Searching Soldering Tweezers on the cheap (not 938D)

[Robertkopp]

I am looking for something that I can maybe even stick into my t12 station.
The 938D just sucks, it can barely provide enough power to get stuff off the board.

[Jwillis]

I've not used soldering tweezers. The 938D are rated for 120W which should be plenty of power . So I'm guessing that would be total power of both hot points or 60W each . Have you tested the temperature of the tips ? I have read that the temperature is a lot less than what is indicated .

[Doctorandus_P]

I have used soldering tweezers a long time ago and I hated it.
You have to hold those things in awkward positions to get to de-solder a part.
Tips are expensive and cumbersome to exchange and adjust.
They also do not work properly as tweezers, the tips are generally too rounded to grip anything, and you do not even want to grip anything as it keeps parts hot (and even hotter and for longer) than necessary.

As a generic rule electronic parts are rated for 1 cycle at soldering temperatures, and for 10s only, so if you want to re-use parts, anything that keeps the temperature and "hot time" of the parts down is a bonus.

I much prefer to just have two soldering irons, and hold one in each hand.
This gives you much more control over what you're doing. For example use one for one side of an SOT-23, and the other iron to toggle between the two pins on the other side, and at the moment the last joint melts you push it to the side where it cools again.

Having two soldering irons on your desk also has other advantages.
You can put different size tips in them, so you can swap instantly without warm-up times.

You can also set one to a higher temperature to burn through the isolation of lacquered wire, and use the other for actual soldering at a lower temperature. Tips last longer at lower temperatures, and the flux does not burn off so quickly which also makes soldering easier.

With two standard irons you also have a spare in case one of them breaks down.
And it's a good reason to experiment with some different brand of Iron. If you've got plenty of money, JBC makes good stuff. For a limited budget, the T12 clones are quite decent Irons for around EUR50, and you can use it for example by tapping off power of your bench top power supply to keep costs down further.

[Robertkopp]

Thanks for the tips. I did measure the temp with a k couple on my dmms after you told me.
The cheap chinese one and the peak tech show both 404℃ when set to 400 (roughly the temp to pick a part in 2-3 seconds with that thing). It might just lack the thermal mass.
I just want to grab smd passives that are close to plasic connectors and such off the board, I don't want to solder with that thing.
The thing with the round tips it totally correct, I just found one set with flat tips and that was out of my price range for now.

[perieanuo]

2 irons, you move the piece from at least one pad, that's it
small smd's needs 1 iron only, hotair is quick and the right choice
i used tweezers for smd (metcal ones, top tweezers) for about 5 min