like it with a little bend at the end. You'll want a hot air station if you ever want to desolder a SMT device in one piece but in most cases you can get by with a fine tip and a low mag microscope (or a decent magnifier). A low mag zoom scope can be a little pricy but IMO almost as useful as the soldering iron.

15W is fine for most use but more power if you need to solder heavy solid wires or large terrminals or use for other than electronic purposes. 35W or 50W with variable power and tips to choose from will be very flexible.

Well i ordered a weller wes51 based on comments/reviews from this and other sources it seamed like a good choice. It will be given to me as a holiday gift form my wife so till then I will just look at it and drool.

Thanks again.