Soldering stations?

[Oldddudders]

 

If you mean this : http://www.maplin.co...r-station-35016

It is actually no more than a cheap iron and a dimmer switch!

Ooh! Goody! Bought one last year for £15. Haven't yet tried it - but it did cause a bit of interest at the security desk at St Pancras on my way home! I also bought some Antex spare tips in the same (Stafford) Maplin, which completely confused the bloke on the till - who needs Antex tips with that thing? The joys of living abroad and shopping when you can!

[Edwin_m]

Maplins have a 60 watt soldering station on offer at £40 at the moment with LCD screen for accurate temp control (their words not mine)

Steve

I bought one three weeks ago, only used it once so far and it seems to do the job though I think I had to select a pretty high temperature to melt leaded solder! The stand is a bit useless, the iron doesn't fit very well and looks as if it will fall out at any moment, and its rubber feet were missing so it slides around.

[Torper]

If anyone wants a reasonably priced branded soldering station without having to pay Antex or Weller prices, have a look at http://www.pcb-solde...ring-irons.html . The Aoyue and Atten units are Chinese made clones of the highly respected Japanese Hakko brand and, as I've said earlier, my Aoyue 937+ has given me excellent service. Aoyue is no fly-by-night company - you'll see on the website that they don't only deal with hobbyist soldering irons and you can, for example, buy an infrared welding station for over £5000! There's also a large and comprehensive range of inexpensive spares available.

 

The only adverse comment I would make about these irons is that they tend to have a temperature range of between 200 and 450 degrees, and may not therefore be suitable for anyone who wants the facility of a lower temperature, such as the 60 degrees offered by the Antex station, albeit at several times the price.

 

DT

[Mark 37]

Toper/DT,

 

I think I may go for one of these as I've narrowed the choice down to three. You say in your post that the temp is between 200-450, with that said the first station comes with a 60w iron, would the replacement iron rated 35w not give those lower temps requiered for some jobs?

 

Best regards,

 

Mark

[buffalo]

...would the replacement iron rated 35w not give those lower temps requiered for some jobs?

Mark,

 

Wattage determines maximum heat output, not temperature. Together with other factors like the size of tip being used, it determines the iron's ability to maintain temperature when faced with a substantial heat sink, or to regain a set temperature when cooled by a heatsink. A lower wattage iron will be less good at doing this. Unlike an uncontrolled iron of the same wattage, a temperature controlled 60W iron doesn't consume 60W all the time, that is just its maximum output.

 

Nick

[Mark 37]

Nick,

 

Thanks, that helps me narrow the search down a little more.

 

Best regards,

 

Mark

[mattog]

Hakko fx888 is superb and not hugely expensive compared to their more industrial units.

 

http://www.hakko.com/english/products/hakko_fx888.html

[Torper]

I understand that Hakko are brilliant irons but not, sadly, readily available here in the UK (or at least so it seems).

 

DT

 

P.S. Having just typed that, I've come across Dancap Electronics that offers the Hakko FX888 at £88.18 + VAT. Still only a 200-480ºC temperature range, however, and two and a half times as much in price as the Aoyue and Atten clones..

[Mark 37]

Well I placed an order for the http://www.pcb-soldering.co.uk/aoyue-936-soldering-station.html although I did fancy the http://www.pcb-soldering.co.uk/atten-at938d-professional-60w-soldering-station.html, so I'll see what I think of it after a few uses.

 

All the best and thanks for the input,

 

Mark

[Mark 37]

Well after an email on Monday night from the company I found myself looking again for a station.

 

During my search I turned up a few companies that produce the same spec stations 936, 937 and 938 and there respective variations. here are the ones I've found.....Hakko, CSI, Atten, Aoyue, Yihua (W.E.P), Precision Gold to name a few. So for £47 inc postage I've got myself a 938D.

 

Hope this information helps others in there search.

 

All the best,

 

Mark

[Torper]

That looks a really nice piece of kit, Mark, not only more powerful at 60w, but also with a greater temperature range than the Aoyues. Although a bit more expensive I'm sure it'll prove a better buy than the 936 - I'm quite envious!

 

DT

[Mark 37]

DT,

 

Thanks,

 

I actually intended going for the 937D, it just looked so familure and then it dawned on me it's what I trained with. The reason i went for the 938D is that it was in stock, tells me when something is wrong with the element and as you say a greater temp variation (150c starting range sold it for me).

 

All the best,

 

Mark

[cactustrain]

I wouldn't recommend the cheap Maplins solder station. I've had two in the last three years and they have both died after 13 months of use. (I bought the spare bits and thought I was just unlucky with the first one). My Weller 40w is still going strong after 20+ years of use.

 

Although you should be able to keep them on continuously, you'll find that most shops recommend that you give them a rest after half an hours use.

 

I have now bought a 15w iron for electrical work.

[Donw]

The key issue here is the soldering of whitemetal were the temperature of a normal iron will just go through a piece of whitemetal as those it wasn't there ( anyone want a cabside with a hole in it?) and therefore a low temperature iron seems necessary. But generally soldering is mostly about having a source of heat which will get the bits you want up to temperature fast enough without the rest becoming too hot. The bigger the tip the faster you can get heat in providing the element can supply it. With an uncontrolled iron the temprature reached is that where the heat loss matches the heat input. With temperature control the element will switch off to prevent the tip becoming too hot then switch on again when it cools. This does seem to preserve the tip better.

However I also use a microflame unit for soldering a pencil thin flame at around1800deg you just sort of wipe it along the joint. Donot let it near whitemetal though. No tip to clean, good heat transfer but its is a different technique as is an RSU. The microflame unit would be useless for fixing track droppers or electrical work that is were I find an iron the best tool. I am not a believer in one iron will do everything. It could but may not do all of it well.

Don

[Eastfield 65A]

If anyone is looking for spares or solder stations like the maplin one you can still get them from  Farnell/ CPC. Aldi Was selling a digital station this week for under £20. 

[QWILPEN]

Aldi one is onsale online @ £13.99

 

https://www.aldi.co.uk/workzone-digital-soldering-station/p/083184201878400

 

If anyone is looking for spares or solder stations like the maplin one you can still get them from  Farnell/ CPC. Aldi Was selling a digital station this week for under £20. 

[Jol Wilkinson]

As ever, the question is, can you get spare bits and elements. At that price they may not last long, but then again, at that price, who cares.

 

Personally, I prefer buying good quality tools, which sadly means more expensive, but they usually last for a long time.

[johnarcher]

AS this thread has come back to life, does anyone have a recommendation for a reasonably decent temp-controllled iron that will go low enough for soldering white metal at a reasonable price (very reasonable if possible, my pension is not as big as I would like)?

 

Is there such a thing as a low-temperature only iron? For brass etc my old Antex is fine, I've used it for many etched kits, but haven't done a white metal one for many years.

[brack]

I have a ts100 and it is brilliant. You need an appropriate power supply for it (luckily I could liberate a 24v one from work which makes it a 70w iron - from a printer originally I think). Small, multiple tips available, can even be run from batteries if needed, digital temp control. Worth reading a few reviews on them - Google ts100

[Sir TophamHatt]

I bought a cheap (£10-£12) one from ebay.

 

It's blue.  Supposedly temperature controlled but I leave it on 300°C all the time.

Has lasted on and off use for the past couple of years.  The tips tend to get battered, especially after melting plastic tubing round wires but I clean all the crap off with the green side of a sponge.

 

Have an Antec one for when the original breaks.

[ianLMS]

I got a cheapy Hot Work Res-soldering Station from Ebay and so far it has been great to use. Quite often I use the hot air gun for soldering white metal. Much easier to control than getting an iron into small areas. The iron drops temperature low enough for white metal as well.