Jee Labs Talk

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1. bvwelch
   

   Thanks for the great post about your soldering station and your tools!

   I'm looking for a new soldering station but the one you have is way over my budget, unfortunately. Anyone have other recommendations?

   By the way, I recommend this headband magnifier.

   William

   Posted 08/06/2010 11:52:49

2. tankslappa
   

   It was interesting to get an insight into JeeWorld (although I believe xkcd has already leaked some of his secret plans ). I'm on middle ground between him and his daughter. Like his daughter I'm old school and use an 18watt Antex with 2mm, 1mm and point tips, and can solder most things with that. I've often wondered about getting a "posh" temperature controlled unit, but just haven't hit something that justifies it.

   However I can completely relate to JC and his squinting in the bad light of the night-owl! I'm not sure if things are really getting smaller or if it's just old age setting in!

   Posted 08/06/2010 12:23:05

3. bvwelch
   

   Well old age is right on the mark here, but parts are getting smaller -- octal tube sockets, 7400 thru-hole, SOIC, SOT-23, and I don't want to think about smaller....

   One station I'm considering is by Hakko :

   Posted 08/06/2010 13:08:46

4. tankslappa
   

   I think that's what a friend has in his workshop, if so I've used it, and it did what I wanted it to! Sorry I can't say anything more than that, I didn't try it on a wide range of materials, I just wanted to solder some audio connectors onto a cable. Turned it on, heated up quick, did the soldering, turned it off again. Connectors didn't fall off :)

   Posted 08/06/2010 13:54:10

5. jcw
   

   FWIW, before I decided to go for the deluxe station, I considered several Weller / Ersa / Aoyue units. Setting temp with a knob is fine, i.e. "analog" control. As long as the temp is controlled, so the tip doesn't wear out too fast when left on for hours on end. I'd look for a unit with a decent range of tips, get a few small tips in the 0.4 .. 0.9 mm range perhaps, and experiment to see which one works well with SMDs. The one on Amazon you mentioned looks fine, though a bit expensive when compared to - which is probably around US$ 30 when you correct for the 19% VAT.

   Posted 08/06/2010 16:15:56

6. bvwelch
   

   Thank you for mentioning the Aoyue 936. While I haven't seen a price quite as low as $30, I did find this one:

   Posted 09/06/2010 22:25:39