Soldering stations, desoldering stations.

[Z]

I am in the market for a new soldering station and a de-soldering
station.
The following brands are available to me locally RS (electrocomponents
not radio shack) without too much bother for returns though obviously I
want a goof one that won't need to be returned.

Weller
ERSA
Xytronic
Pace

I only have used Weller irons before and have found them reliable, make
good clean joints, tips last a long time, quite robust. Quite a few
Weller irons seem to go obsolete though which is a little concerning
Has anyone experience of any of these brands of soldering / de-soldering
/ rework stations and recommend one or recommend one not to get?

I have not had much mileage out of Antex irons so don't want another one
of them. Nor have I had much usage out of manual desolder pumps, the one
you push a button on the side and the plunger sucks in the solder
through a PTFE nozzle.

For a de-soldering station the Weller DSVT80 Soldering Kit is about my
budget. Has anyone experience with this station? The pace iron looks
quite appealing though but out of my league. I don't have compressed air
and the old diving tanks are out of their certification date so no-one
will fill them.

Maybe I'd be better saving a bit more and getting a rework station - one
that will solder de-solder and also do SMT.
Again any recommendations?
Is this the way to go?

 

[Jon Elson]

I am in the market for a new soldering station and a de-soldering
station.
The following brands are available to me locally RS (electrocomponents
not radio shack) without too much bother for returns though obviously
I want a goof one that won't need to be returned.

Weller
ERSA
Xytronic
Pace

I only have used Weller irons before and have found them reliable,
make good clean joints, tips last a long time, quite robust. Quite a
few Weller irons seem to go obsolete though which is a little concerning
Has anyone experience of any of these brands of soldering /
de-soldering / rework stations and recommend one or recommend one not
to get?

Although they come out with new models, Weller is really GOOD at supporting
older models. I have a 20 year old station with the 1302 iron, and they
still sell
this same iron, if you prefer it, with their current line of stations.
That old
iron will still plug into the current (WSL) stations. So, I would not
fear anything
you buy now going obsolete on you. Weller's repair parts are expensive,
but less than
a new, complete, iron. (You can buy heaters, handles, cords and temp
sensors for
the older irons separately. I'm not clear on how the newer irons are
repaired.)

Jon

 

[Mark (UK)]

Hi!

I would recommend the weller digital solder station with the WSP80 Iron,
and get yourself a GOOD solder sucker. Some solder wick is useful for
cleaning up, but not for general desoldering of thru. plated boards.

RS do all those, and they're all I use for all my solder work.

Yours, Mark.

 

[Z]

Hi!

I would recommend the weller digital solder station with the WSP80
Iron, and get yourself a GOOD solder sucker. Some solder wick is useful
for cleaning up, but not for general desoldering of thru. plated boards.

RS do all those, and they're all I use for all my solder work.

Yours, Mark.

I want a de-soldering machine as these solder suckers never last and
I've gone through many different brands of them all from RS bar one
which was an Antex and was also rubbish.

I salvage quite a lot so it's a lot less scutter with a single
de-soldering iron rather than juggling an iron, sucker, solder pliers
and the PCB/assembly.