which soldering station is best? or perhaps one you recommend?

[daRk_Kon]

okay, all i know is that i will be working on a computer component (graphics card) so the soldering station needs to be ESD safe and grounded and needs to heat up to 450c. also if you could please keep it below 125 USD.

here are some i found, not sure which one is best

http://www.hmcelectronics.com/cgi-bi...uct/0460-0004/

http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/we...lder/wes51.htm

[starfury1]

Re: which soldering station is best? or perhaps one you recommend?

I use a weller Iron, not that model ..mine is an older model that you change the temp via the type of tip you use

old version of this one here


Never used the Hakko but I think a few here do so I'll leave it open to them to comment

me I think either brand would be a good first choice iron

tip selection and availability is another thing to consider.

There are better units around but yep the $$$ increases

Also we are moving towards lead free solder and you would be working with SMC components,
I myself dont know how well they will work on this stuff and others may give you a better choice of iron here for that type of work

Neither state SMC or Lead free solder

I have reworded smc with mine but I mainly work with normal size components

for component removal having 2 irons is a plus

Again I'll leave it open for others to comment here on the SMC and Lead Free solder aspect with these irons

HTH anyway

Cheers

[Spacedye69]

Re: which soldering station is best? or perhaps one you recommend?

I'd get the Hakko. Cheaper.

[daRk_Kon]

Re: which soldering station is best? or perhaps one you recommend?

not only that but its actually more wattage ^^

[shadow]

Re: which soldering station is best? or perhaps one you recommend?

I seem to have an 'identical cousin' of the Hakko.
Mine is the Lukey 936A, looks exactly the same and has exactly the same specifications!

I can tell you now that for small electronic projects, such as recapping a board or doing something similar, it is fine. I have had mine for around a year now and nothing has come up that says that it is a bad soldering station yet. Keep in mind that I have only done a hand full of small projects during that time.

I am sure that if you are in the business, it would probably be better to deal with the larger upfront cost and buy a better soldering station from the start. For small projects I would say that both soldering stations that you have listed are fine.

I have never used any other soldering stations other than the one I own so I can not judge the Weller unit. All I know is that Weller units tend to be much more expensive!

Oh and one more thing. Replace that crappy pencil tip that tend to come with cheap soldering stations! They are practically useless for most electronics projects. A reasonably small chisel tip (that is somewhere around 2mm) does wonders when soldering.

Trust me, I tried to use that crappy pencil tip for my first electronics project, and while I did it eventually, it was a pretty crappy job. Part of the problem was probably due to me not really knowing how to solder correctly at that time. However the solder seemed to take forever to melt and when I seriously bumped up the temperature, the tip became softer and I bent it a bit from pressing the iron too hard against the solder that did not want to melt! When I bought a 1.6mm chisel tip for the soldering station when I was about to recap my first board, I could not believe how fast the solder melted! It was great!

Hopefully I gave you some insight.

[999999999]

Re: which soldering station is best? or perhaps one you recommend?

Hakko 936 with medium or large, not small wand (for cap replacement you may need a lot of heat transfer).