Micro soldering iron vs standard station iron

[HecticZA]

Hello old wise ones.

I recently bought an 80 watt/3 Amp soldering station.

The station is locally made in South Africa and has decent track record for quality and performance.

Don't think it  is comparable to a Hakko, Weller , etc ito heat up speed and recovery time, but performance is not horrible at all for me, compared only to my own previous soldering irons.

It uses the Weller EW range tips. It is available as a dual station as well, but I did not have the money to buy it and unfortunately I got impatient and bought the single Station, because I would have had to save another couple of months to buy the dual station and I got a better than normal deal on the single staion model.

Both stations uses the same standard 24V  80 Watt iron.
The micro pencil is a 24V 65W optional extra for my station.

I will have to save a couple of months should I wish to buy the micro soldering iron for my station.

I do not have an hot air gun at this stage.

Is it worth it to buy the micro pencil? I do not know what the differences are between the two irons, apart from the wattage. The micro iron uses the RX Weller tip range, which are basically double the price compared to the standard tip range.

I think the smallest tip for the micro iron is 0.4mm, but comes standard with a 2mm tip.

What would be the differences between a 2mm or any other similar tip size?

If I use a 0.8mm tip on my standard iron, can't I use it for SMD's or why would a Micro iron be better?

Any input} would be appreciated.

Thank you.

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[ebastler]

Is it worth it to buy the micro pencil? I do not know what the differences are between the two irons, apart from the wattage. The micro iron uses the RX Weller tip range, which are basically double the price compared to the standard tip range.

I think the smallest tip for the micro iron is 0.4mm, but comes standard with a 2mm tip.
What would be the differences between a 2mm or any other similar tip size?
If I use a 0.8mm tip on my standard iron, can't I use it for SMD's or why would a Micro iron be better?

Provided that your current soldering iron sits comfortably in your hand and does not feel unwieldy, I don't see any benefit in buying the micro pencil. A 0.8mm tip in your current iron should be fine for soldering medium pitch SMDs pin by pin. And if you look for tutorial videos on SMD soldering, you will find that the common approach for fine pitch SMDs is to use a tip which is much wider than the individual contact pads, and a lot of flux. (Or using solder paste, a stencil, and a reflow oven, of course.)

If you should really have a need for very fine tips at some point, it seems that the EW series goes down to 0.4mm tip diameter as well (EW-511). I have never used such a fine tip, however.

I would suggest that you save your money for a hot air station. Not an urgent purchase, in my view, but helpful for unsoldering components, as well as for local reflow heating. You will find threads on this forum which discuss the merits of low-cost and more expensive models. The low-cost ones should be fine for hobby use.

[HecticZA]

Thank you for the feedback ebastler.



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