Soldering station

[northwest]

So, been going to buy myself one of these for a while now and after struggling a bit today I have decided to just bite the bullet. Thinking of something like this: SOLDERING STATION



I have a good Weller but it is 40w and I found myself struggling a bit today. Does anyone have any suggestions before I w̶a̶s̶t̶e̶ spend a few quid?

 

[sako243]

What are you trying to solder?

 

[bigegg]

I bought a yuhua 858d as recommended by "bigclive" on youboob.
Works for me: i don't do much compinent level stuff beyond joining COB leds to wires.
The hot air gun has also had (more) use - heat shrink + craftwork on pvc.

I'd recommend it.

Alternatively, toolstation does a cheapo iron for £8. I use that pretty much exclusivley for turning plastic coffee cups into plant pots.

 

[garethp]

Ive got an rs pro solder/rework station at work and cant fault it, the rework hot air side is also handy for heat shrink.

Previously we bought a cheap unit from amazon and bits quickly fell off and it went back.

Don't buy cheap tips as they dont last long, hakko tips seem good, I've done a couple of hundred hours of soldering with two hakko tips, one very fine tip and a bigger one for cable/multi pin plug joints.

 

[Kram]

A hakko clone is a couple of quid delivered. Set of tips another quid, as is a temp controller.
I didbt buy a station becuase I have no space for on
Hakko is a rubbish design, but it works.

 

[masleeve]

What are you trying to solder?
If it is a Weller TCP you have you can change the tips for different temperatures.

 

[northwest]

What are you trying to solder?

Ah! never considered the use. I solder "stuff", today (yesterday) it was a cable extension for a switch, come to think of it, it is mostly copper cable I am trying to stick together. I do very little component/board assembly but occasionally I will buy a "kit" (I have one at the moment) and I will need to solder a couple of components and some wires together. Almost always at the bench, I am too old and too creaky to be underneath dashboards in cars anymore.

 

[sako243]

What aspects are you struggling with with regards to your Weller? I've not found anything (reasonable) that a Weller with a good tip and decent solder will not touch. If it's struggling to get the heat into it you might need to look into a replacement tip (they do wear out eventually) and some decent solder. Anything bigger tends to be in the realms of a blow torch if I'm honest... It is quite important to change the tip to suit the work you're doing, it's often much easier to use a bigger tip to get the heat in there quickly, they also don't cool down as much rather than using a smaller tip.

The lead-free stuff I use (which is better than all the old leaded stuff I used to use) is an ERSIN 309 99C 5C by Loctite/Multicore, e.g. https://uk.farnell.com/multicore-loctite/99c-309-5c-1-00mm/solder-wire-lead-free-1mm-500g/dp/1115465 (although the stuff I have is 0.5mm).

I still use my 25 year old basic Weller for the bigger stuff but I must admit my go-to soldering station is a bit higher-end these days because of the surface mount stuff, a JBC Nase Rework station. You might want to sit down for the price though, especially for the tips!