Soldering station?

[Vinny]

Same type and sizes that I use too and for the exact same types of work.

[RobWilson]

Cheers Ed 

I see you prefer the Leaded flavour    ,   is that Lead free stuff any good ?  I am a true believer that if a product   is not labeled as  ,harmful/ kills fish, trees and the cute furry animals  it must be a bit wank 


The last bug spray I got was so piss poor I ended up just using the can to splat the bugs 


Rob

[arvidj]

(12-18-2015, 04:17 PM)EdK Wrote: Sorry for the late response Arvid, I've been real busy.

When you say "good" I interpret that to mean you're willing to spend some reasonable bucks on one, as in hundreds of dollars. Is that true? If so, then I'd look at the Hako stuff. Avoid Pace, they've gone to $hit over the last few years.

What type of SMT components would you be working with?

Ed

Thanks for the advice Ed. I know you've got several irons in the fire ... or mills in the garage ... and we both have that d..n thing called work going on. I'm certainly not in a big hurry.

Hopefully not multiple hundreds of dollars; a couple would be reasonable.

I bought one of the ubiquitous T963A reflow ovens and would be using the hot air unit when the oven is not appropriate.

I'm just converting from thru-hole to SMT. I plan on starting at a reasonable level, 0603 and larger and devices with leads. Nothing related to BGA or anything like that to get started.

As I look around anything complex, like with a robust processor, etc., is usually available ready-to-go cheaper than I could build it. I am thinking that the boards I'll be making will relatively simple interface boards to the processor units. There are many pre-built interfaces available but it seems like the stuff I'd like to measure and hook up are not addressed by the general market.

Arvid

[EdK]

(12-19-2015, 04:34 AM)RobWilson. Wrote: Cheers Ed 

I see you prefer the Leaded flavour    ,   is that Lead free stuff any good ?  I am a true believer that if a product   is not labeled as  ,harmful/ kills fish, trees and the cute furry animals  it must be a bit wank 


The last bug spray I got was so piss poor I ended up just using the can to splat the bugs 


Rob

Hi Rob,

I definitely prefer the leaded flavor. I hate the lead free stuff. Since I work in engineering, we aren't required to use the lead free solder unless the board is going into production. All of our production boards have to have been assembled using lead free solder.

Ed

[EdK]

(12-19-2015, 08:45 AM)arvidj Wrote: Thanks for the advice Ed. I know you've got several irons in the fire ... or mills in the garage ... and we both have that d..n thing called work going on. I'm certainly not in a big hurry.

Hopefully not multiple hundreds of dollars; a couple would be reasonable.

I bought one of the ubiquitous T963A reflow ovens and would be using the hot air unit when the oven is not appropriate.

I'm just converting from thru-hole to SMT. I plan on starting at a reasonable level, 0603 and larger and devices with leads. Nothing related to BGA or anything like that to get started.

As I look around anything complex, like with a robust processor, etc., is usually available ready-to-go cheaper than I could build it. I am thinking that the boards I'll be making will relatively simple interface boards to the processor units. There are many pre-built interfaces available but it seems like the stuff I'd like to measure and hook up are not addressed by the general market.

Arvid

Arvid,

That's plenty of information to go by so I'll talk to a couple of the technicians at work that are experts at soldering and know what's out there as far as soldering equipment is concerned.

Ed

[EdK]

OK Arvid, it appears you have lots of options that won't cost you an arm and a leg. Here's the one the guys at work recommended. It's only about $60 and I told them you were willing to pay more for a quality one. They said this one works as well as the more expensive ones.
Behind door number one.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ITMPQS2?psc=1

I had looked for a hot air unit some months back and I found this one to be highly recommended and being of a bit higher quality than the lower cost made in China units. I haven't bought it yet but had planned to at some point.
Behind door number two.

http://gokimco.com/eclipse-pro-s-kit-ss-...oCK1_w_wcB

There are two other brands that are considered to be made for the industry rather than for the hobbyists. Quick and XYtronic.
Behind door number three.

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/QU...-/21-13210
http://www.xytronic-usa.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=202

And then there's this one that is also supposed to be of higher quality but not quite up the the quality of a Hako or Weller but for a lot less money.
Behind door number four.

http://www.circuitspecialists.com/blackjack-solderwerks

I'm now leaning towards this one. I like the fact that it has a suction cup to lift the components off of the board once the solder is melted. It would be useful mainly for removing ICs.

http://www.circuitspecialists.com/bk4050.html

Hope this helps some.

Ed

[Vinny]

I know XYTronic makes good products. I have one of their solder stations and it's been going strong for 30+ years.

[arvidj]

(12-21-2015, 05:14 PM)EdK Wrote: OK Arvid, it appears you have lots of options that won't cost you an arm and a leg. Here's the one the guys at work recommended. It's only about $60 and I told them you were willing to pay more for a quality one. They said this one works as well as the more expensive ones.
Behind door number one.

... Many great suggestions ...

Hope this helps some.

Ed

Ed,

Thanks to you and the people you work with for the great suggestions. I'll be looking them over and will probably be getting myself a post-Christmas gift.

Arvid