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usb/battery powered TS80 soldering iron.

  • Thread starter Deleted member 2463
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Was soldering a wire back on my lotr ramp switch which was tight against stuff and was cursing the cable, looks very handy👍
 
Looked at this a couple of weeks ago as the reviews were very good. At just under £80 from amazon, could not justify replacing my gas powered iron for quick and easy repairs.
 
Does it have any kind of stand? or a plastic top to go over the tip when not in use?

I did try something LIKE this a year ago and retiurned it as it barely got hot enough to resolder a wire on a target - but this looks really good if it will also do coils :)
 
Where did you get yours from @Neil McRae ???

I have a couple of weller pyropens, however something really small would be useful
 
@Paul
Amazon

May not be the best deal - the pricing differs on amazon from seller to seller.
 
I've got the Sealey SDL6 which is a similar product, but this looks better with the ability to control the temperature. My biggest gripe with the Sealey is that you have to continuously hold down a button while you're using it, which means you can't use it like a pen. I don't know if this is the same but it doesn't look like it?

Sealey is here if anyone interested:


I'm always slightly wary of products made in China, sold on Amazon, made by loads of differently named suppliers. Ones that are actually designed to get hot rather than just getting hot because of no BS standards, cut-offs or whatever - I'd be extra worried :)
 
Ooh. Hard for me to get over my gut distrust of this thing in concept. I've already conceded to carrying around two toolbags (I flatter myself, they're just canvas carrier bags really, I have tool bags but I'm a lazy f**k) around for pinball repairs not-at-home. It's not just an iron you need after all, it's all the cleaning supplies, numerous spare parts, tools for bashing/loosening everything plus everything else... the soldering station is a drop in the bucket in that regard.

Now when the day comes that people start asking me to repair their SMD pinball machines, and I have to start bringing a hot-air rework station on top of all that as well, is when I'll probably start trying to reduce the weight of those bags a bit.




Okay, in all seriousness and Luddite-rant over, I am a bit hesitant about the fact that it looks like it has proprietary tips. That's a legitimate concern for me. Long gone are the days that I ruin tips immediately with atrociously poor technique and physical abuse, but they inevitably wear down even if you're pristine in form - and we know that circumstance and form will not be pristine as we're looking at this with a view to field repairs bent over a pinball machine.

EDIT: looks like they're specific tips, and they're not super cheap. Bit of a downer. The thing also isn't quite cheap enough for me to justify as an impulse buy, even when I think about not having to lug the solder station around...
...I do fancy one though.
 
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