Chinese hot air and soldering stations

[NanoTesting]

What is the consensus? are they useful or trash even in a short term scenario?
Going to buy a hot air station and Yihua and Baku ones look popular in the "budget" range.
I will eventually upgrade to an Atten or Quick.
For example: and
Are some of the models im going to buy, the Yihua one has some reviews that make it sound decent in EEVBlog and other sites also repair guides so i guess i will opt for that.
But they all use the same heat gun that looks like it will melt eventually, and that has often reviews of having "dust" inside them on the first use doesn't matter which model they are on that people warn you to never inhale.

Got a stubborn customer that wants ME and only me to replace a SuperIO that exploded in a Y540 because he used a charger with a broken tip for a year till it finally sent 20v through the ID pin and he is willing to pay me to get one to do it so a cheap one it is i guess.

[petehall347]

Re: Chinese hot air and soldering stations

use a soldering iron charge top dollar and put towards decent hot air station .
unless its soldered on the back that is .

[R_J]

Re: Chinese hot air and soldering stations

From other pictures, the ic does not seem to have a solder pad under it. You could use a sharp (x-acto) knife and carefully cut all the pins, making sure not to cut any traces, then using a soldering iron, remove each pin from the board, then resolder the new ic using plenty of flux.

[NanoTesting]

Re: Chinese hot air and soldering stations

From other pictures, the ic does not seem to have a solder pad under it. You could use a sharp (x-acto) knife and carefully cut all the pins, making sure not to cut any traces, then using a soldering iron, remove each pin from the board, then resolder the new ic using plenty of flux.

The SuperIO doesn't have a bottom pad but other things i need to change (RT6585B for example) do.
And well shitty tool beats no tool.

[clearchris]

Re: Chinese hot air and soldering stations

If you are going cheap, get the cheaper hot air, spend more on an iron. I don't see a lot of savings from getting the all-in-one units, I'd prefer separate machines.

If you are just starting out, the pinecil is pretty good if you can find an old 20v laptop charger that you can cut apart. For hot air stations, a lot of people use the cheap ones, but I think skill matters a lot more than the hot air tool (at least in my unskilled hands).

[reformatt]

Re: Chinese hot air and soldering stations

I have tried cheaper ones, but the one I have is collecting dust somewhere. Spend the extra and get something like a Quick.

One of the major benefits of the Quick machines is the ease to swap nozzles (I have a TR1300, same nozzles as the 861DW). The cheaper ones use a screw on clamp, which is a PITA if you have to swap often. Quick also have angled nozzles too, which is great for when you are doing stuff under a microscope. Quick have a variety of sizes from 3mm, up to 12mm. The nozzle you use is actually quite important and will dictate how much stress you put the board and component under during removal.

I also get consistent heat out of my Quick, something I don't think you get on the cheaper ones. The cheaper ones are all over the place with heat delivery and not consistent.

But if you are wanting it for things like EC removal, then cheap ones will do. It's a far easier proposition applying ChipQuik on those 128 pin packages. You need very little heat to remove them as a result and you won't rip any pads. If you use ChipQuik, make sure you get it all off the board, as it's not electrically conductive.

[stj]

Re: Chinese hot air and soldering stations

this guy reviews soldering gear
https://www.youtube.com/user/sdgelectronics/videos

[redbaron1007]

Re: Chinese hot air and soldering stations

What's your budget? If you're looking for cheaper now and better later you're still better off spending a little more on separate soldering and hot air stations. There's pretty good cheap jbc and hakko clones out there that'll get you by for around $100. A friend of mine has a Aixun station and loves it compared to the cheapo combo station he had before and it was maybe $100 after shipping.

Hot air is where spending more money is worth it in the long run, but if you're looking for something affordable this one from Quick is supposed to be pretty good if you get a genuine one and is pretty unlikely to catch on fire in your hand.

https://www.tequipment.net/Quick/957.../?b=y&v=171729

Stations that have the blower in the base unit and not he handpiece tend to last longer and are much more comfortable to use and control where you're directing the air.

Edit: Forgot to mention I don't recommend buying anything like this off amazon because of the rampant counterfeits. I've gotten counterfeits of counterfeit tools before and let me say those were some of the most awful under-performing tools I've ever seen for the money.

[jasko_jacker]

If you don't want to spend a lot then for the most common uses an 800W or 1000W station is sufficient. I have been using a 952D for years. It is very important to continuously move the air flow as its temperature is much higher than desired and you risk burning the chip. For example, ite chips can also be desoldered with a standard nozzle but you need to move the air flow in a circular manner and never to the center of the chip, add flux if necessary.