Looking to buy my first hot air station.

[sean0118]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

...
So just beware with these hot air stations. They work alright, but if you get one, make sure to open it and inspect everything and never leave it plugged in unattended...

Also, double check that live, neutral and earth are all connected correctly internally.

In this case all exposed metal parts were accidentally connected to live:

http://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/de...6035/#msg46035

[momaka]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

i want to replace the microcontroller, the display (i want colour lcd) and i want to monitor the tacho signal from the fan.

Lol, that's a lot of work and complexity for a tool that doesn't really need all of that. But perhaps if doing it just as a fun project... then yes, why not .

Or you can do it 180 degrees opposite of that. Just buy a powerful heat gun and get two of these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2000W-Voltag...UAAOSwYmZXNKhd

Wire one of the light dimmers above to the fan motor (so that you can control the air flow) and the other dimmer to the heater coils (to control the power / temperature).

It's very crude, but it should work. I haven't tried it yet, but I am thinking about it since I already have a cheap spare heat gun. Cost me $8 new from Harbor Freight Tools.
Even might work with a hair drier with a few more modifications.

[stj]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

i want to get a fan-in-handle type and customise it.

i have seen a project at "dangerous prototypes" to replace the microcontroller.

i want to replace the microcontroller, the display (i want colour lcd) and i want to monitor the tacho signal from the fan.

[momaka]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

i'll tell you why i say they are better.
the pump in base type, are loud, the pipe can get kinked - and make the handpiece melt, and it can even get pulled off the base by accident.

We had an X-tronic station based on the 898D+, and it caught on fire twice. Yes, that is 2 times in a row! Both times it was after we used the station and put it on the station's holder. Unfortunately, I didn't get to open it, because it was the shop's that I worked at and was still under warranty by X-tronic - which they did honor and replace the hand piece the first time and the whole station the second time.

So it's not just the old pump-in-base models that can fail. The newer ones do as well. I think the Triac that controls the heating element is just either weak or not cooled well in these stations. Probably fails short-circuit and keeps the element "going" even after the station turns off.

This is why I NEVER leave these stations plugged in the wall if they don't have a hard line ON-OFF switch. Don't be fooled by the two switches on the front of the 852D+ - those don't turn OFF power to the station, but merely are used to signal the MCU to turn OFF the heating elements.

On a Greek electronic repair forum they advised me to avoid hot air stations that have a fan in the handle. Feeling confused

I'm not sure why either. But again, between the pump-in-base and fan-in-handle models, the pump-in-base are built a little better IMO. That is, they use thicker wires between the station and the hand piece (20 AWG, IIRC). I opened a different 898 back in the shop I worked at, and that one had really really thin wire for the hand piece, like 22 or 24 AWG. The solder joints on the main board were also atrocious.

Also, the fan-in-handle models (like the 858 and 898) have a magnetic switch in the hand piece that is triggered by a magnet in the holder on the station. Be careful with those, as that magnetic switch can fail. Then the station never stops heating... which is again why I highly suggest that whichever model you get, always unplug from the wall when done using.

i already caught it trying to melt-down twice.
once with a kink in the hose at the base, and once when the hose had pulled off the coupling on the base.
both times, the metal body started glowing red!!

Hmm. Never had that happen to me with my 852D+. Then again, I am usually careful not to kink the hose or stretch it so hard that it pulls off from the station.

But other than that, yes, that's how the shop's X-tronic I mentioned above went - with a glow and then a fire. Basically the second time ours caught fire, I was sitting on the bench right next to it and working on something. At some point, I did notice an orange glow with my peripheral vision and saw the hand piece glowing. Before I could get up and unplug it, the thing literally went *fump* right in front of my eyes and caught on fire. Oh, and FYI, that plastic they used for the hand piece is not very fire-retardant (if at all?) Needed lots of water to extinguish it. Kept dripping and burning before we got some water, though.

So just beware with these hot air stations. They work alright, but if you get one, make sure to open it and inspect everything and never leave it plugged in unattended.

As for which one is a better deal: whichever has the extra nozzles and accessories you need. I would NOT pay over $100 or 100 Euro, for sure though. Also, the iron that comes with some of these models may or may not be any good. The one that came with my 852D+ is really crappy. It's based on the Hakko 900M tips design, but the tips have no heat capacity at all and make very poor contact with the heating element. Even when cranked all the way up, I can just barely work with leaded solder. Lead-free? Forget it

[alindumitru46]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

$50 one is better.
you can even upgrade it.
http://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews...stom-firmware/

Great!
in the near future I'll buy that station, I think is just the right upgrade.

[stj]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

they are, i saw them on amazon yesterday, but they cost more than a complete fan-in-handle station!!

[mmartell]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

Just to add to this I have one of these pump-in-base models here with a failed pump. Replacement pumps are not easily located so the unit was removed from service.

[stj]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

i doubt the fan is crap or adds any real weight, it's the type used in laptops.

as for fatigue, i think you need to see how heavy the old type is when your dealing with the weight of the hose hanging out of the back.

i dont have a "fan in handle" model yet - but i will when my loud, big-ass pump-in-base unit fails.
i already caught it trying to melt-down twice.
once with a kink in the hose at the base, and once when the hose had pulled off the coupling on the base.
both times, the metal body started glowing red!!

[eccerr0r]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

The only reason why I'd not like the fan-in-handle is that the fan there is cheap, I think it's a cheap sleeve bearing brushless fan. Have that seize up and...

... hopefully the temperature limit stops meltdown. Then again it's no different than if the hose kinks. Anyway having the fan in the handle does increase the size and weight of the handle which may cause worker fatigue. But dealing with the hose has its own issues - for one, regulating air velocity with fan in handle is a lot easier.

[stj]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

ask them why.

i'll tell you why i say they are better.
the pump in base type, are loud, the pipe can get kinked - and make the handpiece melt, and it can even get pulled off the base by accident.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

On a Greek electronic repair forum they advised me to avoid hot air stations that have a fan in the handle. Feeling confused

[eccerr0r]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

A fan in the hand is better than two in the base...

I have the "clone of a clone" 898D+ with no name marking whatsoever. It has the fan in the handle and I think it works good enough, minus the temperature reading where it virtually holds it there once it hits the set point. The through hole iron heats up faster than any of my other irons (short of my Weller gun) including my other temp controlled through hole rework station. The thing I really was kind of disappointed between the clone and my clone of clone is that the nozzle attachment on the hot air gun has a "set screw" where the clone has a bayonet attachment. I guess it's not really that big a deal other than needing a screwdriver to swap nozzles.

[stj]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

you really DONT want a pump in the base, a fan in the hand piece is much better.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

http://www.wiltec.de/aoyue-int968a-r...h-tweezer.html

Is this a little better than the average ebay hot air station?

[stj]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

$50 one is better.
you can even upgrade it.
http://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews...stom-firmware/

[alindumitru46]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

I see it for a while a few hot air soldering stations, but I'm not convinced it's worth for the hooby work level that I am now...
I laid eyes on these two:
1. http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-...0-c9cf9e51b99a

2.http://www.aliexpress.com/item/220V-...4-38b7708d46db

Both have free shipping, but the price worth paying for differences (are really notable differences?!) between them?

[momaka]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

^ I wouldn't be surprised in this day and age

[stj]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

x-tronic - lol
sounds like they are trying to fool people looking for xytronics

[momaka]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

Xtronic is the same stuff as all of the other Chinese stations (i.e. Aoyue, Yihua, KADA, etc.) The only difference is they offer much better warranty and support service, should something go bad with your station. Of course, this is reflected in their prices as well (they are generally more expensive). Since you are in Greece, I doubt there is much point in buying specifically from them.

Now, I will say that I am no expert when it comes to these hot air stations. I've just opened a few that we had back when I used to work in a repair shop, and that's all I have for my experiences with these stations.

The station you pointed to in the above link is the "older" style of hot air stations with a diaphragm pump inside. For one thing, they are more noisy than the new "newer" stations (which use a fan in the hot air wand to directly blow out the hot air). But in terms of build quality, I remember them being somewhat better with thicker wires inside. That was back around 2012, so things could have certainly changed now.

Also, from what I have heard, the diaphragm pumps in these older-style stations are less reliable. That said, I will note that I used several of these "older" diaphragm pump stations while I was working in the repair shop, and none of them failed on us - at least not the pump. I myself have a KADA 852D+, which I only use for the hot air. I actually got it from the repair shop I used to work at. We used it there to put new leaded balls on Xbox 360 and PS3 GPU chips. Worked okay for that, at least.

As far as the soldering irons that come with these stations - most of the time they are very crappy clones of the 900M Hakko-style tips. I think you would be disappointed with how bad the irons can be on some of these.

Last, but probably most important thing to say: if you want to do removal of large BGA chips from motherboards and video cards, these stations may not cut it. They are more geared towards SMD work.

Overall, though, if you have decided to buy one of these hot air stations, I would recommend going with the "newer" style type (the more compact ones with a fan in the handle / hot air wand). Something like the 858D or 8786D might do.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2in1-SMD-Sol...MAAOSwEOxXPndP
http://www.ebay.com/itm/8786D-2in1-S...4AAOSwPe1ULlTd

Just know that if you do get a Chinese station, the first thing you should do is open it and inspect everything. Also, don't leave these stations plugged in unattended - even if they are turned OFF. We've had one catch fire twice in the repair shop when the hot air failed to turn itself OFF in the holder and we didn't notice it (luckily, I was there at the time of the incident both times, so nothing else got caught on fire or damaged).

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Looking to buy my first hot air station.

I found some posts from momaka and others that recommend this:

http://www.xtronicusa.com/#!/X-TRONI...tion/p/9238594

Problem is I can't find it outside USA and I live in Greece...