Soldering station recommendation? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Alexandros81
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2020, 04:15:01 pm
content: Hi!I want to buy a soldering station. Going to solder smd components as a start.Price range <= 100 euro.Any suggestions?

author: Johnboy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2020, 06:03:20 pm
content: You will receive better recommendations if you identify your location. You can do this by enabling the country flag in your profile. It's not just a matter of national pride here.Example: In the US, where I am, Pace makes some quality soldering products. However, certain parts of Europe, Pace might be prohibitively expensive due to import taxes or shipping, or difficult to find used. Here, many would be unlikely to purchase certain Ersa units for similar reasons; it's just not as good a deal here as it is "across the pond". You should be sure to figure in availability of tips for your iron, and service, should you need it.There are many threads on the forum where this question has been answered before (often on this board in particular), and you should search for them to see whether the answers might apply to you, particularly if you don't want to specify where you are.

author: Alexandros81
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2020, 06:19:48 pm
content: Quote from: Johnboy on July 16, 2020, 06:03:20 pmI haven't realized that my country flag was disabled. I live in Greece (Europe).I did a fast search of "soldering station" in this forum.I will do another one more thorough but in the meantime if someone thinks of a brand please share.

author: Teledog
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 17, 2020, 04:19:18 am
content: First station was a Weller WTCPT ( probably obsolete now)..bench tech at Scientific Atlanta.. LOVED those units!They are 24x7 workhorses..not great for fine stuff....but...buy the magnetic tips according to temp/sizeBought one or 2 since then..then a WESD51..OK..a bit finer, but..not a workhorse for the big stuff, nor the really fine stuff--middle-ish?Found /scooped a couple of JBC 2700's for a song for ultrafine work ( keep your eyes open) ..can do 0.3mm pitch with no problems.G'luck!

author: Johnboy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 17, 2020, 07:56:32 pm
content: At the bottom of the first page of this thread, another forum member located in Greece asked something similar. You may want to look up the availability and shipping claims in the responses on the second page for your own area and find out whether the information is still current, as the thread is several years old.https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/picking-a-soldering-station/

author: wizard69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 18, 2020, 05:19:08 am
content: Honestly for a hobby bench I don't see a huge difference between name brand soldering irons. Assuming you have comparable wattage that is. The bigger factor in my mind is the feel of the iron. I don't like irons that are excessively long with respect to the hot end for example. The exception of coarse is when you need to get into something and longer is better. In a nut shell a tip that is close to your fingers is easier to control.As for other features don't go so low on the model range that you don't have digital control of temperature. The ability to repeat settings can be very useful if you happen to need to change settings for a job. It is worth it even if you blow your budget.Beyond that you have heater elements, where one design will be claimed to be better than another and that might be so for professional usage. How important this would be on a hobby bench is up in the air, I don't see it as that important. The reality is if you had the expectation of doing a lot of SMT work you would likely end up looking for something a lot more expensive than the 100 euro ballpark. Hakko seems to be the commonly suggested go to for entry level but I've used Wellers that have been perfectly fine.Quote from: Alexandros81 on July 16, 2020, 04:15:01 pm

author: all_repair
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 18, 2020, 06:06:44 am
content: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1319-new-ts80p-portable-usb-pd-soldering-iron-review/Or TS100 is you do not want USB-C.More reason to get this if you do not already have a portable yet