Micro soldering station - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: blueskull
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 21, 2018, 09:56:45 pm
content: I have a small fortune that has to be spent, and I would like to get a decent micro soldering tool for 0201 and 01005 parts.I would prefer a pair of tweezers plus an iron, so a dual tool system is necessary.Is there a recommendation on a good micro soldering station? Cost DOES NOT matter (well, I can't justify $5000 on a set of JBC deluxe package, though).So far I have a Metcal MFR1100 with tweezers and an iron that need to be cold swapped. I plan to keep the iron permanently attached and retire the tweezers.The tweezers are good for 0603 and with a bit thumb screw calibration, 0402. 0201 is tricky as the horizontal positioning error causes the parts to fly away.The iron is very good. At 60W power, it outperforms much higher power (120W range) conventional irons in terms of thermal recovery and high thermal capacity handling.I would like a new station to do the following things:1. Iron: solder 0.4mm pitch QFNs and connectors with little to no pad extension2. Tweezers: solder/remove 0201/01005, and 008004 in the futureSo far I have the following contenders:1. Weller 2021, 80W tweezers, 55W iron, up to 240W power supply.Pros: modular, power supply can be used with a wide range of tools from 55W to 2*120W or 1*200W, one station rules them all.Cons: micro pencil and micro tweezers are not as precise as JBC nano.2. JBC NASE, 2*14W tools only.Pros: extremely precise tools for precise reworking, very lightweight.Cons: supports only 14W C105 family tools, requires another high power station for larger stuff.I don't really need the 200W capability of the Weller as my Metcal does most of the heavy lifting well, and I have a JBC HDE that solders even busbars.But being able to have 120W/200W tools on one power unit can save me some workbench space, which is very appreciated. JBC NASE is NOT stackable, so I can't stack it on the HDE control unit.Due to the weird shape, neither the NASE controller nor the Metcal can stack on top of each other either.The price is similar. The JBC is $250 more, but if I buy the Weller and replace my Metcal, I also need to buy a normal sized iron and some cartridges, which brings up the total price to the same level.Metcal MX5220 is out of picture. The tweezers look awfully like MFR1100 tweezers. Get me once, shame on you. Get me twice, shame on me,I don't know if the 14W of JBC tools is a deal breaker, but I do have a pre-heater and a hot air station (Quick 957DW).Any suggestions?

author: agehall
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2018, 07:36:30 am
content: I've got the Weller so I can speak a bit for it. I love the station and it works really well for me. I do 0402 without any issues whatsoever. (Have not had the need to do anything smaller)One driving factor for me choosing the Weller was that I have easy access to local vendors that stocks a lot of Weller stuff, so getting new tips is easy. Other brands were not as accessible for me.When I bought it, I loved the fact that it had tweezers but looking back, they are not getting much use, especially after my Quick 861 entered into my office. They can be very handy in some situations, but in most cases I just prefer hot air.If you are going to do a lot of work with components sub-0402, I'm not so sure the tweezers are going to help you - I find them a bit klunky, but maybe it just comes down to me needing more practice or that I need a different tip for them.

author: agehall
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2018, 12:33:03 pm
content: Not being too familiar with JBC - how do you change out hot tips if the tips don't include a handle?That said, the price and accessibility of tips is imho a huge factor. I've owned stations where it was difficult to get spare parts and that sucks big time. I'm all for Weller, but if I had easy access to JBC my choice would not have been as easy.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2018, 12:40:47 pm
content: PACE and Ersa both have lovely looking tweezers, though I’ve never used them (or any other tweezers).

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2018, 04:10:56 pm
content: Quote from: agehall on March 22, 2018, 07:36:30 amFWIW, I decided to skip hot tweezers given a hot air station. Much more versatile and cost effective this way IME. For really delicate areas, make a shield from thin sheet metal.Now if you're having to lift a lot of SMD passives to diagnose a fault on a regular basis for example, I could see heated tweezers being more convenient to use.