element14 Community
element14 Community
    Register Log In
  • Site
  • Search
  • Log In Register
  • Members
    Members
    • Benefits of Membership
    • Achievement Levels
    • Members Area
    • Personal Blogs
    • Feedback and Support
    • What's New on element14
  • Learn
    Learn
    • Learning Center
    • eBooks
    • STEM Academy
    • Webinars, Training and Events
    • Learning Groups
  • Technologies
    Technologies
    • 3D Printing
    • Experts & Guidance
    • FPGA
    • Industrial Automation
    • Internet of Things
    • Power & Energy
    • Sensors
    • Technology Groups
  • Challenges & Projects
    Challenges & Projects
    • Design Challenges
    • element14 presents
    • Project14
    • Arduino Projects
    • Raspberry Pi Projects
    • Project Groups
  • Products
    Products
    • Arduino
    • Dev Tools
    • Manufacturers
    • Raspberry Pi
    • RoadTests & Reviews
    • Avnet Boards Community
    • Product Groups
  • Store
    Store
    • Visit Your Store
    • 'Choose another store...'
      • Europe
      •  Austria (German)
      •  Belgium (Dutch, French)
      •  Bulgaria (Bulgarian)
      •  Czech Republic (Czech)
      •  Denmark (Danish)
      •  Estonia (Estonian)
      •  Finland (Finnish)
      •  France (French)
      •  Germany (German)
      •  Hungary (Hungarian)
      •  Ireland
      •  Israel
      •  Italy (Italian)
      •  Latvia (Latvian)
      •  
      •  Lithuania (Lithuanian)
      •  Netherlands (Dutch)
      •  Norway (Norwegian)
      •  Poland (Polish)
      •  Portugal (Portuguese)
      •  Romania (Romanian)
      •  Russia (Russian)
      •  Slovakia (Slovak)
      •  Slovenia (Slovenian)
      •  Spain (Spanish)
      •  Sweden (Swedish)
      •  Switzerland(German, French)
      •  Turkey (Turkish)
      •  United Kingdom
      • Asia Pacific
      •  Australia
      •  China
      •  Hong Kong
      •  India
      •  Korea (Korean)
      •  Malaysia
      •  New Zealand
      •  Philippines
      •  Singapore
      •  Taiwan
      •  Thailand (Thai)
      • Americas
      •  Brazil (Portuguese)
      •  Canada
      •  Mexico (Spanish)
      •  United States
      Can't find the country/region you're looking for? Visit our export site or find a local distributor.
  • Translate
  • Profile
Personal Blogs
  • Members
  • More
Personal Blogs
Legacy Personal Blogs Enhancing my soldering station
  • Blog
  • Documents
  • Mentions
  • Sub-Groups
  • Tags
  • More
  • Cancel
  • New
Blog Post Actions
  • Subscribe by email
  • More
  • Cancel
  • Share
  • Subscribe by email
  • More
  • Cancel
Group Actions
  • Group RSS
  • More
  • Cancel
Engagement
  • Author Author: three-phase
  • Date Created: 2 Nov 2019 12:16 PM Date Created
  • Views 726 views
  • Likes 11 likes
  • Comments 10 comments
  • 2738
  • rework station
  • smd
  • 2738+
  • soldering iron
  • aoyue
Related
Recommended

Enhancing my soldering station

three-phase
three-phase
2 Nov 2019

For years I have had an Aoyue 2738 rework station as my main soldering station. It has always been the standard basic kit and has served me well. The soldering iron stand is starting to look a little tired and recently the iron has been cutting out. A little wiggle of the tip and it starts to work again.

 

I have only the one conical tip, that I use for everything and have struggled soldering devices connected into ground planes on some of my projects. I don't think the conical tip can transfer enough heat quickly, I do struggle using it with solder wick as well.

 

The heat gun is fine, although it tends to spend most of its time heating heat shrink tubing than any SMD work.

 

image

 

image

 

Luckily enough, it still appears to be a current model and I was able to purchase some spares for it from a UK supplier.

 

I was unsure if it was the tip holder or the tip itself that was causing the error with the soldering iron, so I decided to purchase a new holder along with a few different tips to start with. To go along with this I ordered a new stand, that comes with the wire style tip cleaner as well as a sponge.

 

image

 

image

 

I ordered a replacement 0.5mm conical tip to match the existing tip and then 1.6, 2.4 and 4mm chisel tips to help with soldering on the larger pads and ground planes.

 

image

 

The stand came in parts, but didn't take long to assemble, needing just a box spanner, Philips screwdriver and right angled Philips screwdriver to put it together. Although I still don't know what the small metal bracket and screw set supplied in the tip cleaner are for.

 

image

 

image

 

The old stand was aluminium based, quite light and a little more compact than the new one. The solder reel sat at the back and fed underneath the stand through a hole which I did like about it. In contrast the new stand is steel and much heavier, the solder reel now sits to the side and so the stand has a larger footprint.

 

Whilst the parts ordered were those recommended by the supplier for my model, the old and new handles and tips are different. The old handle would not fit in the new stand and the new handle does not fit in the old stand, so I am glad I ordered a complete set. The new tips are different to the old ones. The old tip has two contact rings at the top and the new one has three. Whilst the tips appear to physically fit in either handle, I am not sure if they are electrically compatible, and didn't feel like trying it out either.

 

image

 

I also decided to treat myself to a pair of tweezers and compatible stand to help with the removal of SMD components that I struggle to do.

 

imageimage

 

Hopefully, this will help me out with my soldering and shouldn't need any upgrades for a while.

 

image

  • Sign in to reply

Top Comments

  • jw0752
    jw0752 over 3 years ago +6
    Hi Donald, Retro fitting and repairing a quality piece of equipment is a good idea. Now you are back in business with an old friend. Thanks for sharing. John
  • dubbie
    dubbie over 3 years ago +6
    A nice soldering kit. Puts mine to shame, just an Antex 25 Watt. When I retired I decided to get a new soldering iron as my previous Antex 15 Watt bought nearly 50 years ago and I think and it was just…
  • shabaz
    shabaz over 3 years ago +5
    Hi Donald, Nice upgrade : ) And very cool that your station has the tube for getting rid of the solder fumes!
  • three-phase
    three-phase over 3 years ago in reply to genebren

    Thanks Gene,

     

    Quality tools are always nice to use, so it tends to be a screwdriver set I repeatedly reach for when I have something like this to do.

     

    Kind regards.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +3 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • genebren
    genebren over 3 years ago

    Nice upgrade project.  Good to see that cool screwdriver set getting some work!

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +3 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • three-phase
    three-phase over 3 years ago in reply to dubbie

    Thanks dubbie, as long as the soldering iron meets your needs then it is a good one. This is only my own second soldering station. The first I was given, by a GPO Engineer. I have no idea on its make or wattage, but it must be quite low. It was designed so that it would also work off the 50V telecommunications as well as its own transformer plugged into the mains.

     

    It served me well for many years and I still have it out in the garage, I just out grew it with the work I was doing and the push for more safety, so purchased the Aoyue a while back. Now my needs have changed a little again and I was struggling with some aspects of it, but instead of replacement, I could purchase a few add ons to keep me in business.

     

    Kind regards.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +3 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • three-phase
    three-phase over 3 years ago in reply to ajcc

    Many thanks ajcc

     

    Kind regards

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +3 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • dubbie
    dubbie over 3 years ago

    A nice soldering kit. Puts mine to shame, just an Antex 25 Watt. When I retired I decided to get a new soldering iron as my previous Antex 15 Watt bought nearly 50 years ago and I think and it was just old, still working and with it's original tip - although quite a lot of it had dissolved. I looked at various alternatives and in the end just decided to get another Antex but with a bit more power. It works great and I've just bought a new conical tip for some surface mount, although at this moment in time I cannot find it, so might have to buy another one. I'll have to work out a place for storing soldering iron tips.

     

    Dubbie

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +6 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
>
element14 Community

element14 is the first online community specifically for engineers. Connect with your peers and get expert answers to your questions.

  • Members
  • Learn
  • Technologies
  • Challenges & Projects
  • Products
  • Store
  • About Us
  • Feedback & Support
  • FAQs
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal and Copyright Notices
  • Sitemap
  • Cookies

An Avnet Company © 2023 Premier Farnell Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Premier Farnell Ltd, registered in England and Wales (no 00876412), registered office: Farnell House, Forge Lane, Leeds LS12 2NE.

ICP 备案号 10220084.

Follow element14

  • X
  • Facebook
  • linkedin
  • YouTube