Tenma 21-7950 Thoughts

[thesavo]

Hello all. I am new to re-capping. I have soldered wires in the past. I have re-flowed solder for a few joints on my Radio headunit. But I want to buy a decent Soldering station. I have read plenty of posts on here. I have a Budget of about $50 for a soldering station.

does anyone have any recommendations? Can anyone post comments on the Tenma 21-7950 available at MCM?

[thesavo]

Re: Tenma 21-7950 Thoughts

bump

[Krankshaft]

Re: Tenma 21-7950 Thoughts

For a starter iron it's probably better than most of the unregulated irons out there.

For reliability though. I'd recommend the Hakko 936 series you can usually snag one for about 80 bucks on e-bay even cheaper if you buy used. You get a well built piece of equipment for a bit more money.

http://hakkousa.com/detail.asp?CID=4...ID=1249&Page=1

It's miles above any no name Chinese station. Plus you always will have a slew of tips available direct from Hakko not just 4 or 5.

Check the site out for all the different tips. The tiny ones are great for SMD work.

I upgraded to the FX-951 a year ago but my old Hakko unregulated Dash used the same tips as the 936 and they seemed to last forever when well cared for.

[thesavo]

Re: Tenma 21-7950 Thoughts

Thank you Much for your thoughts. I had reservations on buying and Iron that cheap brand new. So save up for a Hakko, then. Any thoughts on the Weller Stations?

[Krankshaft]

Re: Tenma 21-7950 Thoughts

Can't help you there hopefully someone else will be able to chime in on the Wellers.

I got hooked on Hakko back when I was servicing the original Xbox consoles a guy on the repair forums I frequented at the time used them. I was still using crappy Radioshack irons just getting by. After using a real iron I never went back.

[larrymoencurly]

Re: Tenma 21-7950 Thoughts

I have a 10-60W adjustable power iron and have found that at its 50W setting it doesn't quite deliver enough heat for power or ground traces of multilayer boards, even those made with leaded solder. Despite its $4 price, its power settings seem to be accurate, according to a Kill-A-Watt.

For $50 you can get a temperature-regulated Goot PX201 iron that can put out up to 70W, which should make it good even for lead-free circuit boards: http://www.howardelectronics.com/goot/px201.html. Goot is considered high quality, just like Hakko, Weller, Pace, and Denon.

[Huckfinn]

Re: Tenma 21-7950 Thoughts

Since I serve as an electronics consultant, and since I have worked in electronics for quite a few years [since about 1964], I have worked with just about every kind of soldering/desoldering equipment available on planet earth. I can say with confidence that the advice given by Krankshaft about sticking with Hakko equipment [or a reasonable equivalent like Pace] is right on the money. As Krankshaft correctly stated, once you work with a superior unit like a Hakko, all of the many lesser units seem like mostly a waste of your time. It is not the fact that the other units all do not do a good job, because some of them do well; but the Hakko and other pro grade units are just so much better, and depending on the model or models you require, the pricing is not that much higher for the best of class units [for plain soldering and desoldering]. Once you enter the wonderful world of advanced surface mount and hot air reflow, the difference in price between a Hakko or equivalent unit and the entry level Chinese made units then gets to be quite substantial. Then the much lower priced Chinese made units may allow you access to tools that your budget would not permit if the low cost units were not available. It does take a bit of hunting around on the internet to find all of the many sources for the low cost but advanced technology soldering/desoldering and reflow equipment.