Whats the best tips for a pace ST115 with the SX-80?

Thomas

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Would most board/chassis desolder work use a 60 inside diameter.
 
I found NOS tips on ebay for mine real cheap a while back. I bought a bunch of them beacuase the price was so good.
I can give you the info for the place I buy my parts from. The filters are pretty cheap but the tips are not.
 
If you need parts, tips, filters, etc... http://www.gotopac.com

They are local to me and are great to deal with.

You can also download all the manuals and catalogs you need from the PACE website. The various manuals and catalogs will list out all the part #s for repairs plus compatible tips.

RJ
 
Thanks for the posts...

What I really need to know is what desolder tips work the best for the pace stations.

20id 40id or 60id's????

What id do you use on sockets, caps & diodes? Hope you understand what I mean. It seems looking at the different tips that a 20 inside diameter would be to small to vac the solder out of the way efficiently.
 
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I used the .040 tips mostly.

Keep a few of the .060 tips around for desoldering larger items.

See if you can find an adapter to use the small diameter (cheap) tips like the Plato tips. Then you can use all those cheapie ones that are about as big around as an ink pen tube. Just beware that those tiny diameter tips do not last near as long as the enduro types.

Oh, and wipe the tips off from time to time and tin them before putting them away and they'll last a long time.

While you are picking up supplies, there is a set of different sized wires in a small case that is used to keep the tips clean and a set of small wire brushes you use to clean out the iron's barrel. There's also a nylon brush you use along with alcohol to clean the glass tube. Once it's clean you take a small lint free tissue and coat it lightly with WD-40 and run it through the barrel to get a very light coating which helps keep solder from sticking.

RJ
 
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Now that is great advise. Thanks Rj!
 
You're welcome!

I was trained on the Pace units back in the mid-90's by the folks at www.gotopac.com. If you have questions, give me a shout. I have an MBT-250 3 channel in the computer room and a smaller MBT-200 2 channel analog out in the shop. Plus, I have another single channel analog one that I bought for spare parts.

From time to time I pick up spare tips and irons off of eBay and then get most of my consumables from my local supplier.

You'll want to pick up a Therm-o-Tweeze iron next. This is what you would use to desolder SOJ, SOP, SOIC, QFP, and PQFP type chips. There are different shaped tips you use for each of those.

Now don't confuse the Therm-o-Tweeze iron's chip lifting capabilities with that of the standard Pace soldering iron. You can get tips for those to take off smaller 8/14/16/18/20 pin SOIC chips along with SOT and chip caps/resistors.

When desoldering, put the tip on the joint and apply just enough pressure to get heat to conduct through the joint. Push the button to activate the vacuum and move the iron back & forth on the joint to remove all the solder from around the pin of the component.

If your tip is dirty or has lost its tinning then it will be hard to conduct the heat and you start risking lifting pads or damaging pads as you end up applying more physical pressure. Keep the tip clean and in good shape and you will avoid this problem. When the tip gets nasty, replace it.

If you keep the tip clean and in good shape you can use it until the hole in the tip gets so wallowed out that you have no shoulder left to heat the joint. Replace the tip at that point and be happy that you eaked out all the life from the tip you could. ;)

RJ
 
Rj I have 3 questions. My St 50 iron is IntelliHeat.
The ST part of the model always throws me off because it takes IntelliHeat wands.

Why do they make it so confusing?

Now the ST 115 is SensaTemp correct?

Are any of the wands interchangeable?
 
The sensatip wands are interchangeable. I don't have any experience with the intelliheat wands.
 
Does that ST 115 I bought this morning take the SensaTemp style?
 
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