New Iron for repair work

[kieronriding]

Hi, first post here so hopefully I'm doing it right

I'm an electrical engineer repairing VFDs and industry power supplies for a living.

The company I work for is well establish but unfortunately they are lacking in the tool department. For some reason they still have us using the old style 80w Weller irons with no temperature control. I guess this worked 40 years ago and they dont want to spend the money on an upgrade, there is 40 bench engineers now so they would have to spent a fair amount to upgrade us to something like jbc or metcal.

On that note, I'm after replacing my iron (out of my own pocket, £200ish budget) with something a little more modern and capable. We are always dealing with big ground points and desoldering IGBT packages.

I've been looking at the jbc stations and don't really want to take such a hit on my bank account. I've been looking at the unisolder but it's time consuming to build. I have also seen the jabe ud-1200 which is a jbc clone.

What are the best clones on the market that don't look to cheap and perform well. (customers sometimes come in so don't want something to ugly on the bench)

Something that is compatible with the jbc tweezers would be pretty handy aswell!

Cheers
Kieron 

[JohnnyG56]

I have the Jabe and love it.  I added 3 JBC tips to the collection.  The tips that come with it are OK for really small stuff, but most of what I do is bigger so the tiny tips did not work well.  I got the 4mm HT chisel and use it a good bit of the time, that tip is very well suited for working on my motorhome (I live in it full time.) 

The JBC tips are pricy and I can't answer how long they will last because I've only had the unit for a couple of months.  So far, the unit has worked flawlessly, its fast to heat up and comfortable to use.  The other day, I had to connect two 12 gauge wires together.  I was amazed at how quickly it heated up the joint.

I'm not sure if it would work with the tweezers.

BTW:  I have the power turned down to 80A.  I am not sure that is the right or best setting because the JBC model that the Jabe replicates is 130A.

John

[kieronriding]

Thanks for the reply, I have purchased the jabe and am waiting delivery. Looking forward to receiving it and will post a review when it shows up