Must I get a Reflow Station - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: kolbep
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2014, 09:05:50 pm
content: Hi All.Was browsing the local Pawn Shops (Note the spelling of Pawn, not the other thing.)I noticed in one of the back rooms they have a Hot Air Rework Station for sale.It is something like this :The one for sale has the Base, and the Hot Air piping and handle. But it is missing what I believe is the Soldering Iron itself (the connector and pot are there, but just no Soldering Iron.They are selling it for ZAR600.00 (54.50 USD / 60.69 AUD)Just Some Questions (while I am considering buying this) :1) Is the price right considering it is missing the soldering iron2) Will I actually use it? {I know that is a difficult question, maybe What can I use it for?}3) Will it be easy to get parts for it4) Any gotchas I need to be on the look out for.As you can see from my previous posts, I am a hobbyist with electronics (when there is time), and I like to try fix things, and make my own things, but would soon like to do work with surface mount as apposed to through hole.Thanks for your input.Peter

author: SpectrHz
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2014, 09:34:47 pm
content: Reflow stations can be very useful, but I guess that depends what you do more, repair work, surface mount or through hole. If you repair motherboards, tvs, etc. These things can be really handy for replacing split or damaged ceramic caps and transistors, or for harvesting surface mount chips.These things are also the bees knees for heat shrink tubing, and that's worth the 60 bucks in itself IMHO. The prices you have looks about the same as I have seen it elsewhere.Not sure about parts? You mean like spare nozzles, etc?

author: kayvee
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2014, 09:13:09 am
content: PeterI have one of these which is locally manufactured:http://www.magnumproducts.co.za/magnum_Hot_Air_Station_3004.htmlIt cost me about R2k a couple of years ago and has really been well used over that period. Okay granted it does not have an soldering iron output, but then you can always use your iron of choice. It does sport a vacuum port which is handy to add a vacuum pickup pencil for hand SMD placement. Comes with a bunch of accessories too.One thing to consider is the availability of spares and I reckon you will struggle to find spares for that unit around here. Magnum OTOH is freely available and relatively cheap.Nope, no association with them, just have a number of Magnum products scattered around here as they are readily available, fairly robust and reliable in the workplace, relatively cheap, with spares are easy to come by.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2014, 09:29:17 am
content: Grab it and find a replacement iron with the right plug on the 'bay and you will have a very handy bit of kit. A good selection of tips and you could fix anything.

author: miceuz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2014, 11:47:29 am
content: Face it, SMD is the future and if you are not doing SMD, you are limiting yourself in what you can achieve. Hot air station is an irreplaceable tool for SMD work - repair or rework of your own designs, and youwillbe doing SMD at some point in the future.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2014, 06:35:00 pm
content: I bought a 852D clone for R200 at the flea market. Just needed to do minor repairs like a new mains cable that was not 3 random wires taped together in places, a power switch to turn it off properly and some minor reworking of the soldering inside, I did some with the hot air gun itself. Just had to order some new nozzles for the hot air side and now it works well enough. Spare parts are likely to be Hakko clone, you will probably have to see the wiring in the connector and see if it is 3 wire or 5 wire. Then you buy a new 24V 50W soldering iron that fits. Try to bargain the price down, R300-R400 is a better bet as you will need to get a new iron for it.

author: Macbeth
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2014, 07:07:34 pm
content: I've got a similar setup - a JIC 850 which appears to have been something in the mobile phone repair business. It came without a soldering iron or any nozzles for about £40 maybe around 5 years ago.I"took it apaart!"and worked out what was what with the DIN output socket for the soldering iron, then bought a cheap Aouye 936 soldering iron and had to rewire it to a new DIN plug with some of the wires swapped over. Also found some nozzles and 936 tips on ebay too. The Hakko nozzles are insanely priced.

author: neslekkim
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2014, 07:27:54 pm
content: Quote from: kayvee on February 21, 2014, 09:13:09 amLittle OT, but Magnum, they have an interresting thing:http://www.magnumproducts.co.za/magnum_Solder_Paste_Dispenser_MD100.htmlSeems like $28, €18, but ,they don't ship to europe it seems, do other shops carry this? I found it on Tindie, but then it's $40-45 + shipping..