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Soldering Station

98.117.181.4
Posted on October 24, 2009 at 16:47:13
jupiterboy
Audiophile

Posts: 315
Location: Western New York
Joined: June 7, 2009
Contributor
  Since: August 25, 2009
 So I need to pick up a good iron/station for doing cables and some PCB mods. Tip selection is a variable, along with appropriate temp for silver solder.

I won’t be using it all the time, so cost should be low.

Any pointers?

RE: Soldering Station, posted on November 2, 2009 at 20:02:35
Drew Eckhardt
Audiophile

Posts: 209
Location: Boulder, CO
Joined: April 28, 2003
 Get one of the older 13 MHz Metcals (STTS-001/STTS-002 with RFG-30 or PS2E-01 power supply). Make sure you pickup the power supply with handle and stand as a package - the other parts are expensive new and harder to buy separately for a reasonable price on ebay. The newer MX500 is out of your price range.

You can't beat the ergonomics (it's like a pen - the grip is very close to the tip, with the heaters actually in the tips), the handle weighs two ounces, recovery time is unequalled (you might get down to a second a joint) for stuffing PCBs, they'll put a lot of heat into a joint fast for board mounted jacks/tacking terminal strips to un-etched PCBs/thick cables, you can change tips and have the new one hot in about 15 seconds (there's a silicon pad for this, or you can cool off your tip on the sponge since there isn't much thermal mass), you can get tips for everything, they heat up real fast, etc.

The tips are the same as the newer MX500/MX5000 series which are popular in industry (Metcals do not require calibration) and are therefore in abundant supply on E-bay for reasonable prices in new ($8-$12) and used form (less).

The way Metcals work you can get away with a much smaller tip than you'd normally need so changing to a big tip often isn't necessary.


It'll probably be the last soldering iron you buy.

The 470 KHz units (SP200, SP800, SP900, MFR series) are not as good and don't have the same tip availability.

RE: Soldering Station, posted on October 25, 2009 at 06:51:14
bevo
Audiophile

Posts: 307
Joined: December 27, 2004
 I have had a Hakko 936 for several years. ESD safe, temp control (not digital, though), easy to find tips. I use silver solder exclusively. Never a problem. You can find one for about $100.

ESD Safe?, posted on October 25, 2009 at 08:20:52
jupiterboy
Audiophile

Posts: 315
Location: Western New York
Joined: June 7, 2009
Contributor
  Since: August 25, 2009
 I understand the basic idea, but what specifically does this mean?

Any comments on these budget models?

http://webtronics.stores.yahoo.net/lowcoselsols.html

http://webtronics.stores.yahoo.net/cispdeesdsas.html

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