Another solder station question please...

[orbiter]

Just some advise please fellas..

I'm after a proper temp controlled soldering station again. I say again as I do have one already, but to be quite honest it's only a 35w cheapo unit and I've come unstuck with it a few times on boards with ground planes which are obviously beyond the capabilities of the iron.

I've been eyeing up the Pace ST50 on Farnells site (link below) which seems like a pretty decent unit and comes with the Pace TD100 iron. To be honest though this is more than I wanted to spend on an iron but I do realise that getting a decent one will be good in the long term, plus cheaping out again is not what I want to do this time. So basically have any of you guys used the Pace ST50, or if you know anything about them.. Are they any good and do they have a place in the higher end category regarding soldering equipment?

http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=1279326

Thanks for any input fellas

regards

John

[DaveW]

That is a very nice iron-if you do want to save some money have you looked at a Metcal PS-900?
http://uk.farnell.com/oki-metcal/ps-900/soldering-station-high-power-ps/dp/1560738?whydiditmatch=rel_1&matchedProduct=ps-900&Ntt=ps-900

There's a review on this site somewhere

[armandas]

I'm not going to answer your question, just want to offer a word of advice.

The PACE might be a decent unit (I have zero experience with soldering stations), but if you do your research, you could get a soldering station that is just as good or even better, for less.

I have just had a quick look on ebay and came across a Metcal STSS-002 which is on offer for £119. If you search the model name on this forum, you'll find some info about it from mikeselectricstuff.

Not saying that you should grab this unit straight away, just that you could get a good used soldering station for less than £200.

[amigo]

As you can see from another thread on the subject, I'm in similar search. I can't really dispense any advice as a I do not personally have experience with any of the brands (PACE, JBC, Metcal, Hakko) and how good they are.

People on the Web "say" that Industry uses Metcal and JBC quite a lot, but that's in production and most of us here do not have production requirements. One moment you'd be soldering through-hole or SMT components and the next 16AWG wire to a power switch, or any other imaginable combination. As I noted in my thread, US Military likes PACE from what I could gather, so that must be an indication of something (unless it's that Military expenditure one - buy the most expensive item). 

I just wonder how come you are looking at Farnell for they seem, at least to me, pretty expensive to buy from, compared to other sites? There must be other sites in UK that sell soldering stations, at better prices, and there's always the eBay as a resource, too.

[mikeselectricstuff]

I'm not going to answer your question, just want to offer a word of advice.

The PACE might be a decent unit (I have zero experience with soldering stations), but if you do your research, you could get a soldering station that is just as good or even better, for less.

I have just had a quick look on ebay and came across a Metcal STSS-002 which is on offer for £119. If you search the model name on this forum, you'll find some info about it from mikeselectricstuff.

Not saying that you should grab this unit straight away, just that you could get a good used soldering station for less than £200.

That's a pretty good deal, - there's also a guy pretty regularly selling STSS-002 PSUs
 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/METCAL-SOLDERING-STATION-MODEL-No-STSS-002-G-W-O-/230613219672?_trksid=p3286.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D8712912706413481723

[orbiter]

Thanks for the great input fellas

I did forgot to mention that I would want to buy brand new here. I know I could wait and possibly get a good ebay deal but to be honest I don't think I'd like to take my chances on anything over £100'ish on ebay, just in case I didn't get exactly what I wanted, or I was expecting. I'd rather spend the extra ££'s to at least know what I'm getting is fully functional & ready for use, plus I'd be happy to know that I'd got a warranty too with a reputable supplier which I guess/hope I'll have with Farnell. I know they are more expensive on certain things but they have always been spot on with me when things haven't gone quite to plan.

I will have a good sniff around though before I take the plunge & make a final decision on what to go for.

Thanks fellas

John  

[zaoka]

I have Pace with TD100, its not bad, however, I would get one with potentiometer instead of digital, its faster and easier to use.

You can get used JBC on ebay for around $150.

[alexwhittemore]

I'll throw my hat in the ring for Metcal, my experience with the station of theirs we have at work is phenomenal. I couldn't be more pleased. But then that's probably because we have a USD 500+ metcal. We also have a Saike 852d+, in the USD 110 range, that I have no complaints about and that includes a hot air gun. I'd recommend both, although I admit I usually use the Metcal.

At home, my station is a Weller WESD51, which can be had new for around USD 200 high end, so in the 120 pounds range. Amazon US actually has it for $130, so not even that much. I absolutely love it, and actually just bought one on behalf my main student group. The only point of caution that I'd make about the weller is that the finest tip pitch you can get for it is .4mm, which I find to be small enough to get by even for the finest work I've done (8/10MSOP packages, pin spacing .5mm), but you can get still finer tips for the others.