Choosing the Right Soldering Station for a Hobbyist Electronics Lab

[druantia]

Hi everyone,

I want to start learning electronics and have a few pet projects I’d like to work on. I’m planning to invest in a hobby-level electronics lab, but it’s a bit challenging to decide where to draw the line when it comes to price since this is just a hobby - I won’t use it every day, I just want to buy a general purpose soldering station. I’m currently considering the following options:


- Aixun T413: As far as I know, it’s compatible with genuine JBC cartridges. However, I’m concerned that it might be overkill for my current skill level, and it’s more expensive than other options.

- Aixun T3A: Same as before -though I read somewhere about some grounding issues or voltage on the tip issue. I don't know how much of a problem this is.

- KSGER C245 C210 (KSGER): Cheap and seems ok for my needs - one review highlighted this drawbacks:  1) the station does not support standby mode. Only the sleep mode is supported. 2) no support for separate temp. calibration for different tip types.

- Miniware TS80P: It’s cheap, but I’d also need to buy a proper iron stand, a good power adapter, and a cable, which adds to the overall cost. I’m also unsure about the quality and durability of the tips.

Do you have any experience with these tools? Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated! )

Thanks!

[JohanH]

Today's soldering stations and irons are so good, that you can pick almost anyone of those as a hobbyist and you will be fine. I don't think any of those are "overkill". The more expensive ones might be better quality, and you will feel it when using it. If you can afford it, go for it. If you don't do a lot of SMD work, avoid the smaller C210 tips, irons that use 245 style tips are better for all around use. About the grounding issue, if you don't do SMD work, it's probably not a big issue. Personally, I nowadays use Sequre S99 irons and when using a grounded power supply (three prong), there is no issue with floating voltages on the tip.

[RoGeorge]

From your list, I'll buy the KSGER you linked with no regrets.

I see there some option with 2-3 handles, soldering iron stand and a few soldering tips, too, that would come very handy.  The round and thin pencil-like tips are not very practical, you'll see, they have less use.  Chisel tips (from which the 2-3mm wide straight chisel is probably the most used), diagonal, and the round caved ones for drag-soldering are very useful.  They'll see a lot of use in practice.

The link for KSGER seems like a very good deal (to me it appears with a big discount, roughly $50-100 total price, depending of the accessories list).  Temperature calibration is not really needed in practice, unless you do benchmarks between different soldering stations.  Same for the standby vs sleep, not really an issue unless you solder 24/7.  You'll only use it occasionally, for hobby, so who cares.  Not to say, if you really must have such features, you can modify the design a little to add them later.

[druantia]

Thanks, these were very helpful!
Based on what you said, I'll order the KSGER. It is the cheapest iron and the most versatile at the same time (comes with 245 and 210 handle). I haven't read any big red flags about it and keep seeing it among the recommended irons.

I'll choose the option with just the knife tip, I'll rather invest that money to a genuine JBC tip - what are your recommendations?
I checked these two:
https://www.jbctools.com/c245963-chisel-bent-18-x-08-product-377.html
https://www.jbctools.com/c245807-chisel-cartridge-22-x-1-l-product-340.html

[RoGeorge]

The brand name tips may worth their money for professional soldering, where the tip sees heavy use, and it is on at least 8 hours a day, a normal worker shift.  They last longer under heavy use, might have better heat transfer, too, but most of the money goes in endurance and branding.

For hobby/occasional use, there is not much difference in performance (unless you make benchmark comparisons), and for hobby only you would probably never wear out a tip, not even the clone ones.  I would prefer the much cheaper clones.  In practice, the most important is to use a good flux type.  Brand-name types of flux is preferable.  You may sometimes find good flux from no brand names, but that is rare.  Flux type is very important to get good soldering (and for desoldering, too).  And also important is to have enough power.  Temperature accuracy, or how stable the tip temperature is kept, doesn't matter as much as good flux type and enough power.

In practice you need thermal power, and that is usually achieved by using the thickest and shortest possible tip.  As a thumb rule, the tip has to be at least as thick as the pad, even thicker if possible.

Even if a clone tip fails after a while, you can decide later if you need to buy the same, or another shape, or maybe pay on a single tip but brand name tip that costs as much as the entire solder station.  I'll rather buy 5-10 different shapes of no name soldering cartridges, rather than buying just 1 tip but brand name.  Beware that clone handles might not work well with original tips.  Should work, but not guaranteed to work with original tips.  So if you buy original tips, sometimes you might have to buy the original handle, too.

Note that there are different tips for Pb solder vs. for Pb-free solder.  If you use the wrong type, the soldering tip will peal off, and become unusable.  The brand is irrelevant in this case, the solder type is what matters.  We have had at work Weller station, tips and consumables bought from a listed Weller distributor (guaranteed original) misused with the wrong solder type.  The tip peeled off in a matter of days.  It is normal to fail, because the covering layers of a tip are different for Pb vs for Pb-free.

[tooki]

Note that there are different tips for Pb solder vs. for Pb-free solder.  If you use the wrong type, the soldering tip will peal off, and become unusable.  The brand is irrelevant in this case, the solder type is what matters.  We have had at work Weller station, tips and consumables bought from a listed Weller distributor (guaranteed original) misused with the wrong solder type.  The tip peeled off in a matter of days.  It is normal to fail, because the covering layers of a tip are different for Pb vs for Pb-free.

In the past, yes. But today’s tips are all the lead-free type (which is also compatible with leaded). The difference isn’t the composition of the layers as such, but the thicknesses, which have been increased to survive the higher temperatures of lead-free soldering, and the tendency for solder with a high percentage of tin (>95%) to dissolve iron plating faster. So the end result is that lead-free tips have a thicker iron layer.

But again, since lead-free has been a requirement for so long now, I don’t think anyone still makes tips that aren’t made for lead-free.

(Additionally, the newer lead-free solder alloys include additives, like nickel, that help prevent erosion of the iron layer.)


While researching what was actually changed in lead-free tips, I came across this old presentation from Weller, unfortunately only in German: https://www.griederbauteile.ch/download/Manuals/Weller/Soldering_tips_D.pdf
It goes into quite a bit of detail into the failure modes and countermeasures taken. (All PDF links also attached below, for archival purposes.)

This shorter Weller document covers the basics: https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/62753.pdf

This document from OKI goes into a lot of detail: https://www.newark.com/pdfs/techarticles/oki-metcal/extendingTipLife.pdf



Also, don’t rule out the possibility that the issues you saw were due to the well-documented drop in Weller tip quality after around the year 2000.

[bte]

While researching what was actually changed in lead-free tips, I came across this old presentation from Weller, unfortunately only in German: https://www.griederbauteile.ch/download/Manuals/Weller/Soldering_tips_D.pdf
It goes into quite a bit of detail into the failure modes and countermeasures taken.

I found and attached the English version.

[druantia]

Beware that clone handles might not work well with original tips.  Should work, but not guaranteed to work with original tips.

I have read some reviews and it's compatible with original tips. But what you are saying totally makes sense, I won't spend money on those JBC tips - especially that it almost cost the same as the station itself i ordered some basic clone tips. 

In the past, yes. But today’s tips are all the lead-free type (which is also compatible with leaded).

That's great, then I can try both leaded and lead-free soldering. It is quite a debate on the internet which one is recommended. I know that Kester 63/37 is a recommended solder and if I buy lead-free, it should contain silver.


This is a slightly different topic and maybe I should open another thread for it - but allow me one more question, because I'm sure you guys have some useful opinions on this one too.

I want to buy a power supply too - my thoughts are that I shouldn't save money on this equipment because a clean good quality power source will be a big help. That's why was considering buying a better quality linear PSU, specifically this: Siglent SPD3303X-E
But again, for hobby purposes, it might be a big overkill. Should I go for it, or should I look for a much cheaper chinese PSU?

[tooki]

While researching what was actually changed in lead-free tips, I came across this old presentation from Weller, unfortunately only in German: https://www.griederbauteile.ch/download/Manuals/Weller/Soldering_tips_D.pdf
It goes into quite a bit of detail into the failure modes and countermeasures taken.

I found and attached the English version.

Oh awesome, thanks! I tried looking for an English version but Google just showed me tons of junk.

[tooki]

In the past, yes. But today’s tips are all the lead-free type (which is also compatible with leaded).

That's great, then I can try both leaded and lead-free soldering. It is quite a debate on the internet which one is recommended. I know that Kester 63/37 is a recommended solder and if I buy lead-free, it should contain silver.

Yeah, many people react with hysteria at the thought of lead-free. 

While 63/37 is undoubtedly the nicest alloy to work with, modern lead-free isn’t the house of horrors some make it out to be.

Don’t be so sure about the silver: the nicest lead-free I’ve found so far is the SN100Ni+ from Felder, with their ISO-Core Clear flux. Despite having no silver, it flows really well for lead-free.

This is a slightly different topic and maybe I should open another thread for it - but allow me one more question, because I'm sure you guys have some useful opinions on this one too.

I want to buy a power supply too - my thoughts are that I shouldn't save money on this equipment because a clean good quality power source will be a big help. That's why was considering buying a better quality linear PSU, specifically this: Siglent SPD3303X-E
But again, for hobby purposes, it might be a big overkill. Should I go for it, or should I look for a much cheaper chinese PSU?

I think it depends on what kinds of stuff you work on. I don’t have any experience with Siglent PSUs so I can’t add anything to that. I have the venerable, inexpensive Korda KA3005P and it’s been fine for everything I do at home, but that’s not overly demanding. With that said, being a linear supply it’s inherently decent. Even a basic linear supply is going to be pretty clean. It’s the switchers that can get really noisy. But depending on what you’re doing with it, even that may not be a problem.

[bte]

While researching what was actually changed in lead-free tips, I came across this old presentation from Weller, unfortunately only in German: https://www.griederbauteile.ch/download/Manuals/Weller/Soldering_tips_D.pdf
It goes into quite a bit of detail into the failure modes and countermeasures taken.

I found and attached the English version.

Oh awesome, thanks! I tried looking for an English version but Google just showed me tons of junk.

The key to find the document was using the English translation for "Standzeiten", which google translates as "service life". Searching for the terms `weller "soldering tips" service life pdf` yielded https://www.scribd.com/document/413196432/Weller-Tip-Lifetime

I didn't want to register to download the doc but it was enough to see the first page. Searching for `weller "Coping with Lead-Free"` returned a PhD dissertation (https://www.kerpely.uni-miskolc.hu/files/17368/PhD_disszert%C3%A1ci%C3%B3_S%C3%A1lyi_2022_01_20_v%C3%A9gleges.pdf) which contained a link (https://www.elexp.com/media/wysiwyg/cms-pdfs/Weller_Coping_with_Lead_Free.pdf) but it was broken and not archived. However, this link was useful in hinting the correct filename. Searching for the file name "Weller_Coping_with_Lead_Free.pdf" returned another Hungarian site (https://real.mtak.hu/64824/1/S%C3%A1lyi%20et%20al.pdf) with another broken link (https://www.elexp.com/Images/Weller_Coping_with_Lead_Free.pdf) but this link was archived so I downloaded it and attached it to my post.

[RoGeorge]

When searching for a certain filename, once you find the filename, worth to try searching for the exact filename (between quotes).  Another worth try is to add at the end of the searching words the search directive filetype:pdf

For example:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Coping+with+Lead-Free+filetype%3Apdf&t=ffab&ia=web

Another very useful search directive is to restrict the search to a specific website.  For example, if you want to search only inside the EEvblog, you add at the end of the search site:eevblog.com

[tooki]

While researching what was actually changed in lead-free tips, I came across this old presentation from Weller, unfortunately only in German: https://www.griederbauteile.ch/download/Manuals/Weller/Soldering_tips_D.pdf
It goes into quite a bit of detail into the failure modes and countermeasures taken.

I found and attached the English version.

Oh awesome, thanks! I tried looking for an English version but Google just showed me tons of junk.

The key to find the document was using the English translation for "Standzeiten", which google translates as "service life". Searching for the terms `weller "soldering tips" service life pdf` yielded https://www.scribd.com/document/413196432/Weller-Tip-Lifetime

I didn't want to register to download the doc but it was enough to see the first page. Searching for `weller "Coping with Lead-Free"` returned a PhD dissertation (https://www.kerpely.uni-miskolc.hu/files/17368/PhD_disszert%C3%A1ci%C3%B3_S%C3%A1lyi_2022_01_20_v%C3%A9gleges.pdf) which contained a link (https://www.elexp.com/media/wysiwyg/cms-pdfs/Weller_Coping_with_Lead_Free.pdf) but it was broken and not archived. However, this link was useful in hinting the correct filename. Searching for the file name "Weller_Coping_with_Lead_Free.pdf" returned another Hungarian site (https://real.mtak.hu/64824/1/S%C3%A1lyi%20et%20al.pdf) with another broken link (https://www.elexp.com/Images/Weller_Coping_with_Lead_Free.pdf) but this link was archived so I downloaded it and attached it to my post.

Nice work!

I am so fed up with useless scribd results that I block it (and Pinterest) from search results with a browser extension. But I suppose it is useful if one is willing to put in enough effort.