Soldering station - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: NemoVanHelden
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2012, 07:56:36 pm
content: Hi,I`m looking for a cheap soldering station, and found this in a nearby store:http://www.rhinotools.com.au/soldering-station/124-soldering-station-digital-48w.html. Couldn`t find any reviews on it, nor any posts about it on this forum.Anyone know if its any good?

author: david77
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2012, 09:07:22 pm
content: It will probably work ok for a general purpose soldering station.I know this station, I've sold quite a few of them. The only real problem was the iron's handle getsvery hot. I had to return a few of them where the handle got so hot it actually melted. This happened with stations that where used for many hours.The station is made of a plastic that feels extremely cheap - if you understand what I mean?There are many stations out there for a similar price that are much better than this.

author: daedalus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2012, 01:40:57 am
content: depends how much soldering you are planning to do. If its a once in a while tool then pretty much anything that is temperature controlled will do the trick for lead / leadfree through-hole soldering.This iron isn't ideal for surface mount as you don't have much choice in tips, and it isn't much cheaper than a hakko, which whilst cheap. is popular and well supported, with a good range of accessories.

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2012, 04:47:17 am
content: He's in Oz so a hakko is like 200$ unless you're talking about the clones which will definitely outperform that nonsensical zhongdi station

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2012, 10:58:12 am
content: I've seen identical station yesterday in Jula market (scandinavian hardware/household items store). Hands-on it felt kinda medium quality - not the worst sh!t you can get from China but also nowhere near 'decent stuff'. That's only speaking about look&feel, I didn;t have a way to test it's functionality.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2012, 12:31:29 pm
content: If a Hakko is too expensive for you, get a 936 clone.

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2012, 01:53:17 pm
content: The Hakko here is about $170, which is pretty pricey to a beginner, I'm also suggesting a 936 clone, basically anything under $150 you're going to get a roughly controllable hot stick, so may as well get a cheap one.When looking at cheap soldering stations I came across this:AT315Dbut found precisely 0 reviews or information on it, maybe I should buy one shipped to Daves address and get him to do a quick look?

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2012, 02:32:07 pm
content: Don't know what to say about it but it's a induction technology stationa reliable onehttp://www.ebay.com/itm/QK202D-LeadFree-Soldering-Station-/221063566564?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item33786a54e4#shIdBut you have to ask them if it's 220v or not because if not find something else

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2012, 03:40:08 pm
content: It's 150W too, also, the one you linked is about the same price for an Aussie, because of shipping;Code:Shipping InformationShipping UPS ground to 48 continental states costs $15Shipping to Hawaii, Alaska, PR, APO, FPOadd Extra $15Shipping to most areas of Canada area: $45Estimated Shipping cost to West Europe, Australia: $55International bidders are welcome. Shipping cost will be determined by country. Please email for the shipping cost to other countries.So i'd buy the ATTEN one, just because it is supposedly 150W...

author: cwalex
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 14, 2012, 11:14:15 am
content: Quote from: peter.mitchell on December 13, 2012, 01:53:17 pmI have the atten 315D and I really like it. It is very powerful, I can't tell where you are from but if you are in perth western australia you are welcome to come by and put it through its paces! Any questions just let me know.EDIT: I also have a JBC, same deal applies

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 14, 2012, 03:29:20 pm
content: Damn, I was there at the beginning of the monthI would appreciate it if you could post some pictures, or information about it, maybe even a quick teardown, for your own information and ours?A few things I'd like to know:What tips does it come with?How quick does it heat up & recover?What is that screen like?How do the buttons feel?How does it compare to other irons you've used in the past?

author: cwalex
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 15, 2012, 10:33:35 am
content: Quote from: peter.mitchell on December 14, 2012, 03:29:20 pm* The tips it comes with are not too useful, a microfine conical tip, a flat blade type tip and weird tip that I don't know the name of. I found a dirt cheap source of tips for it at uxcell.com I mainly use the atten station for desoldering caps from PC motherboards (I own and run a computer store)* It heats up very quick, I would guess less than 10secs to 350C, recovers very quickly too* Screen is very nice and readable, displays set temp briefly and then actual tip temp* Buttons feel ok, not the best. You can set 3 preset temps I think from memory or you can just set it manually with the up/down buttons.I actually bought 2 of these atten stations, I got them from deal extreme and one was DOA. I couldn't be bothered sending it back for warranty and I haven't tried to fix it yet but it is in pieces here at home so I can take some photos for you later tonight. It is a switch mode PSU design, that much I can remember. I think from memory the solder quality in it wasn't that great.I was using a hakko 936 (not a clone) before this iron and I thought that was great (still do), I have had it for 10years or so. The atten is much better to use in my opinion.Unfortunately my working atten station is at work and I'm at home now. Today was my last day at work until 2nd jan though I will probably end up going in to work for one reason or another so I can do some videos of it and a teardown for you.If you can spring for the JBC it would be better money spent for sure. I'm not prepared to do a teardown of that one though until my warranty is up. I have the JBC at home so I can do any kind of demo you like of that one. It out performs the atten for sure! Just feels much nicer to use and the quality is just superb. Mektronics had them on sale for $399 last month I think, maybe try to beg them to do it for you for the prev months special price

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 16, 2012, 06:26:09 am
content: Quote from: cwalex on December 15, 2012, 10:33:35 amHehe, with my budget, i'd be pushing it to buy an FX-888 for home use let alone a JBC, for $399 i'd go and buy a scope to replace me old kenwood analog scope. The reason why I asked because comparing it to an FX-888 it is pretty much the same price.Getting one DOA isn't good but I think I could work something out if I did get one DOA, as far as poor quality soldering, well, I can fix that, it just turns it into a semi pre-assembled kit, as with all things from china, you'd be silly not to take it apart before you plug it in so no real issues there.Buttons don't feel the best? ehh, that does bother me, but once you set it you usually forget it anyway, so that's not soooo bad...I happen to be using a 936 (non clone) too and need a second iron because it doesn't cut it for a lot of jobs (de-soldering/soldering battery tabs and large inductors), you say you use your ATTEN for fixing PC motherboards, they usually are pretty annoying due to large ground planes, maybe this would be good...Thanks a bunch for going to this effort for me

author: NemoVanHelden
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 16, 2012, 09:19:01 am
content: Even though I`m only going to do some occasional soldering, it sounds like I`m better off using my money on another soldering station that the one I was considering.The AT315D sounds like a good choice. I found it athttp://gsmserver.com/shop/equipment/soldering_sssembly/digital_solder_station_atten_at315d.phpfor only $110, which is cheaper than even dealextreme. Is gsmserver.com considered a safe place to buy (do I get the real thing or just some copy)?Or should I buy it at dealextreme?

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 16, 2012, 09:29:17 am
content: GSMServer is okay but of course they don't include shipping charges you'll have to see how much are the shipping charges but usually they will be faster than DX who takes quite a heck of a long time to get your items to you

author: cwalex
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 16, 2012, 10:58:15 am
content: Quote from: peter.mitchell on December 16, 2012, 06:26:09 amHi Peter,I do a lot of cap replacements on motherboards with this iron and it does a much better job than the 936, it just has much more power and takes much less time to get the job done. You really need to get a big chisel tip for it though. uxcell.com has them for very reasonable price.I just took a bunch of photos of the dissected faulty one for you. I registered with flickr and uploaded the pics here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/91150573@N06/sets/72157632255257385/I'm pretty new to digital photography so please forgive the quality. I set the camera to macro and tried to get as much light in there as possible. Flickr seems to only let you upload at a pretty low resolution so I'm trying to find a way to publish the original high res photos and I'll post the link here when I figure it outI'm also trying to do all this with my macbook because I need to get comfortable with the mac way of doing things as I'm really used to using windows, the mac way is really slowing me down at the moment

author: NemoVanHelden
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 16, 2012, 11:21:18 am
content: Shipping was a bit more expensive than what i hoped for (~$40), but even so, its still slightly cheaper than dx.com.Any advice on which tips to get with it?

author: cwalex
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 16, 2012, 11:33:23 am
content: Quote from: NemoVanHelden on December 16, 2012, 11:21:18 amI like to use ~2.4mm and ~1mm chisel tips. They are so cheap from uxcell that you could just buy heaps of different tips and experiment with which one you like best.Just for the record, I'm not recommending anyone buy these stations. I don't know what the long term reliability will be like and one of the 2 that I bought doesn't work but the one that does work is pretty nice to use so YMMV

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 16, 2012, 12:15:44 pm
content: Protip for taking pictures of computer parts, tripod, put camera in aperture priority, low ISO, live view mode, autofocus on the middle of the part, then hold DOF preview and adjust aperture until it is all in focus, then take picture. Need the tripod because when you have a low ISO and a small aperture (big F number) there will be a very slow shutter, i recommend using the 10 second delay too, so it doesn't shake when you press the button.A good website/program for hosting images/files is dropbox, though some people don't like it.It seems to be all heat-shrunk appropriately, unless you did that, soldering is pretty piss poor, no flux cleaned up, but I didn't expect any better, HV isolation looks at least attempted, no really thin traces, which is a good sign, good FETs, fuse on the IEC input so you don't have to open it to change it (even though you probably should), I wish there was an earth strap to the shell of the housing, is that a reed switch in the handle for auto standby?I might pick one up after Christmas and give it a go.

author: flolic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2013, 03:15:14 pm
content: This morning I received my AT315D (from gsmserver.com) and I must say that I am very impressed with this soldering station. I had cheap Hakko 936 clone, but this is so much better that there is simply no comparison between the two. From cold to 350C in less than ten seconds, and with right tip you can solder sheet metal or heavy copper wire with ease. Because of 150W of power, thermal recovery is very fast.Construction looks quite good, not the bottom level Chinese crap. I hope it will last

author: cwalex
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2013, 11:13:49 am
content: Quote from: flolic on January 02, 2013, 03:15:14 pmIt's great for doing m/b recaps and notebook DC jacks too incase that is something you plan to doGlad you are enjoying it!

author: flolic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2013, 12:26:25 am
content: Yes, I'm doing quite a lot of servicing, mainly A/C inverter boards, switching power supplies, recaps, etc. where the extra power is really needed.Thanks for mentioning this soldering station, I've been looking for new tool for quite some time and you made me go for it

author: FenderBender
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2013, 01:07:27 am
content: Actually my Hakko FX-888 came with a chisel tip installed...Maybe they stopped shipping them with conicals?

author: flolic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2013, 08:43:05 am
content: If they change to chisel tips that's a good thing. Because long fine conical ones are almost useless for general use, and everybody seems to push those...

author: Ibh_Svenssen
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 10, 2013, 01:31:33 pm
content: AT315D schematic diagramhttp://tenko.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/at315pwr_full.png

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 11, 2013, 11:47:30 am
content: My favourite tip is a knife blade. Very versatile and I don't have to change top every minute.Super fine conical tips are good only for very small passives like 0402 and below. Maybe also for some touch ups on fine pitch QFPs, but otherwise they can hold next to no solder know them and have completely crappy thermal capacitance.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 11, 2013, 01:33:47 pm
content: Quote from: Ibh_Svenssen on August 10, 2013, 01:31:33 pmWow. A full MCU-controlled half-bridge SMPS driving the heater. That's definitely a step up from even the 936/FX-888 with only a transformer+triac.

author: cwalex
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2013, 12:14:43 pm
content: He did a nice writeup too.here