Soldering station for a Newbie

[kuemmel]

Hi,

About me: I'm 20 years old and I am a Sysadmin from Germany. Now i would like to learn something about electronics. For that i would like to buy a soldering station for first time. Now I need a purchase recommendation from you guys! 

In German forums you can read often brands like Weller and Ersa, because most would say "it's good german quality". According to my experience, there is no more the good old quality some people know from us. That is why I like to become some recommendations from the U. S. and other countrys of the world.

If anyone would ask me, which country has the best quality in products, I would say its the USA. For example see Cisco, Apple, Google and so on..

I read some soldering station recommendations from this forum and most people mention Hakko. In Germany it's not very well known.
I found this station from a German Reseller:
https://tbk-onlineshop.de/produkt/hakko-fx-888d-16-by/

Is it a good station to learn soldering for beginners? What do you mean? Important is my durability and many spare parts, also in the future.

regards,
kuemmel

[lacek]

I bought Xytronic LF1600 being exactly in your position (I was was student of a related field, that has never ever soldered anything in life and wanted to play with electronics). I bought that new for approximately 60 euro.
This is a "good enough brand" - you can buy iron tips, it should not get broken, nor damage the user.

In German forums you can read often brands like Weller and Ersa, because most would say "it's good german quality". According to my experience, there is no more the good old quality some people know from us. That is why I like to become some recommendations from the U. S. and other countrys of the world.

Germany has lots of quality brands. Try Rhode & Schwartz.

If anyone would ask me, which country has the best quality in products, I would say its the USA. For example see Cisco, Apple, Google and so on..

Company is just company. Origin does not matter that much. The quality is myth:  some people find these products well suited to their needs other not. And there are many factor by which to judge quality:  manufacturing, consumer support, software, ergonomics...

[TheUnnamedNewbie]

There deffinetly still is good quality form germany. Rohde and Schwarz produce some of the most high-end test equipement out there.

Weller Irons are deffinatly still built like tanks. They are the defacto around my university. We prefer that the young students play with wellers because they are just impossible to break (Apart from the tips, ofcourse).

I've heard a lot of people say Hakko is a good start, but I have never used one myself so I can't vouch for it. I think Weller or Ersa stations are more expensive.

Also: If you let country decide where you buy, you are going to miss out. Every country has amazing brands. Every country also produces absolute garbage. I'll take a Rigol (China) over a low-end american USB scope any day of the week.

[kuemmel]

Also: If you let country decide where you buy, you are going to miss out. Every country has amazing brands. Every country also produces absolute garbage. I'll take a Rigol (China) over a low-end american USB scope any day of the week.

Please don't misunderstand - I also think every country has it good products, but the "good old german quality (all products made in Germany are good) doesn't exist anymore! 

[lacek]

Did it ever exist? There might have been "waves" of technical thoughts, but "All products from country X are Y" is too strong to be true no matter what X and Y are and how rigurous we are about "all".

[kuemmel]

I don't know. I think I'm too young 

Can anyone say me if the 888D is a good soldering station for me (a beginner)?

[P90]

I don't know. I think I'm too young 

Can anyone say me if the 888D is a good soldering station for me (a beginner)?

It's not bad, just make sure you get it from authorized seller, because there are lots of fake 888Ds, especially on ebay.
I would go for the ersa icon pico.

[julian1]

I don't know. I think I'm too young 

Can anyone say me if the 888D is a good soldering station for me (a beginner)?

Yes. It even comes recommended by Dave,

https://youtu.be/J5Sb21qbpEQ?t=2m10s

[daybyter]

You have a local electronics store? It might have Weller then, but no hakko, I guess?
I like my 30+ yrs old Weller, but have to admit that I can do most soldering with my Hobbyking station, too.

[kuemmel]

Right. No Hakko, only Weller and ERSA.

I like my 30+ yrs old Weller, but have to admit that I can do most soldering with my Hobbyking station, too.

Do you mean the following station?:
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/soldering-station-with-adjustable-heat-range-with-eu-plug.html?___store=en_us

Are you satisfied?

[Electro Fan]

These three seem to be among the most popular:

https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-FX888D-23BY-Digital-Soldering-FX-888D/dp/B00ANZRT4M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496502744&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=FX-888D&psc=1&smid=A3NVMPN3PV14R5

https://www.amazon.com/Weller-WES51-Analog-Soldering-Station/dp/B000BRC2XU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496502814&sr=8-1&keywords=weller+51

https://www.amazon.com/Weller-WESD51-Digital-Soldering-Station/dp/B000ARU9PO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1496502814&sr=8-2&keywords=weller+51

Don't know if you have Amazon shopping/delivery access but one of the benefits of Amazon is the opportunity to read lots of reviews which will give you perspectives from lots of users - some experienced, some not so much.  Once you figure out what is most important for your requirements you can home-in further with questions here on the forum.

I've been using a WESD51 and it works fine but my guess is that the Hakko FX-888D is a worthy competitor to Weller because it offers a digital readout at price that is closer to Weller's "analog" station than Weller's digital readout station.   If you have a Digital Multi Meter that reads sufficiently high temperatures you could check your soldering iron's temperature but it's a little easier to use a built-in readout on the soldering station.  (I've checked my WESD51 with a DMM temperature probe and Weller's readout appears accurate; my guess is that the Hakko is accurate also.)  As for which one really enables you to solder better I think you will find some users who went from Weller to Hakko and some who went from Hakko to Weller; such reviews often say one was better than the other but it's harder to find compelling reasons why one or the other was better.  One consideration might be the price and availability of tips in your area if you think you will need more of those, but overall I don't think that's likely to be a big deal either. 

You probably can't go too far wrong with any of these three models.  I could be wrong but among these three models I think most people are choosing based on whether they want a digital readout or not, appearance (product color and packaging), and budget.  I think the end result soldering experience is probably going to be more similar than different among the three.

[NMNeil]

I have a Hakko FX 888D and love it. Before that I was looking at Weller and found that Weller only now exists in name only, it was taken over by APEX and Weller soldering tools are now made in China. Built to a price not a standard like so many things these days.

[stj]

i would recommend anything that uses T12 Hakko tips.
that could range from 20Euro to hundreds.

i noticed you didnt say what your looking to spend.

[NottheDan]

In German forums you can read often brands like Weller and Ersa, because most would say "it's good german quality". According to my experience, there is no more the good old quality some people know from us. That is why I like to become some recommendations from the U. S. and other countrys of the world.

Isn't Weller a US brand anyway?

[ed_reardon]

I believe Weller are Japanese.

My go-to iron in a Weller that's older than I am but I have an identical one from 2016 on the bench that in doesn't seem to be very different at all.

[stj]

weller *was* owned by Cooper tools.
but i think they got taken over.

[daybyter]

Right. No Hakko, only Weller and ERSA.

I like my 30+ yrs old Weller, but have to admit that I can do most soldering with my Hobbyking station, too.

Do you mean the following station?:
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/soldering-station-with-adjustable-heat-range-with-eu-plug.html?___store=en_us

Are you satisfied?

Yeah...the cheapest soldering station according to Dave...   



I originally bought it as a backup for my weller wecp 20, that was falling apart a bit. The tip, that comes with the station is more or less useless (way too small for most of my solder joints). But I just ordered me a set of 10 tips from ebay.com (5$) .

Then it was good enough to repair my weller (had to replace the handle). 

I think it might be a _bit_ less powerful (maybe 10% less heat than the weller), so it might reach it's limits with bigger ground planes, or so. But my 50W weller also has it's limits there. Today, I might look for a 80 or 100W station. I have to solder 6mm gold connectors to batteries, and the weller just takes a while then.

There a some videos with tuning hints for the yihua (graphite etc), but I just turned the heat a bit up and it was ok.

Edit: if you order the station from the EU warehouse, it costs a bit more:

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/soldering-station-with-adjustable-heat-range-with-eu-plug.html?___store=en_us

[Kbird]

Hi,

About me: I'm 20 years old and I am a Sysadmin from Germany. Now i would like to learn something about electronics. For that i would like to buy a soldering station for first time. Now I need a purchase recommendation from you guys! 

In German forums you can read often brands like Weller and Ersa, because most would say "it's good german quality". According to my experience, there is no more the good old quality some people know from us. That is why I like to become some recommendations from the U. S. and other countrys of the world.

If anyone would ask me, which country has the best quality in products, I would say its the USA. For example see Cisco, Apple, Google and so on..

I read some soldering station recommendations from this forum and most people mention Hakko. In Germany it's not very well known.
I found this station from a German Reseller:
https://tbk-onlineshop.de/produkt/hakko-fx-888d-16-by/

Is it a good station to learn soldering for beginners? What do you mean? Important is my durability and many spare parts, also in the future.

regards,
kuemmel

I had a cheapo hand iron for years to repair other tools etc if needed but wanted to play with electronics and Arduino etc  , so I got that exact Hakko at Xmas and I like it.  I did look at some cheap stations like the one above 1st but I didn't think the quality was there.  However the place selling the Cheap Station locally also carries the Tips for the Hakko 936 ( no longer made) but the Tips (900 series?)  also fit the FX888D and are 1/2 the price ( at least) of the T-18 Tips Hakko sells for the FX888D locally. As with the FX888D Unit itself there are tonnes of Cheap Fake Tips online , that wont last so beware of those.

 I did however buy a fake FG-100 tip tester ($16 vs $150+) and it seems to work well enough , and is good enough when changing tips to adjust the tip temps... with 67/37 solder I am finding 285°C -300C° works well

KB.

[P90]

Hi,

About me: I'm 20 years old and I am a Sysadmin from Germany. Now i would like to learn something about electronics. For that i would like to buy a soldering station for first time. Now I need a purchase recommendation from you guys! 

In German forums you can read often brands like Weller and Ersa, because most would say "it's good german quality". According to my experience, there is no more the good old quality some people know from us. That is why I like to become some recommendations from the U. S. and other countrys of the world.

If anyone would ask me, which country has the best quality in products, I would say its the USA. For example see Cisco, Apple, Google and so on..

I read some soldering station recommendations from this forum and most people mention Hakko. In Germany it's not very well known.
I found this station from a German Reseller:
https://tbk-onlineshop.de/produkt/hakko-fx-888d-16-by/

Is it a good station to learn soldering for beginners? What do you mean? Important is my durability and many spare parts, also in the future.

regards,
kuemmel

I had a cheapo hand iron for years to repair other tools etc if needed but wanted to play with electronics and Arduino etc  , so I got that exact Hakko at Xmas and I like it.  I did look at some cheap station like the one above 1st but I didn't think the quality was there.  However the place selling the CheapStation locally alos carries the Tips for the Hakko 936 ( no longer made) but the Tips (900 series?)  also fit the FX888D and are 1/2 the price ( at least) of the T-18 Tips Hakko sells for the FX888D locally. As with the FX888D Unit itself there are tonnes of Cheap Fake Tips online , that wont last so beware of those.

 I did however by a fake FG-100 tip tester ($16 vs $150+) and it seems to work well enough , and is good enough when changing tips to adjust the tip temps... with 67/37 solder I am finding 285°C -300C° works well

KB.

I find that with those knock-off Hakko 900 series tips it's hit and miss. Some last and some simply don't, since there is so much inconsistency among them. I've got some that are all iron, and some that are proper iron plated copper. In other words, there are good and shit knock-offs. I've got a couple of those knock-off temperature testers, 191 and fg-100, and they seem to work fine, then again, there's not much to them, basically a k-type thermocouple circiut... no way they're worth what Hakko charges for them. Anyway, for hobby use, you don't need temperature checking, just go by feel...

[NottheDan]

weller *was* owned by Cooper tools.
but i think they got taken over.

From what I gathered Weller was its own (US) company until it was sold to Cooper Tools in 1970. Then it came under the aegis of Apex Tool Group in 2010 When Cooper and Danaher merged their tools divisions. That then was sold off to Bain Capital in 2012, just before the rest of Cooper was taken over by Eaton Corporation. (all US companies, info gathered from Wikipedia)

[tooki]

I believe Weller are Japanese.

Japanese? I've heard confusion about Weller (mostly with people thinking it's German, since they manufacture a lot of soldering stations there), but never heard this claim before.

But they're definitely American, though as the post above explains, the company has changed hands many times.

[kuemmel]

Thank you for all your answers. I have now read many reviews about some soldering stations and now I will save money for a few more months and buy a JBC soldering station.

[Electro Fan]

Thank you for all your answers. I have now read many reviews about some soldering stations and now I will save money for a few more months and buy a JBC soldering station.

You must be doing some important soldering, or have a very good budget. For the price of a JBC you might be able to get Hakko or a Weller plus an oscilloscope

[kuemmel]

320€ in Germany


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[stj]

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