Recommend a Soldering Station Please

[bd139]

I'd go with the Aoyue 937 station already mentioned if you want a new one. However note that the company who sell them regularly have stock problems on parts.

If you can go £10 more there are usually Weller PS2/PS3 stations on eBay. They are much better and you can get parts and tips next day from RS without having to wait for some backwater shite merchant to ship it half way round the planet.

[nanofrog]

Used definitely opens up other possibilities. 

• Weller WTCP 51
• Weller PU81
• Weller PU-2D

OP: the first and third stations listed use Curie Point temp control (i.e. the tip sets the temperature).

[bd139]

My main iron is a WTCP 51. Highly recommended. Eats up any job I throw at it. I paid full whack from Farnell for that (£205) last year. This replaced the PS2 I had for the last 20 years. Had the original tip. There was nothing wrong with the PS2, it was just tatty and the transformer buzzed a little because it was getting old. Still working though.

My father used a PU-2 until last year when he gave up. Same one he bought in the 1970s. Great investment.

[Gyro]

https://www.banggood.com/MINI-TS100-Digital-OLED-Programable-Interface-DC-5525-Soldering-Iron-Station-Built-in-STM32-Chip-p-984214.html

Fits your budget, and can be fed with a battery or power supply. Do not own it myself, but a friend of mine seems very happy with it. At least with the portable part.

I bought a TS100 myself a few weeks ago. I would hesitate to recommend it as a "Soldering Station" in this context as it is an iron on its own, no stand and it needs a (3 pin) laptop supply (as close to 24V as possible for maximum wattage), or a bench supply to power it too. On its own it is around £49 from UK sellers, cheaper from China of course, as the above link.

That said, it has very impressive warm up time and more or less instant response to thermal loads, especially with Ben Brown's revised firmware. I run mine at 24V (around 65W output) and it's quite uncanny to see such a tiny iron handling large joints so easily.

As a second iron I wouldn't hesitate but as a first.... 

[stj]

banggood had the TS100 on special for £30 the other day.

[woody]

As a second iron I wouldn't hesitate but as a first.... 

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely agree with you. But the OP asked for a replacement of a butane soldering iron with temp control for a budget of £50. I think the TS100 fits that. It certainly surpasses the butane iron that costs 3 times as much, has no temperature control, a nasty exhaust that fries adjacent parts and often refuses to work outside when cold.

IMO any 'first' soldering station that survives switching on on Monday morning and switching off again on Friday afternoon will set you back at least a couple of hundred euros. I'm still paying the mortgage for the JBC on my desk 

[kPATm]

I very much appreciate all the recommendations :-)

I think I have narrowed it down to a choice of 4?


Aoyue 937

https://www.pcb-soldering.co.uk/aoyue-937-soldering-station.html


http://uk.farnell.com/tenma/21-10130-uk-eu/rework-station-900w-220v-uk-eu/dp/2062633

Apparently this is a rebadged Atten 8502d. I can get this in 2nd hand for a good price


http://www.circuitspecialists.eu/csi-premier75w-digital-temperature-controlled-solder-station-with-75w-soldering-iron/


http://www.circuitspecialists.eu/soldering/soldering-stations/csi-8786d-desoldering-hot-air-rework-station-with-50w-soldering-iron/

Think this is also Atten rebadged

[Gyro]

I very much appreciate all the recommendations :-)

I think I have narrowed it down to a choice of 4?

...

http://uk.farnell.com/tenma/21-10130-uk-eu/rework-station-900w-220v-uk-eu/dp/2062633

Apparently this is a rebadged Atten 8502d. I can get this in 2nd hand for a good price

...

I have exerience of the Tenma soldering iron (only) station...

http://uk.farnell.com/tenma/21-10115-uk/soldering-station-60w-220v-uk/dp/2064549

The iron part looks the same and they use the same tips. The thermal coupling between the element and tip isn't good. It has trouble melting joints unless you wind the temperature up.


@woody:

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely agree with you. But the OP asked for a replacement of a butane soldering iron with temp control for a budget of £50. I think the TS100 fits that. It certainly surpasses the butane iron that costs 3 times as much, has no temperature control, a nasty exhaust that fries adjacent parts and often refuses to work outside when cold.

You have a good point there, as a replacement for a butane one (which presumably also doesn't have a stand etc.) it is a far superior replacement (availability of mains adaptor / battery pack permitting).

[kPATm]

Iv been reading a lot about the cheaper stations having poor thermocoupling. Isnt there a small mod that can be done to help?

[Gyro]

Some people have had some success by packing the air gap between the ceramic element rod and the surrounding tip with foil or copper grease but it's not ideal.I't basically a tolerancing issue on the cheaper irons I think. The Tenma and similar use the element resistance for temperature sensing rather than a thermocouple, so poor thermal coupling translates to an artificially low tip temperature relative to the element.

I'm not an expert on these things but I think Hakkos etc use a thermocouple. Anything with the element permanently integrated into the tip - T12 etc.(and TS100) have much closer thermal coupling and are thermocouple temperature sensed, the downside is more expensive tips(/elements) but not a big issue.

Someone with more specific knowledge will be able to say which of your list are thermocouple sensed.


EDIT: For context, when I talked about the Tenma iron struggling to melt joints, that was in comparison with my venerable old 45W Weller TCP.

[kPATm]

I do like the idea of the T12 tips.

[sn4k3]

Strange that no one recommend ERSA...

ERSA Pico  80W Iron
ERSA Nano 80W Iron
ERSA i-con 1 150W Iron
ERSA i-con 2V 150W Iron and Tweezers

The best you can get for the price. Smart station with standby features, the i-tool is excelent, tips have a very large lifespan, iron is light as a pen, easy to replace tips without shutdown or wait for cooldown, and final the tips are dirty cheap because they have no sensors on they (+/- 8€ per normal tip, but they also have 80€-120€ wick tips  )

Don't go cheap crap the price not justify against a Ersa pico or nano... Cheap station will perform bad, tips sucks, die faster and bad heat recovery. But there are some exceptions out there.

TS100 is great iron i can tell it perform as well as high end irons, even the tiny tip have good a solder flow at very tip.
If you can't raise your budget you can't go wrong with TS100 and you can get one in UK ebay

My collection:

[stj]

Strange that no one recommend ERSA...

not really, he said he has a £50 limit. 

[kPATm]

Thats true. I really like the look of the TS100 though. About £60 then I would need a decent PSU mind you? Not sure what to do?

[kPATm]

Hmm. Notice there is a "New Upgraded" TS100

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Programmable-Pocket-size-Soldering-Interface-Acceleration/dp/B072Z9B9YS/ref=pd_cp_107_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TE9HR79ST536DR1BJTHP

[Gyro]

I do like the idea of the T12 tips.

BTW, I certainly wouldn't argue with some others' advice about a second hand Weller TCP either. They have served me well at work and home for decades. If really pushed on cost you can power one off a 24V 50W transformer (they need AC to preserve the 'Magnastat' contacts) until you find a matching base.

[kPATm]

It looks like the Upgraded version comes with a 19v UK power supply. Im close to buying this. The tips are a bit expensive mind?

[Gyro]

It's about time they started selling the TS100s complete with power supplies. I see that one comes with both B2 (round point) and BC2 (round chisel) tips, probably the only ones you'll need. You can pick up other tips for around £9 inc. on ebay UK.


I hate it when someone gets close to a buying decision based (in part at least) on my input! 

[kPATm]

I take it the TS100 would be grounded then with the supplied UK PSU?

[sn4k3]

Strange that no one recommend ERSA...

not really, he said he has a £50 limit. 

50£ very low to buy something good, possible but if buy tips or other acessories will always overpass, but theres an situation when you show other options he can decide to raise the budget if likes and justify the investment

Thats true. I really like the look of the TS100 though. About £60 then I would need a decent PSU mind you? Not sure what to do?

TS100 is a good to go, i have one and i use it over ERSA when i'm just to lazy to change the tips mutiple times in same rework and i can tell you it perform just as well otherwise i wouldn't use. You have the portabilty, you can use a battery to power it, good tips (i own them all, they are just a few).
PSU you can use your 19VDC laptop charger, i have an 24V, the only difference will be the heat up time, you win a few seconds.
Beware of fake power supply and cheap crap.
PSU with earth connection is better since you can stay ESD safe, but it will work without it.

Hmm. Notice there is a "New Upgraded" TS100

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Programmable-Pocket-size-Soldering-Interface-Acceleration/dp/B072Z9B9YS/ref=pd_cp_107_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TE9HR79ST536DR1BJTHP

I doubt about that, that just marketing... What you got there is a different shell (Brown color, i have transparent you can buy them from china), a power supply, a extra tip and other accessories that you can discard or won't need anyway.
TS100 is TS100 there aren't other model. Still is a good deal
PSUs can be easly found on eBay

[sn4k3]

For a complete tip information please see this article: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-Replacement-Solder-Tip-For-TS100-Digital-LCD-Soldering-Iron-/182720381090
There you can find all avaliable tips, their size and models
I recomend the D24 tip for most of the works



Actualy i found that heat times are bigger than actually is.
My 24V 5A (120W) heat up to 350ºc in just 6s

[Shock]

Those Aliexpress Hakko T12 tip inspired clones (the ones with the rotary encoder) also have a longer exposed tip length than the original handles (HAKKO FM-2027/FM-2028)

Threre are FM-2028 clone handles on Aliexpress as well, not sure about the wiring though that would be something to check.

[stj]

the only thing upgraded is the firmware.
you can do that yourself through the usb connector.

https://www.banggood.com/MINI-TS100-Digital-OLED-Programable-Interface-DC-5525-Soldering-Iron-Station-Built-in-STM32-Chip-p-984214.html
£38 from china.
8 more than last week - never mind.

[Gyro]

I take it the TS100 would be grounded then with the supplied UK PSU?

The tip is actually connected to the DC plug barrel via an internal 100nF capacitor so it is AC 'grounded' DC floating. The tip is directly connected to the little grounding screw just above the display (I see that the kit comes with a curly grounding cord to connect to it).

On mine, I have bridged the internal 100nF capacitor (after ensuring that the DC output of my laptop supply is mains grounded) so my tip is mains grounded.

The adaptor pictured has a 3 pin mains input, so I would assume (but would want to check carefully) that its output is grounded too.

[Gyro]

FYI, these are the links you want to look at regarding Ralim's alternative TS100 Firmware:

https://github.com/Ralim/ts100  (Includes features and schematic)

https://github.com/Ralim/ts100/releases (Firmware releases)

https://github.com/Ralim/ts100/issues (Feature requests and issues)