Soldering station

I am about to undertake a small electronics project and have decided that it's time to replace the soldering iron that I bought some time in the 1980s. Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced soldering station (around 100 pounds at most)?

-- Richard

Reply to
Richard Tobin
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There's a lot of good Chinese brands now, shipping decent soldering stations for not a huge amount of money. This gives a roundup:

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You can also get good quality Wellers, Antexes, etc as in days of old, but you'll pay 5x the price of the Chinese - so if you spend the same budget the Chinese will be 5x better.

EEVblog has a good forum discussing the pros and cons of lots of different models:

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(EEVblog is Australian, but you should be able to buy these on ebay, Aliexpress, etc)

Theo

Reply to
Theo

I think I got a draper for about £20

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Its not bad for electronics

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

I've got a Yihua combined soldering station/hot air wand, good enough

Problem may be shipping, chinese factories are back up and running, but getting the heavier items out of the country (eg PSUs) seems to be a bit of an issue still, the solder stations are pretty dense and most capacity being given to PPE

Reply to
Andy Burns

CPC have quite a range, I have one of their 'Tenma' branded ones and (I think) another from them. Both are 60 watt with a display, cost a lot less than your £100 limit. I slightly prefer the Tenma one but there's not much in it.

Reply to
Chris Green

Not a soldering station - but Hakko make some very nice temperature-controlled irons for not a lot of money. In stained-glass work I'm using the FX-601 - which is rated 67w and has proper temperature control built into the handle (much better than the cheaper 'pretend-soldering-stations' which achieve some variation in temperature by limiting the power to the iron.

The 601 is, unfortunately, 120v-only, but that's easily sorted - and there's a range of replacement bits of all shapes and sizes which are available from Hakko in the UK. Unfortunately the iron itself isn't CE-Marked (so can't be sold in the UK) - but there are many stateside suppliers selling them - think the last one I bought was 60 euro, plus 15euro p&p.

Very nice little iron...

Reply to
Adrian Brentnall

Also worth looking at the TS100 irons - they are processor controlled irons, with a good range of tips. Fast warm up (well under 10 secs!). They run from most laptop style power supplies.

Ali express and the usual suspects will do the iron, a OSU, selection of tips etc, and change from £50

Reply to
John Rumm

Rumour has it that the expensive ones are in fact made in China now in any case. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff (Sofa)

The Natural Philosopher was thinking very hard :

A very basic model, just a dial to adjust the power level, no actual temperature feedback at all. I would suggest something a bit better.

My Chinese 30w workbench iron has an LCD display, showing set temperature and actual temperature. You just dial in the temperature you want and it produces it - no burnt bits and power to spare. I took the precaution when I bought it 15 years ago, of buying some spare elements and bits. The bit is still the original, but the element failed some years ago. One feature it lacks, which I would have liked, was a standby mode which dropped the temperature 100deg or so, rather than having to change the desired temperature. It cost me around £45.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield, Esq.

One consideration is availability of spare tips or even heater replacement. For decades now I've made ny own Weller Magnastat tips (removing the Curie Point numbered switch actuators off old tips before dumping and reusing). 24V Heater I've never had to replace (at least 34 years old)

Reply to
N_Cook

The Aldi offering had that. They dropped them to under a tenner at one point.

Just get something that you can fit popular tips to, else you may be out of luck.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

I've ordered one of these:

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I'll report back on how well it works.

-- Richard

Reply to
Richard Tobin

I think that's the one I have, similar certainly, seems pretty OK.

Reply to
Chris Green

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> esd/dp/SD01738

I've one as well, does the job. The UI for adjusting the preset temperatures isn't, at least to my brain, quite intuative.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Can't really recommend any, since I built my own combined solder/desolder station. Because there was nothing on the market then that did what I wanted. But a long time ago before cheap Chinese were common, and pro ones pricey.

One thing I would make sure of. That all the spares you're likely to need

- like a selection of different bits, sponges, etc are avaiable.

So best to buy from the likes of CPC where you can check on spares.

Other thing is what suits one person as a comfortable to use iron, another might hate.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Sponges are available from your nearest homewares store. They pack cellulose sponges damp now so they don't go stiff & put buyers off. Check the small print, if it mentions going hard when dry it's cellulose.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

That has been my problem in the past. So I splashed out on a Weller WT1010!

Reply to
Bob Eager

These days I prefer to use the 'pads' of brass turnings for cleaning an iron, rather than wet sponges. Saves having to mix water and electrickery... and I think the reduced thermal shock is a good thing.

Reply to
jkn

I?ve a couple of the clone ones off EBay. My favourite uses T12 bits. The T12 bit is like a knitting needle but the element is inside. The whole thing slides into a handle. You buy different bits for different sized jobs. I think mine- complete with a couple of bits- was about £32. The PSU is about the size of a laptop PSU and has a temp display etc.

I never thought I would find something to surpass my Weller but this beast is a delight to use.

Reply to
Brian Reay

Finding the right element is a s*d. Yihua seem to be unique. I want to have at least one in stock.

Otherwise, they are good.

Reply to
Brian Reay

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