Soldering Irons

RE: Soldering Irons

msbettyhunt — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:46:58 GMT

My vote goes to Hakko 941 soldering station which is also one of my best investments ever in soldering.

RE: Soldering Irons

neilk — Sat, 05 May 2018 16:03:21 GMT

Hi Jade

I have a Precision GOLD A55KJ soldering station, originally sold by, now sadly defunct, Maplin.

It looks exactly like the Tenma 21-10115, as mentioned by John Wiltrout [mention:f80b53cee57c44bc9d7c577d07d7c791:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] and Fabio Origlia [mention:3bf627874ebf4e7ab0372b11f5098b75:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05].

It works extremely well and was modestly priced - about £50 GBP I think

Neil

RE: Soldering Irons

gecoz — Sat, 05 May 2018 14:10:21 GMT

Hi Jade,

I can vouch for the the Tenma 21-10115 too, the same John mentioned before, as I bought it about 18 months ago and I found it very good.

Fabio.

RE: Soldering Irons

koudelad — Sat, 05 May 2018 11:46:20 GMT

Hello,

I had Solomon SL30. Chinese station, couldn't locally get the tips, so had just the default conical one. The temperature setting and reading was accurate of about +/- 100 centigrade. I think all similar stations would be better without showing the nonsense temperatures, but just levels 1-10 with no units.

I was considering ERSA iCon 1 (which seemed to me as 1 level up, "good quality with the usual heating element"), I also got a recommendation from a friend. However after viewing a few comparison videos like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyt0X2CGDRM , ended up with JBC CD-2BE (which is 2 levels up, "heating element embedded into the tip").

It is a masterpiece. Ambient temperature to sleep temperature (180 C) takes about 3 seconds. Sleep temp. to soldering temp, also 2 seconds. The soldering iron definitely waits for the operator, not the other way [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-efb448fa-0777-4785-bb6b-7dd00544edb2/contentimage_5F00_2516.png:16:16]

Tips are more expensive, but I personally think that if treated well, they will last similar time as the classic ones. They also don't handle that high temperature, thanks to a precision control.

Last words: support a well known manufacturer. I have seen videos with rip-off soldering stations for a fraction price. They might work, but definitely do not contribute to better quality and long lasting products.

David

RE: Soldering Irons

jw0752 — Sat, 05 May 2018 04:42:00 GMT

Hi Jade,

Here is a great soldering iron that was given to me by a good friend. I have been using it every day for about a year and it is still on the first tip. You can set the temperature anywhere you want on three push button selects. I wrote a blog about it which is attached.

https://www.element14.com/community/people/jw0752/blog/2017/06/14/tenma-21-10115-temperature-controlled-soldering-station

John

RE: Soldering Irons

fluxcap — Fri, 04 May 2018 23:18:35 GMT

Thank you guys so much for being helpful!!!!

RE: Soldering Irons

andywest — Fri, 04 May 2018 21:47:37 GMT

I've heard that the Hakko FX-951 is comparable to some of the JBC stations but at a lower price. It's been around for a while and it's a bit ugly in my opinion, but it's made for soldering and not staring at, so meh.

RE: Soldering Irons

genebren — Fri, 04 May 2018 21:47:37 GMT

Hi Jade,

I would agree with [mention:b0bc65b9ecdc4307bd967592f00e340a:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05], I own a PS-900 which I really like. I have used Weller prior to that but I had a lot of trouble getting the temperature just right and as a result I would burn through tips (lead-free) rather quickly. Having used the PS-900 for more that a year, I would say that it was well the the price.

Good luck!

Gene

RE: Soldering Irons

shabaz — Fri, 04 May 2018 21:32:30 GMT

Hi Jade,

I've not used it myself, but we specified Metcal PS-900 for a few sites, no complaints so far.

It is fairly low cost. It uses Metcal's own system, which is like a competitive technology to other vendor technologies.

I'm sure there are other good solder stations out there too, at even lower cost.