4 Anyone Looking for a Good Cheap Soldering Station

Tighe

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4 Anyone Looking for a Good Cheap Soldering Station

I have had one of these Wellers for going on 10 years, really good. MCM has a sale if you want one:

http://catalogs.mcmelectronics.com/2876_wa008/full.asp?page=1

Way nicer than the Radio Shack version. I think when I got it it was $80.

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That's the one i have. Works great. Sure, if you're a pro and you repair multiple boards daily you might want to go higher end, but for the casual hobby guy who might rebuild a chassis once or twice a month this is an awesome deal!
 
Lesser quality clone of the Weller available for around $15


Here for $15
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=374-100

and Here for $17.50
Temperature Controlled Solder Station $17.50
http://www.therealbobroberts.net/parts.html

and here for $15:
http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=15860+TL


I have one and it's leaps and bounds better than the $2-$3 BigLots/dollar store pencil ones, and the $8 identical RadioCrap ones. It's not a Weller but it actually is pretty good for the price for those of you not wanting to drop $40+ on one.
 

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That's the one i have. Works great. Sure, if you're a pro and you repair multiple boards daily you might want to go higher end, but for the casual hobby guy who might rebuild a chassis once or twice a month this is an awesome deal!

I do a lot of soldering and it fits the bill quite nicely, but don't get be wrong I would love a hot air reworking station and a SMD station too! :)

Lesser quality clone of the Weller available for around $15


Here for $15
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=374-100

and Here for $17.50
Temperature Controlled Solder Station $17.50
http://www.therealbobroberts.net/parts.html

and here for $15:
http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=15860+TL


I have one and it's leaps and bounds better than the $2-$3 BigLots/dollar store pencil ones, and the $8 identical RadioCrap ones. It's not a Weller but it actually is pretty good for the price for those of you not wanting to drop $40+ on one.

I haven't tried the onces you listed, but I can say that the Weller is much nicer (temperature control, feel in hands, durability) than the Rat Shack model. I do love my Radio Shack desoldering iron, I just had to buy a new one, it gave up the ghost after 8 years.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062731

 
I have had one of these Wellers for going on 10 years, really good. MCM has a sale if you want one:

WLC100 certainly is cheap, but I'd never call it good =-P

My old lab had a box of dead WLC100s, a box of dead WTCPTs, and working metcals at the soldering stations :)
 
OK that MX5000 is pretty sweet, but I cannot spend $650. :eek:[/IMG]

I just bought a second SP200 on ebay for $100. (One for the bench in the attic, one for the arcade in the basement, and to travel with.)

MX5000 is way more than you need (but it is damn sweet) -- I've seen some go temptingly cheap on ebay.... heh.
 
I just bought a second SP200 on ebay for $100. (One for the bench in the attic, one for the arcade in the basement, and to travel with.)

MX5000 is way more than you need (but it is damn sweet) -- I've seen some go temptingly cheap on ebay.... heh.

I really would love the ability to do SMD work. :D
 
I've done .4mm QFPs with an sp200... you're not going to see much smaller than that...

Needed hot air to remove them, but the sp200 (and a scope) was easily good enough to put 'em down...
 
That appears to be a knock-off clone of a Tenma digital station. Boy those crafty Chinese will sell anyone's stuff to anyone else won't they?

Anyways, I have that same unit, but the actual brand name one. It is a really good iron.

Yesm those Tenma stations always look nice when I see them in the catalog. How are they in real life?
 
How come there are so many Ebay auctions for Metcal power stations without the hand piece included?

...so they can call them "untested"?

I dunno... I noticed that a lot too... you'll occasionally see hand piece only auctions, but it's best to get a full working unit.
 
Why is it that the US is one of the only countries in the world not to take on the metric system when the metric is the international "language" for engineering degrees??

because Americans are stubborn.. :D
 
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