Help me choose a rework station

[Adler]

I've decided to buy a hot air rework station because of how cheap they are these days. The options are a little overwhelming.

I figure Ill get one that includes a soldering iron because the one I have varies its temperature by changing the tip, no fun.

These are my two picks right now (also the 2 cheapest ebay 2-in-1 stations)

Yihua 8786D
Rated Output Power:750W
Feature: Temperature Digital Display
Rated Voltage:220V/110V
Weight:2.61KG
Air Volume:120L/min
Welding sets voltage: 26V  AC
Temperature range:  100?-480?
eBay auction: #330857088732

The King Lion LK 852D
Temperature regulation range: 100-480???
Weight: 3.7?kg?
Maximum power:  270
Temperature stability:  ±1? ?No Load?
Input Voltage?110?V?
Output Voltage: 24V
Consumption: 330W
Pump:  Diaphragm
Air Volume: ?24L/min
eBay auction: #200831756180

The biggest difference seems to be the source for the air. One has a diaphragm pump in the unit and the other has a squirrel cage fan in the hand unit. Having little to no experience with these I have no idea which is preferable. The 852D looks fancier though...

[TheEENerd]

Have you notice the ATTEN brand? That's the best brand in terms of quality among all those MADE IN CHINA knockoffs.

[nctnico]

I have an Atten 858D which works excellent.

[poorchava]

I have a Zhaoxin 850D and it's does what it's supposed to. My general comment would be no to buy the version which has ball-in-a-tube vacuum meter, because the ball catches resonance from time to time and it is extremely annoying. In fact the only way to use the station is to remove the ball from the tube, but that requires tearing apart the unit and voiding your warranty if you happened to purchase from a local retailer. This comes down to another issue: since this is chinese crap you want to buy that from local reseller, which - while it may add some cost - gives you some kind of warranty. In my case the ceramic support element was broken. If i bought it from ebay - good luck getting it replaced (and paying for shipping to china).

[Adler]

Have you notice the ATTEN brand? That's the best brand in terms of quality among all those MADE IN CHINA knockoffs.

Most of what atten produces is for the 220v market. I think w.e.p is the same manufacturer for 110v and I haven't found a 2-in-1 product from them.

I have an Atten 858D which works excellent.

Yeah, I've heard great reviews of the 858 but it's not a 2-in-1 station. I was hoping to get an iron at the same time.

I have a Zhaoxin 850D and it's does what it's supposed to. My general comment would be no to buy the version which has ball-in-a-tube vacuum meter, because the ball catches resonance from time to time and it is extremely annoying. In fact the only way to use the station is to remove the ball from the tube, but that requires tearing apart the unit and voiding your warranty if you happened to purchase from a local retailer. This comes down to another issue: since this is chinese crap you want to buy that from local reseller, which - while it may add some cost - gives you some kind of warranty. In my case the ceramic support element was broken. If i bought it from ebay - good luck getting it replaced (and paying for shipping to china).

Neither of the units I posted have a ball in tube meter but I will avoid those on your suggestion.

I wouldn't know where to look to get a unit locally in Ontario.

[TheEENerd]

If 110V iversion is what you after, check Tenma on Element14, it's ATTEN rebage.

[sanka]

I have an Atten 858D which works excellent.

Yeah, I've heard great reviews of the 858 but it's not a 2-in-1 station. I was hoping to get an iron at the same time.

Is this what you are looking for?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2in1-SMD-Soldering-Iron-Hot-Air-Rework-Station-w-Tips-Nozzle-Stand-Holder-898D-/370657978696?
http://www.amazon.com/Kendal-Smart-Rework-Soldering-Station/dp/B005TI0V20

[T4P]

Ah ... the "kendals" are 110v yihuas 
8786s are 2in1 (This is Atten's label for their own design, it's actually different inside) and the 898Ds from yihua
There are only two manufacturers and yihua is rubbish
The X-Tronics from amazon would be a better bet as they are better built than the yihuas i see all the time

[Adler]

I managed to score a Hakko unit for cheap. I made a separate thread for it here.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/hakko-850-hot-air-rework-station/

[sanka]

[...]
There are only two manufacturers and yihua is rubbish
The X-Tronics from amazon would be a better bet as they are better built than the yihuas i see all the time

X-Tronics units are made by Yihua!

[T4P]

I know that well, they work nicely in the US until you bring it to texas.
The yihuas are designed to run near the edge at 20C so if you live in tropical weather like i do the triac is fried from overheating in a month (And i barely used it!)

[sanka]

I know that well, they work nicely in the US until you bring it to texas.
The yihuas are designed to run near the edge at 20C so if you live in tropical weather like i do the triac is fried from overheating in a month (And i barely used it!)

Hi T4P,
I played with a new Xtronic model http://www.amazon.com/X-TRONIC-8060-XTS-DIGITAL-SOLDERING-TECHNOLOGY/dp/B00AEAL9XI for a couple of hours over the weekend. It is too early to declare it a winner, but the internals look well made from what I have seen so far, in terms of wiring, soldering, grounding, fuse, switch, etc. which appear to be a hit or miss with the Chinese hot air stations. This one has a cooling fan in the chassis.

I have never used a Yihua / Atten hot air station before. I am curious to know if the Yihua unit you had trouble with had fan in the chassis. Did it?

Thanks

[T4P]

Your LCD version definitely needs a fan 
The 858D (The simple one!) the one i bought in china didn't have a fan they just assumed they didn't need (Reason? Heater was on the very low side of resistance only 70ohms) and i was in a 240V country i knew that well
what does 70 ohms do to 240V? you get over 3W of dissipation in a TINY near finless heatsink (Not cut sheet steel but a actual anodized heatsink)
But guess what? These bottom-dollar stations are rapidly improving, i bought my new atten simply because i lost my trust in yihua and their inability to understand i blew the triac
I was expecting a miswire but i found none and surprisingly the only fault is somewhat a big fail ... broken reed switch but i snatched the yihua handle (IMO feels much better but the air gaps are a bit obstructed) and just used it
nothing is wrong, fuse and switch all on the live (ODD EH?!)

[sanka]

[...]
I was expecting a miswire but i found none and surprisingly the only fault is somewhat a big fail ... broken reed switch but i snatched the yihua handle (IMO feels much better but the air gaps are a bit obstructed) and just used it
nothing is wrong, fuse and switch all on the live (ODD EH?!)

I had an interesting experience with this xtronic one. I got it out of the packaging and opened up the chassis to see how things looked before I even plugged it in. Then I plugged it in with the chassis open and found that the fuse was on the Neutral, which in some ways I was expecting :-) But then I noticed that the internal labels on the switch / fuse housing showed that they indeed meant to fuse the line side, not neutral side. I thought perhaps they just made the housing with line and neutral in reverse orientation. So I went ahead and made my own power cord with reversed line and neutral, just to use it with this unit.

I plug in the cord and find out that the behavior was exactly the same as before. The fuse was still on the neutral side. Then it occurred to me that the problem must be the power cord! And yes it was. They actually supplied a wrongly made power cord with line and neutral reversed! I used a regular power cord and everything was fine.

So the unit's internals are fine, but the power cord they supplied was wrong. I have informed the xtronic folks and they are checking to see if the problem is universal with all their power cords!

Interesting! I didn't suspect the power cord until the end because I was so convinced that the internals were wrong. But it turned out otherwise. Oh well...

[tianz]

Well, If you need reliable cheap hot air rework station. I recommend Quick 857D or similar model, like http://www.madelltech.com/M3-20.html
IMHO, it has much better quality than those 858 variant. I own both of them, and I used them regularly everyday.

The 858 variant have slow heating time, the handle gets hot  fast, and the air does not spread evenly, even the handle produce noticeable vibration.

Used it only a few hour, and put it back to box. bought another 857.

Regards,
Chris

[T4P]

  The madell is a rebadged version BTW sure it does have better quality and it better have being 4.5X more expensive than what i paid for my AT858D (20$)
I think what happened is that you bought one with a higher resistance (I.E 110V model with 220V resistive elements) so then you have 1/4 the power of what it should have (I=V/R law of course)
My two 858Ds (1 died last year, yihua's fault really)
heat up instantly and the handle doesn't get hot after 2 hours
Are you sure you got a right one?
Or you are just trolling.

[tianz]

Actually my rebadged 857d comes with Quick brand, and it cost slightly cheaper than Atten 858d ( it cost about $70 in my country ) and no I got the 220v version.
As the matter of heating up time, I can say that 857D heats up a lot faster than 858. You can see in Madell 857d user manual, the 857d used smaller element.

The 858d I've used also comes with Quick brand, internal part also look similar with Atten 858d that Dave reviewed before.

857d element : http://www.madelltech.com/Reworkstationparts.html (look for qk857d element).

The reason I said that the 858d gets hot, if you take apart the nozzle you will see that the 858d only use mica paper to suppress the heat from the heating element. and the 857d uses mica paper and glass tube to suppress the heat.

I am not saying that the 858D is a bad choice, but I have found better option than 858D. And I just want to share my opinion.
The 857D does have one draw back, the air just blow too much even at minimum setting.

For now, I just use my 858D for some light reworking, or when working with plastic component. And the 857D for the heavy lifting, removing glued BGA, remove metal shielding etc.

Sorry for my english, have to work on that.

Regards,

Chris

[T4P]

I don't see why i have a problem. 3 sec warmup time on my 858D.
Use what you think is best for you
When time comes the pump on your 857d fails good luck with a cheap replacement, in a 858D you only have to change the squirrel cage 5015 brushless fan (12V or 24V)

[nctnico]

The low prices for these hot-air stations make them not very economic to repair. I'm thinking about getting a second 858D just in case the one I already have breaks down.

After a while the end of the handle gets warm indeed but that is easely overcome by not holding it close to the end but somewhere in the middle which also gives a better balance.

[richcj10]

I would recommend the Aoyue 852A. I think it works well. Not as well as a JBC but I like the price point!

[mrflibble]

I would recommend the Aoyue 852A. I think it works well. Not as well as a JBC but I like the price point!

Another recommendation for the Aoyue. I got the 968 because the incremental cost for the added soldering iron made sense in my case. So far I like everything about it except one thing ... the pump noise. But such is life at this price point. I have some extra isolation between it and the bench to 1) prevent stuff vibrating off the bench and 2) prevent going insane (too late!    ).