Soldering Station
What’s a good soldering gun to start with?
I’ve taken classes on thru-hole and some SMT soldering. I just need to get a soldering Iron. I don’t want to spend a whole lot of money I just want to practice some and keep my skills honed. When I was in school, I used a Pace soldering station. It was awesome.
Look for two characteristics for any soldering equipment going to be used at the board level, temp. control and EOS/ESD controls.
With surface mount devices (SMT) you have no leads on many devices, so the device gets the full heat during the soldering process. As such, you need to know that when you set it to 625F (maximum) it won’t go hotter.
Next. Many low grade irons have leakage from the heater circuit that appears on the soldering iron tip (and to your components). Irons which have an EOS/ESD rating (electrical over-stress and electro-static discharge) are designed with a redundant ground connection out to the solder tip itself.
If you’ve already got an iron at home, you can use a $30 digital meter from Radio Shack to verify the tip is grounded (2 ohms or less to earth ground), when switched off. And when switched on, use the Voltage function, and see what voltage is on that tip.
The best soldering systems ever made are from the Metcal family, and are the standard for the aerospace industry. But at about $1K each, not needed for most of us at home. By the way, one of these with a bad ground connection, like from a bad recepticle will have 74 VAC on the solder tip. A lot more than any SMT parts can handle (and you wouldn’t know it since the iron works perfectly when ungrounded).
Look at Wassco tools for wide selection. Expect to spend $100-150 for one that will last your lifetime. And order some extra flux, it does make everything go better.
LRP Soldering Station
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Weller MT1000 Microtouch Soldering Station E36 $135.00 |
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SOLDERING IRON STATION ” ADJUSTABLE TEMP” GREAT FOR TABBING SOLAR CELLS + PANELS $35.95 |
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Cables To Go 27447-SOLDERING STATION $17.80 |
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Silverline 245090 40 Watt Soldering Station $44.03 |
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Cables To Go 27447-SOLDERING STATION – Kit $26.70 |
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Hakko Soldering Station, FX-888 $80.72 Affordable, durable temperature-adjustable soldering station. Smaller footprint saves valuable workbench space. More productivity due to increased thermal performance and faster thermal recovery time. Includes: Iron holder (with cleaning wire, cleaning sponge and rubber cleaner), Hexagon wrench, CAL adjustment driver, and Instruction Manual. Features: Adjustable temperature control with lock/set… |
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Circuitbuilding Do-It-Yourself For Dummies $13.71 DO-IT-YOURSELFHere’s the fun and easy way to start building circuits for your projectsHave you ever wanted to build your own electronic device? Put together a thermostat or an in-line fuse, or repair a microphone cable? This is the book for you! Inside you’ll find the tools and techniques you need to build circuits, with illustrated, step-by-step directions to help accomplish tasks and complete pr… |
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Hot Connections Jewelry: The Complete Sourcebook of Soldering Techniques $14.08 The art of soldering—permanently joining metal components with a torch and solder—can open up a new world of creative possibilities for jewelry makers. In Hot Connections Jewelry, award-winning jewelry designer Jennifer Chin guides you through every step, from choosing a torch to basic techniques like sawing, filing, and riveting, as well as more advanced techniques like creating surface text… |
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Mixed Metal Mania: Solder, rivet, hammer, and wire exceptional jewelry $13.65 Organic, expressive, and exciting, the projects in this book reflect a truly original artist’s vision. Mixed Metal Mania makes metal jewelry accessible to a brand-new audience. This book starts by teaching the basic techniques and giving helpful tips, and then moves on to simple projects before building into more challenging work requiring new skills learned. Kim St. Jean also includes the sto… |
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Weller WES51 Analog Soldering Station $82.92 This analog soldering station from Weller is an innovative heater and sensor combination that gives you a quick heat-up and rapid temperature recovery. It has a wireless temperature lockout to prevent operators from raising the temperature levels higher than specified for the board or component so if gives you control over the process. The station automatically powers down after 90 minutes of inac… |
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Weller WLC100 40-Watt Soldering Station $43.92 The Weller WLC100 Soldering Station includes everything you need to start using solder to join metals and create efficient, electrical connections. Designed with the hobbyist and the do-it-yourself enthusiast in mind, this kit features a high-quality, lightweight pencil iron with variable power control, a cushioned foam grip with a replaceable heating element, and a safety guard iron holder. And i… |
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Weller WESD51 Digital Soldering Station $124.99 STATION INCLUDES POWER UNIT SOLDERING PENCIL STAND & SPONGE MICROPROCESSOR CONTROLLED WITH DIGITAL LED DISPLAY ALLOWS USER TO READ TEMPERATURE SETTING & ACTUAL TIP TEMPERATURE DESIGNED FOR CONTINUOUS PRODUCTION SOLDERING CAN SWITCH BETWEEN F & C SLIM COMFORTABLE PENCIL WITH ETA TIP REDUCES OPERATOR FATIGUE TIP TEMPERATURE OFFSET CAPABILITY USER HAS CAPABILITY OF RESETTING STATION TEMPERATURE READI… |
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SE Helping Hand 3.5 Lens w/Soldering Station Heavy Duty $7.50 3½ in. Dia. Glass Lens, Adjustable Magnification 2x, Heavy Duty Base… |
This entry was posted on Saturday, April 9th, 2005 at 3:27 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.