Suggestions Wanted: reasonably priced, decent quaility Solder and Desoldering Station

Black Matrix

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 21, 2006
Messages
3,290
Reaction score
35
Location
Greeneville, Tennessee
Suggestions Wanted: reasonably priced, decent quaility Solder and Desoldering Station

Hey All,
The title kind of says it all. I was hoping some of the more technically minded repair type guys could suggest some affordable soldering and desoldering stations. I can probably pick one out for a Christmas gift and its been a while since I researched them. Also, if you had to pick one or the other, which one would you prefer. I do pretty fair work with cheap irons, and desoldering gives me the most headaches.

I would also appreciate if you would tell me why you chose which models. Plus, if you have a website for an online e-tailer, that would also be great. I know I can probably find a decent model on my own, but I figure a lot of us here would probably appreciate the info as well. Thanks in advance.
 
I've been using an Aoyue 2702 station for the past few years. No regrets. Widely available through various online retailers, I got mine here.

Biggest rework job I've done on this was a pinball machine. Multiple 40-pin DIPs soldered into the board were replaced with sockets, and multiple rows of heavy .156" MTA connectors had to be pulled. The desoldering gun took it all in stride; I rarely had to visit a pin more than once. The only caution I'd issue is that when the gun starts to not feel as effective as it was... take a break, let everything cool down, and dump the solder that's clogging it up. I'd pulled off so much solder that the solder had begun to stick to the little springy thing in the chamber that holds the solder gunk.

Get a couple of spare parts for the desoldering gun, a small array of differently-sized tips, and away you go.

Pros:
- Dirt cheap: $250 gets you a soldering iron, desoldering iron, and heat gun.
- Heats up very quickly
- Having a vaccuum behind your desoldering gun is fantastic. It's how your trusty old 45W Radio Shack desoldering iron is supposed to work :)
- Having a temperature-controlled desoldering gun is even more fantastic. It can supply enough heat into the joint to melt the solder, but you have to really try to lift/burn a trace, even when replacing the .156" MTA connectors on Williams hardware.
- The iron has a built-in fume extractor, which your eyes and lungs will appreciate when it comes time to put all those replacement components back into the board.

Cons:
- I haven't had any trouble with it, but it is a Chinese knock-off of comparable Hakko gear.

The Hakko, Weller, and Pace stuff is great, but it's priced accordingly. For me, the Aoyue was more than Good Enough. I've done a lot of through-hole work with it, as well as minor SMT rework. No regrets.

More info:
Found this Aoyue 2702 review, and an Aoyue 968 review.
 
I would LOVE to have a quality vacuum desoldering iron. I use a soldapult, but they become somewhat ineffective once they get some solder/flux grime in them. Brand new out of the package they kick ass.
 
The man said reasonably priced. $250 is not reasonably priced IMHO for a hobby soldering station. I suppose if you worked with solder daily, it may be the way to go, but for guys who re-cap a monitor once in a while, $250 is about $150 to $200 too expensive.
 
The man said reasonably priced. $250 is not reasonably priced IMHO for a hobby soldering station. I suppose if you worked with solder daily, it may be the way to go, but for guys who re-cap a monitor once in a while, $250 is about $150 to $200 too expensive.
You can't find a decent soldering and desoldering station for $50. You can get one for $159+shipping however. Doesn't have hot air or fume extractor but it does meet TC's requirements.
 
I have the Aoyou 2702 as well, and have been happy with it. It is about the lowest entry price into a rework station you can find.

If you just need a soldering station, I have a Hakko (936, I think) that I really like. It is less than $100 from sellers on ebay with a few extra tips.

The 2702 does not support using the solering iron and the desoldering gun at the same time. The soldering iron feels like the lowest quality part on it, so I just leave it for desoldering. I can't think of any reason I would ever want to use it over the Hakko for soldering.

If you do not need the hot air, I would suggest the Hakko 936, then if you get tired of using a soldapult, buy Hakko's stand alone desoldering gun. The two together will cost about the same as the 2702, but the quality will be quite a bit better. If you want air, the 2702 is really hard to beat at that price.
 

bought a vacuum pump cheap from a pawn shop and i invented a solder trap so the solder doesnt gum up the pump. added a tube for the vacuuming and its a joy to behold.

been working on this SHARPSHOOTER pinball the past few days. needs a playfield but its still fun to play. too bad it isnt worth much...
 
For a powered desoldering gun, I absolutely LOVE my HAKKO 808...it is very well built and makes cap kits and board work a relative breeze :) .

I picked one up a few years back used for about $90 and it's paid for itself in spades in terms of saved time, what would have otherwise been soldering headaches, and work I've done for others (paid and volunteer).

I think they run about $160 new...not cheap, but if you do a lot of soldering work, it's one of the best purchases you could make, IMHO...

I picked up a basic soldering station at my local Fry's Electronics store for about $35 about 5 years ago...it was the least expensive that they had at the time, but it's worked just fine for me...

Jon
 
Some quick questions.
1st, what is the heat gun used for in electronics repair(other than shrinking heat shrink tubing).
2nd, Anyone have any experience with the Aoyue 968 Rework station, or is the 2702 just light years ahead of it.
3rd, Does anyone have any opinions of Metcal mx-500 as it appears I may be able to pick a lightly used one on ebay for around 200. Anyone know any serious drawbacks to them.

And thanks guys, keep the info coming in. Its very appreciated.
 
Great thread guys! For desoldering, I honestly thought the 45W Radio Shack thing was it! That and the blue sucker, and wick, I have them all, and hate them all too!

So as far as hot air goes, I can understand pulling caps, resistors, and xformers with the heat alone, but will it work for IC's as well? Seems pretty cool to melt the solder off a component with out even having to touch the thing!

That 2702 is sounding pretty sweet.....
 
3rd, Does anyone have any opinions of Metcal mx-500 as it appears I may be able to pick a lightly used one on ebay for around 200. Anyone know any serious drawbacks to them.

Metcal is the best IMO, no matter how much you spend. Anyone looking to spend at least $100 on a soldering station can get a used Metcal (the MX-500 goes for more, but the older PS2E/STSS models work just as well, and use the same handpiece/tip cartridges) that will far outperform anything that can be bought new for $100 (and of course, outperform anything that can be bought for any amount of money IMO).

The advantage of the MX-500 over the older models is that it has two ports, allowing the iron and desoldering gun to be hooked up at the same time, like in the picture on this page.

I used Metcal MX-500s and STSS systems for two years working in a PCB factory, soldering about 1,000 boards a night. I never bothered with the desoldering gun, and few other people there did either. We mostly used fullsize Edsyn Soldapullt (DS017, DS017LS, and AS196) solder suckers. Granted, the desoldering guns are "gentler" if you are desoldering something that is particularly delicate.

Here are Clay Cowgill's thoughts on the Metcal stations, in reply to a similar question on RGVAC:
I'd recommend trying to get a used Metcal over anything else (even vs. a
brand new Weller/Pace/Hakko or similar, no matter how expensive you go). In
my experience they are simply so much better than everything else out there
there's not even any contest. A used STSS-002 or an MX-500P-11 unit can
probably be had (complete with power supply, wand, and tip) for ~$150 or so
on eBay. Tips on eBay are maybe ~$10-20/ea, but they'll last a LONG time
for hobbyist use.

(Priced new, the better Metcals will easily run $700+ and tips can cost more
than most entire 'hobbyist' irons -- but with eBay they're plentiful and
inexpensive.)

The Metcals use RF to heat the tips
([dead link removed]), so temperature changes are near
instantaneous and very well regulated. You can go from a cold iron to
soldering in about ten seconds with most tips, power off, change tips to a
different style and be up and running again in another ten seconds. Heating
of the tip is very localized, so your hand doesn't get roasted over long
sessions, and the Metcal wands are the lightest/smallest ones out there that
I've ever used. Temperature is regulated by the type of tip and there are
hundreds or different styles available if you need fine-pitch SMT rework or
whatever...

Some of the MX-500's have multiple ports so you can run an SMT tweezer or
multiple wands from one power supply if you like.

[dead links removed]

(And if you need to rework 0201 SMT packages, here you go. ;-)

[dead link removed]

I haven't had occasion to try the new PS-800 series, but they look like a
lower-cost model as an alternative to the MX500 line with some good ideas if
you're a production line, but for hobbyist use the economies of scale for
the tip/heater separation won't ever kick-in. There's the SP-200 as well,
but for my money I'd still go with the MX500 or an STSS...


-Clay

Link

His "ten seconds" claim is no exaggeration; here is a video I made with my old STSS to demonstrate it (the relevant part is from the 30 second mark to the 40 second mark).
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom