Help me pick a desoldering iron

[Mp3]

I have a hakko 808 bought new in 2013 and used very, very heavily since then. I'd like to upgrade to something a little more heavy duty. What else is recommended that is currently in production? It's all for thru hole soldering repairs. Many thanks in advance.

I would vastly prefer a station style to the pistol grip type although if the best ones that dont break the bank these days are pistol grip ill consider it.

[james_s]

I love my Hakko 808, never had any complaints at all about it. I've used a Weller desoldering station at at a place I worked once and it wasn't any better.

[tester43]

as "heavy duty" are you referring to power, recovery, overall strength of enclosure or which other aspect?

[Raj]

I'd say, get a good iron along with the biggest desoldering pump out there. You'll eventually improve your skills and will never need an automatic one.

But if you really need one, I'd say hakko is ok.

[nanofrog]

There is a modern replacement for the Hakko 808, the FR-301, which uses a 140W heater for ~$265.

True professional brand desoldering stations however, are quite expensive. The Pace ST 115 Digital Desoldering Station, with SX-100 Desoldering Iron (internal pump) might be of interest, but it's just shy of $800.

[BBBbbb]

I'd say, get a good iron along with the biggest desoldering pump out there. You'll eventually improve your skills and will never need an automatic one.

But if you really need one, I'd say hakko is ok.

There is now way to get your skill level with a manual pump to be even close to what even the cheap ZD915 does in a few seconds, especially on something like ground pins with big ground planes.

[RobertHolcombe]

I have used both the Hakko 808 and FR-301 for years. If you're familiar with the 808 you'll feel right at home with the FR-301 but it isn't an upgrade, merely has some quality of life improvements. As previously mentioned you'll pay significantly more for a station based tool, and the main benefit I see with them is the ergonomic improvement of not having to handle a large tool. I don't know that they're any more powerful? If I'm in a situation that requires more power I use a normal iron in conjunction with the desoldering iron, or pre-heat the board if possible.

There is now way to get your skill level with a manual pump to be even close to what even the cheap ZD915 does in a few seconds, especially on something like ground pins with big ground planes.

Agreed... seen people swear that powered units are not necessary and that correct technique solves everything. I regularly use a powered desoldering iron in conjunction with a JBC T245 4.8mm chisel tip to rework boards with large ground planes.

The convenience and ergonomic benefits are pretty massive too. As someone who has had carpal tunnel I don't want to be resetting a manual tool thousands of times per day. I am in no way exaggerating how much I use a desoldering iron.

[Shock]

I have a hakko 808 bought new in 2013 and used very, very heavily since then. I'd like to upgrade to something a little more heavy duty. What else is recommended that is currently in production? It's all for thru hole soldering repairs. Many thanks in advance.

I would vastly prefer a station style to the pistol grip type although if the best ones that dont break the bank these days are pistol grip ill consider it.

Recently decided to go with a Pace SX-100 desoldering iron which is their most current model, it fits your criteria being heavy duty and a station driven iron. It's not an entry level tool so priced a little higher than the cheap ones.

There are several different ST and MBT stations that come with a SX-100 or you can buy options separately. An alternative if it's out of your price range is look on Ebay for current or older models. Pace sells all the spares for them and they are designed to last for decades, so easy to restore irons or replace missing cables or parts if you need.

[james_s]

I hate those spring loaded manual solder suckers, I've never had any luck at all with those. I could never find a way to get the iron out of the way so the suction tip could seal before the solder starts to cool. I use my Hakko 808 all the time and the difference between it and those manual things is night and day.

I don't think it's physically possible for a desoldering station to be significantly more powerful. Even with the most powerful vacuum pump in the world behind it that's likely to be an incremental improvement at best because you're limited by atmospheric pressure and the inside diameter of the tip.

[nanofrog]

I hate those spring loaded manual solder suckers, I've never had any luck at all with those. I could never find a way to get the iron out of the way so the suction tip could seal before the solder starts to cool. I use my Hakko 808 all the time and the difference between it and those manual things is night and day.

I don't think it's physically possible for a desoldering station to be significantly more powerful. Even with the most powerful vacuum pump in the world behind it that's likely to be an incremental improvement at best because you're limited by atmospheric pressure and the inside diameter of the tip.

Not sure if you're aware, but the Engineer SS-02 uses a silicone tip instead of teflon. Much easier to use IME, as it forms around the board & tip to make a good seal. For occasional desoldering, this would be a decent solution (along with decent wick to further clean matters up of course).

As per more power in a station, all that they can really do is up the wattage, which they did with the release of lead-free.

[BBBbbb]

Silicone tip helps a lot, but still when there is for example some big ground plane you could end up going back and forth with adding solder and removing it, just to get the hole cleaned, and the more you're there the higher the chances to make some damage to the PCB.

I'm not saying pumps are useless, I have several, but they really don't come even close to any decent desoldering gun.

[nanofrog]

I'm not saying pumps are useless, I have several, but they really don't come even close to any decent desoldering gun.

Decent being the key word though. And here at least, decent is ~$800 new (i.e. the Pace system I previously linked). I'd dearly like to have one, but I don't have need of one frequently, so can't justify the expense. $800 can buy a lot of parts and PCB's instead.

In regard to instances of heavy ground planes, I've the ability to preheat with existing equipment (hot air or hot air preheater). So it's not so much of an issue in my case. I do recognize it could be an issue for others with just an iron and sucker, but like anything else in electronics, there will be times where additional tooling/equipment will be required to perform the task at hand. 

[KL27x]

I could never find a way to get the iron out of the way so the suction tip could seal before the solder starts to cool.

You're not supposed to get the iron out of the way. Leave it on the joint, put the sucker over the top, and press the button! A big chisel or bevel/hoof works well with a sucker. Silicone or the white plastic tips, it doesn't really matter; the tip will melt around the tip and form a seal.

A desoldering gun/station seems like it is the perfect medicine for batch rework of thru hole parts! So... how many people are still mass producing thru hole boards to screw up in the first place? For reworking prototypes, I can't imagine even allotting the space for a desoldering pump amidst the more important equipment.

Silicone tip helps a lot, but still when there is for example some big ground plane you could end up going back and forth with adding solder and removing it, just to get the hole cleaned, and the more you're there the higher the chances to make some damage to the PCB.

If you have a powerful iron and the right tips for the job, a good quality sucker will actually desolder anything a station can, just as well. There are some downsides. Probably the biggest is you need to use two hands. So you have to fix the board to the bench, somehow. I try to not add solder or flux to a joint I'm going to desolder. Better if you can get it done without doing so. Flux is what clogs these tools. And dry crusty solder will suck clean out the hole, just fine, if you can manage to get it hot enough and hit it with a good sucker. I learned this doing a batch rework job. The bevel tip made good nuff contact on the crusty lead free joints (crusty, like I couldn't even see the joint reflow), and the sucker did the rest. Took a bit of trial and error, but this saved a bunch of time cleaning the tool. Just take a few seconds to dump the solder bits every now and then; no gunk. Ran the tip bone dry, no wetting through hundreds of pins.

If you can't do a ground plane, you just need a bigger iron, lol.

[james_s]

Decent being the key word though. And here at least, decent is ~$800 new (i.e. the Pace system I previously linked). I'd dearly like to have one, but I don't have need of one frequently, so can't justify the expense. $800 can buy a lot of parts and PCB's instead.

My Hakko 808 was ~$200 and it's fantastic, certainly classifies as "decent". I've used a few inexpensive Chinese desoldering stations and even the worst of those works much better than a manual suction pump.

[james_s]

A desoldering gun/station seems like it is the perfect medicine for batch rework of thru hole parts! So... how many people are still mass producing thru hole boards to screw up in the first place? For reworking prototypes, I can't imagine even allotting the space for a desoldering pump amidst the more important equipment.

I do a ton of repair work on through-hole boards. Vintage arcade boards filled with dozens of DIP ICs on double sided PCBs, capacitors in TVs, monitors and other power supplies, audio equipment and other assorted gear. My desoldering gun is behind only my soldering iron and multimeter as far as what gets used. It's indispensable and has paid for itself many times over in time saved and damaged traces avoided. 

[KL27x]

^So that's one, so far.