Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

[Kiriakos GR]

With JBC European headquarters be in Spain it looks easier to get an CD-2BC and keep out the middle man.

Either way if you have any comment regarding the build quality of their latest soldering stations just say it so.

http://www.jbctools.com/cd-b-solderi...-1-menu-1.html

[g3org3]

Re: Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

excellent station

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

How long is your experience with it?
Did your try to solder a wire over tin ?
The wattage, how real it is compared to 80W classic hot iron?

[g3org3]

Re: Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

got the station as soon as it was released (cd2bc) 4~5 months ago. I did solder some big crock clips (jump start ones ) using leaded solder...
It really depends on the tips (cartridges) you are using. There is no comparison at least with the Weller( 80watt) or Hakko 936 I also own. The nice thing about this station is that it can keep the temp you set it to. I use it on multilayer boards (laptop m/b ) and works very nice. The t245 handle is the best option for this specific compact station. If I was going to buy it again I would consider the modular station (DI or DD) that can work with any toll /stand you like. I wish I could add the PA120 tweezers...

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

Yes the product it is new in the market, and regarding robustness there is no records to act as proofs.
Personally I am not going to pay that amount of money for a tool which does not have a successful history record of two years.
And especially when those tips (cartridges) are not reasonably priced too.

Possibly this tool can be a solution for very sensitive to temperature components, but from the other hand most PCB today using parts that can tolerate Hot Air stations with enormous heating capacity.
Therefore the large majority can skip them and follow one less costly path.

[g3org3]

Re: Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

Not a proven specific model (CD2BC) yes.. but JBC is out there for a few decades (80 years) with very positive remarks... used by a lot of professionals . For cartridges you can get a nice price when you use eBay... and trust me I can disorder most SMD staff much faster than I do with my hot air station. Do a search on the net.. I have not yet found a negative feedback for JBC CD2BC or CD2BB. The way I see it, at the end of the day you get what you pay for...

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

Well call me old fashion, even so I have more faith to my 15 years relatively old soldering station which is made by beefy point to point technology .

Today I even own one JBC 30S regular 25W iron, plus an ANTEX XS 21W, both made before 20 years, and both are backup's which I never use when I am next to my soldering station.

By my personal perspective as consumer I can not justify the price point of this new station.
Especially when it is supposed that is a European product with a Spanish transformer.
If this product were down to 150 Euro it would sound as reasonably priced in my ears.

Especial when I am bringing in my mind the true FOB pricing of most Hot air rework stations that is not more than 30 Euro.

[g3org3]

Re: Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

Spanish transformers are not good? Chinese are better? :-) Only joking. You asked for an opinion and I gave you one... I had the funds, I bought it and I am happy with it.... Price wise comparing to all major brands (Hakko - Ersa - Weller) I do not see a difference. Why does it matter where it's made from, when these days you can even get a Chinese product that is high quality (no offence to the Chinese members)

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

Do not get it personal, I am the lawyer of the devil.
One made in Europe product it should have a lower cost in Europe.
Some companies does not have a clue of marketing strategy.

In this price tag there is no chance some one in China to buy this product, and so it is doomed regarding exports.

Did you get any significant warranty plan for it ?

[g3org3]

Re: Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

I agree with the price part but this goes for all EU products. Very rare you find something made in Europe that can compete in prices with china. Quality is a different story...

[momaka]

Re: Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

I have used the slightly older cousin of this station at my friend's repair shop. He has had it for almost 2 years now, with various techs/idiots using and abusing it. And all I can say is - it still works just as great as it did when he got it new.

If you do BGA repair and need to do lots of BGA cleaning (after lifting chips), this really is probably one of the best stations on the market for that (just make sure to get the wide tip for it). A big part of that is due to the excellent heat control.

And yes, these stations are absolutely worth every single penny (or Euro cent, in your case ). At least quality-wise, I haven't seen anything like JBC. They are meant for business/industrial use, not consumer (unless you really have the $$ to spend).

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

I started this topic when I was in a serious research mode about getting a new soldering station for me, since 1996 I own the same 45W soldering station which is unable to handle multi-layer PCB.

After finding this JBC I got excited but this crazy price of 350EUR it chopped down my wings.
I kept looking and discovered the ATTEN AT90DH ( 90W) which it just started to circulate in the market.
For 140 EUR shipped from Germany to all Europe, this item looks promising the least that I can say, and so I just ordered it.

ATTEN did some sort of changes regarding the design and accessories from the very fancy looking first version of AT90DH which I hope to get as is pictured.
Any way for the full version of this story you may read it here

What I am trying to say is that If this JBC were priced at 200 EUR I could possibly act stupidly and buy it.
But if this ATTEN modern tool did not disappoint me with it performance , it translates that I will be happy for another 20 years.

[momaka]

Re: Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

Right, but the difference in price comes in the quality. That ATTEN station is Made in China and will likely NOT last your for 20 years. The JBC's quality, on the other hand, is absolutely stellar and likely will. The tips also matter too. Before my friend bought that JBC station, he first fiddled around with various Chinese soldering stations. The thing is, even the best ones were still only just about okay for BGA work, but none of them really excelled at it, and this was mostly due to crummy or lower quality tips. If you look at the prices for the JBC's tips, you might get a heart attack. But there IS a good reason those tips cost so much.

Like I said, I have used a similar JBC station myself, and it really is the Rolls Royce of soldering stations.

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

In the past years I had many debates in conversations when it engages the feeling of brand loyalty.
We did use to say that the brand X it can be trusted due their great record of 10 or more years in the market.
But today we have rapidly changing Tecnologies which those manufacturers adopting so to bring new products in the market with advanced features.
This new AT90DH haves one never seen before heating element which looks to have two separate voltage inputs for the heating element and another two cables for the temperature sensor.
That makes one sum of six cables that helps it to achieve this speedy warm up time of 10 seconds ( room temp – 350C) plus temperature stability, super fast auto correcting is what would you expect today with such a setup.
But even so this step ahead setup of ATTEN it is totally untested today, by the same way that it was the first JBL rapidly heating station.

heart attack …
For now I am safe, one spare soldering iron looks available for 32EUR in Greece.
Regarding the comment about crummy or lower quality tips, even here this ATTEN station uses one a very special type of tip, not backward comparable or compatible with Hakko parts.
And so there is no recorded history for anything on that station.
But yes the tips pricing it is very inexpensive but they are so small too, if they manage to keep the price low because there is no need for a heavy copper type tip, this is a welcomed development ( 2$ in Ali-express).

[momaka]

Re: Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

But even so this step ahead setup of ATTEN it is totally untested today, by the same way that it was the first JBL rapidly heating station.

I'm guessing you're talking about tips with embedded temperature sensors. Well, those are nothing new.
Untested? I doubt it.
With the JBC I used, it usually takes 5 seconds or less for the tip to reach 350C - even for the super wide tips meant for cleaning BGA pads (we are talking about a 35 mm wide tip here). And once you start cleaning the BGA pads on the board, the temperature of the tip will barely drop. Maybe 5C to 10C tops. This is something you just DON'T get with lower-end stations. And the reason why this is so important is that if you do BGA rework, you will damage a lot of pads if you are using tips that can't maintain their temperature properly. The JBC I've used is so good at maintaining its tip temperature that I usually don't even need to set it to 350C. Most of the time, even 300C works just as well. And for cleaning chips, I can do those at 250C - even ones with lead-free solder. This puts a lot less stress on the chip and the pads.

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: Any opinions about the latest JBC soldering stations ?

My freshest find is that those ATTEN AT90DH tips are actually in use by Weller, the tip looks like a a gun bullet (flat in the back).
The Weller part code is LT1 for their 80W station.
Therefore if those tips are identical to Weller that cost 7.5 EUR its one, then we have more that one source for parts. LOL