Solder station

GoneMad

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 15, 2011
Messages
1,347
Reaction score
36
Location
Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada
I know there are multiple threads on this and everyone has their own opinions. The guys that sit at their solder stations will usually tell you go big or stay home. I'm not into spending 100's of $$ for a solder/rework station. Mine only gets turned on to work on my own games, not very often. Would one of the following suffice for my own personal use?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/60W-Solderi...899?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43ab6bd9e3

or this

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SMD-Rework-...326?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5648a77c3e
 
I know there are multiple threads on this and everyone has their own opinions. The guys that sit at their solder stations will usually tell you go big or stay home. I'm not into spending 100's of $$ for a solder/rework station. Mine only gets turned on to work on my own games, not very often. Would one of the following suffice for my own personal use?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/60W-Solderi...899?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43ab6bd9e3

or this

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SMD-Rework-...326?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5648a77c3e

In the photos these look very cheaply made and when it comes to brand new irons being cheap,you get what you pay for literally. Read the other threads that have been started on this subject and you will see that a quality setup is cheaper than you think. You don't have to "Go big" to get a nice setup. A $300-400 setup can easily be had for around $150-200.

Here is a whole page on what you should be looking at. Pace setups are some of the best out there and are always reasonably priced.
 
I picked up a five star rated one off Amazon people swear its as nice as the $100.00 models for $17.00 delivered its works perfect & has the variable temp...
I can give a link if anyone is interested
dm
 
Weller (Cooper) WES51. You can have it for under a 100.

URqj_fPFe57RP5G3JJJUdMo-QpJakJJSJUQIKRKDs09y1KCPUXScibOtJWe6z8CXeblE1wpftyglUOsNJ3o9oT3EMRKf_TgmRrRvZqwDYnMS9RDomjqLaZE9wfW4GdBGiV-e9reJKI4k4X0_8pIm8PSitFeI_BL9maf1_laM4op5jjqQmwcSmoxMPaWVKZB2dKsBO4_aFOtq1PTGraWNgdn21AjJi8B9KCLNafJP7N-RvDtZMXToFc_UdilpkBGUtQJjDDNhc6Bfh2r7uQ_MdfmEmPar8e0iSljuf-0JjO_w6raoLGtsmKiChs876WGvFjcZovjiYMoQSg8sCGszNMiUaD0YtPORzYB9fQe8qyMlpjn3CoBD8A9uMLYBTAnieRp8pnDtaA6p7Sv-5K2l0Y8QCoek479tqDBMuA

The WESD51 has a digital readout for temp.

Heats fast, fast recovery, light weight iron, and you know you can get tips and other parts most anywhere you get electronics parts.
 
If you want cheap and reliable, go with the low end Weller mentioned above. They are reliable and you can get tips easily. I'm personally fond of Metcals, but at $220 for their low end unit, it's probably more than you want to spend.
 
i'll say it like i've said in many other threads. hakko 926 less than $50 shipped.
 
Right, like I said at first, I don't really want to spend a couple hundred bucks on something that is going to get minimal use on personal stuff. There are some low end Hakko and other good brands out there,,but there is also a lot of this, "This seller does not ship to Canada." And if you do ask them, they give you some crazy, fucked up price just to turn you away.
I can't really see how any of them can be any worse than the Rat Shack model I'm using now.
 
i bought this one direct from mcm electronics when they had a promotion.
http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=RAlJT8-zIKX_sQLC_uzqCA&ved=0CGQQ8wIwAg#

The iron heats up super fast, works really good for what we do. Replacement irons can be had for about $10. I bought a couple when i got the setup.

all in all i love it and its still my backup station. THe only reason its a backup is because i got a hakko hot air rework station and a pace soldering and desoldering station for $75. Man i got lucky on that one. I was buyung a tv wall mount off of a local craigslister. I happened to mention my hobbies and he said hey i used to work for motorola i have this equip "they were going to throw away" if your interested..

Funny how that works out sometimes. ALways mention your hobbies you never know when somebody is going to say hey i have an edot in my garage or something like that.
 
If you want cheap and reliable, go with the low end Weller mentioned above. They are reliable and you can get tips easily. I'm personally fond of Metcals, but at $220 for their low end unit, it's probably more than you want to spend.

You can often get a used Metcal for a reasonable price, e.g., an RFG-30 or PS2E-01. An MX-500 usually sells for quite a bit more. All three of those models use the same RM3E (STSS or MX) handpiece and associated tip cartridges (which is the important part, as the handpiece and short grip-to-tip distance is a big part of what makes Metcals so great).

With the way RF-based Metcals work, if you buy a new tip cartridge, you have a new soldering station in terms of performance, because the power supply itself is just a big RF generator (if it works it works); all of the things which affect performance (such as temperature regulation, i.e. the heat control mechanism) are contained in the tip cartridge.

This is my RFG-30 that I got used/untested for less than $40 shipped on eBay about 5 years ago (it included the handpiece, stand, and a used tip cartridge):



My video shows the other thing which makes Metcals so great; i.e., the very fast recovery time (the tip reaches operating temperature, starting from room temperature, in 10 seconds [from 0:30 to 0:40 in the video]).

I learned to solder on a Metcal about 15 years ago when I got a job in a PCB factory (and all other brands of soldering irons feel like junk to me in comparison). I worked there for about 2 years, soldering and inspecting about 1,000 boards a night. We used the RFG-30, PS2E-01, and MX-500 models interchangeably (my preferred tip cartridge was/is the STTC-126), and I never noticed any difference in performance among them. The PS2E-01 and MX-500 models do have more wattage than the RFG-30, but the RFG-30 already had plenty of power to keep up with extremely rapid, sustained assembly line soldering (about 1 through-hole joint per second, for many hours at a time).

This BYOAC thread that I made when I first got my own Metcal to use at home has a lot of information for anyone looking to buy a used Metcal.
 
Last edited:
i started with a cheap iron which eventually broke, as most of them do. it took a long time to heat up, didn't have a very good tip, and the recovery time was kinda silly. decided to invest in something better and spent a lot of time reading reviews of the cheaper knock-off brands and the reviews were extremely mixed and often pretty poor. it bit the bullet and i've been nothing but extremely pleased with the Weller WESD51. the few extra dollars you spend will pay off in a much longer-lived and less frustrating tool.

and for Christmas i got a Hakko 808 desoldering gun. OMG, i can't tell you how much easier it makes a cap kit.

of course, with 30+ games and a propensity to churn my collection i'm using my soldering station more than someone would if they have only a few that they keep long-term.
 
I know there are multiple threads on this and everyone has their own opinions. The guys that sit at their solder stations will usually tell you go big or stay home. I'm not into spending 100's of $$ for a solder/rework station. Mine only gets turned on to work on my own games, not very often. Would one of the following suffice for my own personal use?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/60W-Solderi...899?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43ab6bd9e3

or this

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SMD-Rework-...326?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5648a77c3e

I have a similar setup as seen in the 2nd link, mine is acutally the Atten 8586 It uses Hakko heating elements and tips. The soldering iron heats up quickly and has a nice recovery time. It's more than the average hobbyist needs. If you plan on using this for a full time job then you want to go with some of the pricier equipment but if you're doing the occasional repair that's more than you need and will work just fine.
 
... but if you're doing the occasional repair that's more than you need and will work just fine.

Exactly. A 15w Radio Shack iron is more than adequate for soldering some caps or sockets on a PCB. IMHO, a more important thing is having a decent desoldering iron... this is what I use now...
http://www.frys.com/product/2760813

But before that I used one of these for years...
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062731

As far as soldering... over about a 10 year span I went through maybe three 15w Radio Shack irons. Last time one died I went with something like this...
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3086619
but mine is a no-name brand from our local electronics store.
 
Right, like I said at first, I don't really want to spend a couple hundred bucks on something that is going to get minimal use on personal stuff. There are some low end Hakko and other good brands out there,,but there is also a lot of this, "This seller does not ship to Canada." And if you do ask them, they give you some crazy, fucked up price just to turn you away.
I can't really see how any of them can be any worse than the Rat Shack model I'm using now.

ah weak didn't notice you were in canada, looks like the one i linked to you in pm is like $40 to ship :( sorry i don't normally look at a members location unless it's the fs section.
 
Back
Top Bottom