Soldering Iron

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80hinhiding said:
I did a search and found names like Hakko for better stations.  If I do upgrade my iron and get a station at some point, can you list your favorite station?

Metcal, now Oki: http://www.okinternational.com/hand-soldering-systems/id-MFR-1110/Single_Output_Soldering__Rework_System_-_Cartridge_Hand-piece

About $320, add $15 per cartridge tip. Buy once, cry once.
 
Love my Hakko. I've only had to replace the tip once in three years now (soldering to aluminum ... don't ask). Got it on sale for under $90. I've never heard anyone complain about them.
 
Weller tcp.  Been using them 25 years, simple, & reliable easy to get replacement parts.  Have recently got a weller w61c for site visits as I'm getting too old to carry the PSU for the tcp on the train up to London etc  Trying to reduce the weight of what I carry around.
 
for starters it's less about brand and more about features for me, Get yourself a temperature controlled solder station.
From there I have used the following at different stages in my career with great success
weller, hakko and pace.  My old place of work had weller's which were nice, but I did have a few of the bases go out on me.  Currently I have a hakko as well as use a hake in my personal use away from work. For desoldering use a pace st-75 which is a good send.

 
weller use to make a magnetically controlled station that we still use and can still get parts for,

they changed to a thermistor/opamp design a long time ago and those things seemed to be designed to last about 5 years,

and they seem to drift as they get old,

you can still get a cheap TC202 station with the TC201 iron, the pwr switch has not gone out in about 35 years, and i think we have used about 5 tips in the same amount of time.

you can get tips in different temp ranges for those, 700, 800 etc. lower temp means longer life. new tips have a shabby plate job, so that is another advantage to getting a primitive station, you get to buy primitive tips with plating like the bumper of a 65 coupe deville.

working on the pencil is a tight fit, and you might have to buy a heating element once in a while, we need a new mag switch right now, but those are also on evilbay

don't use your tip as a pry bar, you will damage the plating, use solder wik and needle noise to remove parts, after the solder sucker of course.

if you do not do a lot of soldering, a cheap pencil is fine, or even the old hand gun model for Heathkit type stuff, but that is getting pretty retro, you may as well buy a Simpson voltmeter while your at it,

the iron at work blew the opamp circuit so we hardwired it into a variac so the boss won't have to cough for a new one but that is a dangerous and primitive solution best left to full time solder junkies, jus sayin...
 
Hakko here, where more heat is needed fast, or for traveling, 50W Weller which plugs into mains. Good thing about it is cheap price and possibility of adding diode like 1N4007 on one of heater wires where is easy to get it out when needed, so works more like 20W iron. Good enough even for op amps, even built some tube gear with it. Ergonomics aren''t nearly as good as on Hakko, so it gets most use on big solder joints like octal sockets, wires, groundings, etc. Tips don't last that long at 50W on Weller, with half power years if used like CJ wrote.
 
CJ said:
weller use to make a magnetically controlled station that we still use and can still get parts for,

Still got two magnetic stat TCP's here ,one about 25 yrs old the other 15 yrs old.
Built and repaired  every bit of kit I have got with these...(and thats quite a few) 4x  4ch pres , 2x dual 1176, 2x LA2A.
Not to mention the mountain of other stuff,  Mixers, Gates, Patchbays, Interconnects, Amps, Mics etc, etc as well as many repairs for clients.
Even replaced many SMD QFD packages with them.
Spares still available, and will continue using as long as they still are !!
 
I like my Hakko 936 for the bench, a Weller 100/150 gun for high heat (large gauge cable, soldering outdoors in the wind, etc) and I also use my Heat Gun to pre-heat very large cable (4GA + larger) for tinning and crimp+solder to lugs before using the Weller.

I also have a cheap 25 watt pencil iron that gets used ... okay, abused ... when I don't need and don't want to clean the Hakko properly after a quick, small job.

I have modded a tip for the Weller that works great for removing PTFE from cable without risk of nicking the wire.

Finally I have a Butane torch that I use with a ceramic crucible and some metalworker's tongs, to tin magnet wire (clean the wire with caustic soda (sodium hydroxide), clean the crucible, then melt solder and dip the wire to tin.
 
For cheap soldering station I can recommend the Bakon 950D.
This is a very good and small station that use Hakko T12 tips, maybe not design for professional use, but the "best soldering thing" under 50 bucks that I have ever used.
I recommend the pack with 5 different tips, the K, BL and BC1 tips are the most useful.
 
I use a Weller wes51 purchased off Amazon for $90 or so.
Good temp control and heats rapidly.
The tips are available in numerous places in town (Hakko is not)
They also make the same thing in digital and it is a bit more.
Can't comment on how long it will last (3 yrs so far) but very content with it and it is a huge step up from my single temp soldering pencil. 

Cheers!
 
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