Good but inexpensive soldering station?

[AndrewS]

Any recommendations? Looked at a Hakko and a couple of clones.

Andrew

[RocketManRC]

Andrew, I bought this one a year and a half ago and I love it:

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/84

Of course Sparkfun doesn't carry it anymore however they have this one as a replacement:

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10707?

It's a Hakko clone and there are lots of comments there.

With these soldering stations the heating element is in the tip so it heats up in a few seconds. And I've found that even with a fine tip you can crank the temperature up and it will solder power and bullet connectors no problem.

[MarkL]

I picked this one up a couple weeks ago:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/POWER-8000-HOT- ... 060wt_1399

Only used it a couple of times so can’t speak to quality yet, however it works so far and cheap and nice to have the hot air for reflow work and heat shrink.

I have my Edsyn 951 as my nicer station but just using this new eBay one for now to test out.

[RocketManRC]

That ebay one looks interesting Mark and the price sure is right. What about replacement tips for it though?

[MarkL]

It came with a replacement heater core for the hot air and element for the soldering iron, plus a few different soldering tips and heater tips as well.
Time will tell how well it holds up though.

[karlpenney]

I got a Hakko FX-888 sometime last year which I find works very well.

The one from Sparkfun that Rick mentioned looks pretty good though for less than half the price of the Hakko.

[MarkL]

Used the soldering station a bit more today, not sure the thermostat is working properly, it seems to heat up more than I'd expect, handle even getting warm. Granted for the price I didn't expect a lot, but my Edsyn is nicer to use and better control.

[saboo]

I got a hot air rework station very similar to Mark L's. Mine also had a 5volt bench power supply with analogue ammeter , RF meter, and digital voltmeter. Also came with spare hot air heater, two iron heaters, spare tips, nozzles, lead free solder, flux, SMD tweezers and a hot air gun holder for placing over the work. Also were LGA and BGA chip holders.

Whole unit with Duty taxes and shipping delivered was $190.00

On e-bay search for 853 solder rework. Lots to choose from. Some are 3 in 1 some are 4 in 1

If learning how to solder go to solder.net where you can find links to many YouTube based training videos. All aspects of soldering covered there.

However if you want a really inexpensive iron for soldering battery terminals etc, Princess Auto is the place. Go in turn left. Go to side wall and turn right. Go past the welding machines. Shelves to your right.

Saboo

[AndrewS]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Went with the Spark Fun one as I am just looking for a basic unit and don't need the extras, and the price was low enough.

Andrew