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Hot air soldering station - any suggestions

Paul

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Oct 5, 2012
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Toibs
Looking to pick up a hot air soldering station (or soldering/desoldering station) - otherwise known as "hot air rework stations".
Ebay is littered with them - Both originals and copies of well known makes.

Anyone got any recommendations for a cheap-ish one? wont be used Daily like my soldering station... Just for the occasional build or replacement of chips! :)
 
Yes - a clone of a Hakko 858D is going to serve you well. You can get them for obscenely cheap - 30 to 40 quid delivered. Something like this one from Amazon, even: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Di...keywords=858D&qid=1554939245&s=gateway&sr=8-1

They're a weird case of the clone being a good choice, primarily because the clones are all aping such a solid base design, and the fact that the original device is fundamentally simple to begin with. Though aren't copies, they still have shortcuts from the original design as stevelup below notes

That being said - I recommend getting a clone 858D, then opening it up and verifying that it is electrically safe to use. A number of units appear to be electrocution hazards, many of them are fine out of the box now but it is a very simple thing to check, and if you get a miswired one, it's easy to fix and you'll still have a solid unit. http://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/deadly-wiring-fault-atten-858d-hot-air-rework-station/

It'll more than outlast all of the times you'll need to use it, and you'll never need more than the middle settings of anything - temperature, airflow, nozzle sizze... it's actually a bit overkill for pinball, really, I've never needed to bust mine out for a pinball job. They're ideal for working with surface-mount components and they're your ticket to viewing those little bastards as actually repairable. But if you're completely stripping down a board, or you're removing a known dead chip, it's going to be a waaaay better tool for the job than a soldering iron.

I wouldn't use one to solder in a single through-hole chip - they're a little brutal compared to just an iron.
 
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Those 858D things aren't really clones at all - they bear no resemblance at all to the namesake Hakko unit.

The real Hakko units have the blower in the base unit and the handpiece just has the heating element in it. But even second hand, a Hakko 850B is going to set you back several hundred quid.

The cheap Chinese units have both the blower and fan in the handpiece which makes them considerably louder and a bit more cumbersome.

That said, they work fine, and the one I use is this one:-


It has a small advantage over the very cheapest ones in that it automatically returns to standby mode when you place the handpiece back on the holder. Plus you know it's not going to kill you :)
 
Those 858D things aren't really clones at all - they bear no resemblance at all to the namesake Hakko unit.

The real Hakko units have the blower in the base unit and the handpiece just has the heating element in it. But even second hand, a Hakko 850B is going to set you back several hundred quid.

The cheap Chinese units have both the blower and fan in the handpiece which makes them considerably louder and a bit more cumbersome.

That said, they work fine, and the one I use is this one:-


It has a small advantage over the very cheapest ones in that it automatically returns to standby mode when you place the handpiece back on the holder. Plus you know it's not going to kill you :)
Very good advice there.

I guess I got lucky with my experience. Whatever clone I got hold of was not only wired correctly, it also features the auto-blow-cold and standby when in the holder functionality.
 
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