Reliable heavy duty de-soldering station? Weller DSX 80 alternative?  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: JLEEE
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 07, 2024, 11:45:47 pm
content: Hello everyone, I am setting up a small company that repairs Solar/EV/Motor inverters and I need a recommendation for a reliable de-soldering station/iron. I will be using it for de-soldering large components like IGBTs, contactors etc. that are usually soldered to large copper traces and planes. Historically I have been using the Weller DSX 80 as my go-to iron for these applications and I'll list its pros and cons bellow:Weller DSX 80 Pros:Basically, I have never had a job that couldn't be performed by this iron. Sure it may be fiddly at times but it always gets the work done in the end.And... that is it for the pros...Weller DSX 80 Cons:1. It is very fragile. The base is held only by 3 spot welds that tend to break off if you apply a little too much pressure to it.2. It has a very low "duty cycle". By that I mean it is a very high-maintenance iron. The tips/nozzles and the iron itself get clogged rather quickly and the multiple filters it uses get saturated rather quickly. It is also a bit difficult to clear out the glass tube from the built up solder.3. I do not know if anyone else has experienced the same issues as me, but I've bough these irons throughout the years and I have to say that their quality lately has fallen off a cliff. I've received units which are DOA, have factory broken spot welds, iffy connectors and other quality issues. And these are not cheap at all!4. The tip mounting system is a quite awkward and tends to wear out the iron itself. I noticed that in the iron accumulates a lot of residue where tip mounts and that inhibits the transfer of heat. Of course you can clear out the hole with the Weller tool, but that tends to make the hole slightly larger and if you repeat the process too many times the tips will no longer stay in the iron.5. And finally the irons and the stations for them are quite expensive. Well it is a Weller so I can't be too surprised about the price.It has a few other drawbacks, but these are the most crucial ones.I have also tried the Weller WXDP, however I like the performance of the DSX better.Basically I want to equip the company with good reliable de-soldering stations of the same make that will remain as the standard "soldering platform". Ideally the accessories and consumables for these stations need to be available from at least a few vendors.So should I stick with the DSX 80 or even the DSX120 or is there a better alternative? Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

author: agent_power
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 09, 2024, 11:07:04 am
content: I don't have the same requirements, but I recently asked about de-soldering station recommendations here:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/low-maintenance-low-recurring-cost-desoldering-stations-recommendation/Maybe you can draw some inspiration or other people's experiences from it?I went for a used Den-On SC7000Z. I would have liked to tell you how it performs, but while I tried to clean out the old solder the years old crud completely blackened the only filter cartridge it came with and I now have spares on order. Maybe I should have bought a new one but I also like the idea of keeping an old one going as I don't need it professionally.Pros so far: It's designed to be repairable. The disassembly process and the parts are well described.In few weeks from now I could tell you more about the performance, but you probably need one rather soon?

author: Hawaka
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 09, 2024, 11:33:33 am
content: I never had good success de-soldering large components pin by pin. At work we use a lot of TO-247 in 3 and 4 pin. The best way I have found to remove them is to have a good quality iron with a very large tip (something like JBC C245913). Heat all pins at the same time, don't be scared to add solder and it will fall off by it's own. Then you can clean the holes one by one. Either with solderwick or for stubborn hole on 1 side of the board the iron and use a solder sucker on the other side. I haven't used a de-soldering iron in a few years, I do everything with a soldering iron.Pre-heating the whole PCB also helps if they are large with big copper plane.Weller quality has definitively fallen off the past years, don't be surprise. JBC, Metcal, Hakko and Pace are now the big player from what I know. I would stay away from Weller and wouldn't cheap out on such tools. They can truly make a difference if the repair gonna take 5' or 30'.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 10, 2024, 11:26:38 am
content: Quote from: JLEEE on February 07, 2024, 11:45:47 pmThis is really just an inherent property of vacuum desoldering tools. They are much “needier” than a soldering iron. I’ve used multiple brands and they all need meticulous upkeep.One thing to keep in mind is that the vacuum is critical. If suction is weak, then everything else suffers, since solder and flux can’t be accelerated through sufficiently. So proper maintenance of filters, seals, and gaskets is absolutely essential. An old, weak pump may need to be rebuilt.