Recommendations for Soldering Stations

[restorationad]

Could you guys recommend some reasonably priced Soldering Stations?

[salvarsan]

For pickups, guitars, and through-hole circuit boards, 40 watts is the most you'll ever need.

The Weller WLC-100 is $50 list, ~$40 discounted, you can still get replacement tips and heating elements cheaply. It is not temperature-regulated and doesn't need to be.






[IMG]file:///tmp/moz-screenshot-1.png[/IMG]

[automan]

For pickups, guitars, and through-hole circuit boards, 40 watts is the most you'll ever need.

The Weller WLC-100 is $50 list, ~$40 discounted, you can still get replacement tips and heating elements cheaply. It is not temperature-regulated and doesn't need to be.






[IMG]file:///tmp/moz-screenshot-1.png[/IMG]

That's the one I use.

[David Schwab]

I have one of these:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Aoyue-936-AOYUE-Soldering-Station/dp/B000VINMRO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=industrial&qid=1258561099&sr=8-2]Amazon.com: AOYUE 936 Soldering Station: Industrial & Scientific[/ame]



It's the same as the Hakko 936 but with a 35 Watt element. And it's only $39.00, while the Hakko is $79.00.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Hakko-936-ESD-Soldering-Station/dp/B000ARU9HW"]Amazon.com: Hakko 936 ESD Soldering Station: Home Improvement[/ame]

I did replace the skinny tip with a chisel tip.

[restorationad]

The digital Aoyue is the one I was planning on... thanks guys!

[belwar]

I cant speak highly enough of the well station.. I've got three of em.

Weller 2UV18 Soldering Station, 50 W, Digital, 350-850 F

I like the little digital readout that tells me the temp.

[JoeM]

I have one of these:

Amazon.com: AOYUE 936 Soldering Station: Industrial & Scientific



It's the same as the Hakko 936 but with a 35 Watt element. And it's only $39.00, while the Hakko is $79.00.

Amazon.com: Hakko 936 ESD Soldering Station: Home Improvement

I did replace the skinny tip with a chisel tip.

Here's the same one, but from another company:


CSI Deluxe Station w/Analog Display (CSI-STATION1A)

[Mark Black]

+1 on the Weller WESD51.

Great station! Fast heat-up, good recovery, 50W gives ability to solder some fairly large and difficult components when needed. Wide range of tips readily available & reasonably priced.

I like the auto-shut-off feature as well.

[Sock Puppet]

I've got old gear, don't know if they're still available but they've never gon wrong in 20 years... bit emabarrasing the state they're in but before you say anything, when did you last clean your vacuum cleaner

That's a Weller TCP1 and a gas Portasol Technic.



Rob.

[korinastratkyle]

For pickups, guitars, and through-hole circuit boards, 40 watts is the most you'll ever need.

The Weller WLC-100 is $50 list, ~$40 discounted, you can still get replacement tips and heating elements cheaply. It is not temperature-regulated and doesn't need to be.






[IMG]file:///tmp/moz-screenshot-1.png[/IMG]

This is also what I use at home. I can recommend the ones by Hakko and similiar models more (I used a few at my old soldering job), but the cool thing about the Weller is you can use a different iron or have 2 or more irons (one for lead solder, one for RoHs or whatever) and the plug into the stations with the standard 3 prong. Never heard of a grounded soldering iron but I'd imagine if there are, then they are probably lower in static with is good if you are working with semiconductor and other static sensitive stuff. At work I'd have an antistatic grounded wristband and did my work on an antistatic plastic cover on the table.

I also use the dimmer knob on the weller to control the speed of the sewing machine motor on my pickup winder! XD

[chevalij]

Reasonably priced really subjective. I've got a decent Weller station and I'd die if it quit on me. I also have a king kong sized branding iron for baseplates etc. It only has a two prong plug. I wonder if I could put in a false centre tap and add a three prong?

[mkat]

I have a AOYUE 936 and Hakko 936. I mostly use the AOYUE.

[Dave Kerr]

I bought a Xytronic 137ESD on someone's recommendation (Spence, maybe) and couldn't be more satisfied. Got a pretty good deal on EBay for it - maybe $65 or so?

[belwar]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a solder pump beyond the little hand held push lever manual ones?

They all seem to be like $800 bucks.

[JoeM]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a solder pump beyond the little hand held push lever manual ones?

They all seem to be like $800 bucks.

Something like this maybe?: (Might be more for PCB use)

ESD Safe Compact Desoldering Station (CSI474A)

I dont ever have anything large enough to need that, I've used the little hand held for years.