A new soldering and desoldering station - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: akis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 07:27:29 am
content: After a bad experience with the previous station which uses a 5-pin plug but only 3 wires as the soldering iron does NOT have a thermocouple (the extra pins on the plug are to make you think you are buying a great machine), I am looking to buy a new station. I was also looking for a desoldering iron, never used one, I was hoping it would be like an ordinary iron except it would incorporate some sort of vacuum pump to suck the melted solder away?

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 06:39:12 pm
content: what? post a picture of your fake 5 pin iron pleaseeven the hobbyking 16euro 936 clone does proper temperature control

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 07:29:15 pm
content: As per a desolder iron, in it's most basic sense, it's a heated hollow tip that gets a vacuum applied when triggered (hand operated squeeze bulb, or foot switch/iron switch that operates either a electrically driven vacuum pump or a Venturi tube that's attached to compressed air). Hopefully, there's temperature control tied to the heater.For specifics, namely any kind of recommendation, what are you wanting to do exactly for desoldering (PTH?, SMD?, both? and how much?)?And what's your budget?

author: akis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 07:49:39 pm
content: Quote from: Rasz on April 22, 2016, 06:39:12 pmSure. As you can see there are only two wires into the soldering iron and on the plug side two pins have been shorted together...

author: akis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 07:52:56 pm
content: Quote from: nanofrog on April 22, 2016, 07:29:15 pmI do not do SMD yet. Maybe never. But on occasion I need to remove components and it is hard/impossible to operate and use the old fashioned vacuum desoldering tool. You'd need an extra pair of hands to try and hold everything together and even then ...

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 09:44:01 pm
content: Quote from: akis on April 22, 2016, 07:52:56 pmI'm not sure if this statement ^ is primarily referencing SMD or PTH, I presume you meant the latter and will start on that premise. I'm not sure if it's technique, lack of a good work holding vise, solder sucker, or some combination that's giving you the biggest hassle.Might have some tips with more specifics (easier on the budget vs. desolder station too).FWIW, I found I use my hot air stationfarmore frequently than my solder sucker.Besides, a hot air station and a good pair of tweezers/pliers can even be used for PTH component removal (rather nice on SIP or DIP). You'll still need to clean things up with braid and/or a solder sucker of course, but you'd have to go through a substantial amount of braid before it would add up to the cost of a desolder station.Even the number of uses you can find for hot air might actually surprise you. Heat shrink probably being the most obvious, but other things like adhesive removal (including mastic & labels), paint removal, softening up screws that have too much thread locker on them, massaging plastic enclosures to fit a project if say one capacitor is 1 - 2mm too tall (), ...So unless you're doing alotof PTH desoldering, I don't see it as the best use of lab funds.If you do need a desolder station but don't have a small fortune to spend, perhaps you might considerHakko FR-300(would expect better performance than say a Zhongdi desolder station), if you'd be OK with the all-in-one gun style format.Otherwise check out reviews of the Zhongdi ZD985 (review & teardown thread).Hope this helps.* Thinking in terms of ability to develop sufficient vacuum pressure, is easier to clean (solder doesn't solidify in the tube before reaching the catch chamber), and can easily get spares & consumables.Dave even covered it in Video #542

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2016, 04:24:03 am
content: Quote from: akis on April 22, 2016, 07:49:39 pmaaaah, sensor is in series with the heater, station pauses heating and measures resistance, this is less typical, not a direct hakko ripoff, type of heaterAtten At936b, AT201D, AT938D all use thisso do atten clones/rebrands like Conrad TOOLCRAFT ST-80A, Tenma 21-10120/21-10115so does your clone of Atten AT938Dit is absolutely okQuote from: akis on April 22, 2016, 07:52:56 pmlooking at the picture im guessing tip is the problem, get a big flat one, or concave soldering tip (ones meant for drag soldering), plus a secret to good desoldering is adding more fresh solder first

author: akis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2016, 07:48:33 am
content: Quote from: Rasz on April 23, 2016, 04:24:03 amWell, it is not working very well. The temperature is not what it says and fluctuates +/-50C - whatever it thinks measures it does it badly. I guess, that there is no sensor in series. Rather some "genius" has noticed that the heater's resistance increased (or decreased) with temperature and thought "hey we can save a NTC resistor as well as two wires inside the cable, hurray!"....

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2016, 07:53:17 am
content: no, more likely your unit is defectivereturn it, or open it up if you cant return it, we can help you fix it

author: Raj
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 21, 2016, 03:43:16 pm
content: for me ,a fan regulator with triac changed to heavier one along with non contact thermo meter has been enough for meplus, I use multiple irons. cause high thermal capacity irons are heavy and low thermal capacity irons sometimes are unable to melt solder even when connected directly