Rework stations 2 in 1, help me choose.

[Orfeous]

I'ts time to upgrade and move forward with some new soldering gear.
I had my soldering station for about 20 years. Nothing wrong with it but im in need for a hot air station for surface mounted components.
I know you can solder with a soldering gun on surface mounted components but. Its nice to have a hot air gun station.
Soo..

I went online and kept searching on different sites.
Im no soldering expert or anything but im not a beginner. I have been soldering at one of my previous jobs. Industry.
Never with hot air and SMD. Only at school for thousand years ago.

So i thought that one of those china made copys might suite me well for my needs and my skills.
So 4 models that i found are this ones.

• YIHUA 8786D I Upgrade Rework Station Digital Display Iron SMD Heat Hot Air Soldering Station Welding - 220V EU Plug
• YIHUA 952D+ 2 in 1 Rework Solder Station Hot Air Gun Soldering Desoldering Iron - 220V EU Plug
• YIHUA 899D II 2 in 1 Rework Station 720W Soldering Station SMD Hot Air 60W Soldering Iron BGA Welding Tool Upgrade
• YIHUA 992DA+ 4 in 1 LCD Digital Hot Air Heater Soldering Station + Vacuum Pen + Smoking Electric Soldering Iron BGA Rework Station
• Saike 952D 2 in 1 220V Soldering Station 700W Hot Air Soldering Station Soldering Iron SMD Rework for Welding

Or if there are any other brand that you could recommend me in the same price range of course.

They all fit my kind of budget.

So please help me choose.

[tooki]

Especially with the cheap Chinese stuff I’d avoid the n-in-1 devices. The 858D hot air tools work great and are well worth the €50 you can get them for. The integrated soldering irons are much less compelling.

In general I like having them separate so that they can also be powered up and down separately. Some multifunction stations let you do that, some don’t.

[Orfeous]

I hear you and i agree! Nice to have separate stations with different brands if you so like.
So might go for the good old 858D+ rework station and just search for a good soldering station.
I have been lookin on the one i have soldering with on one of my old work places. Pace ST50.
I really liked that one. Easy to change tips, gets fast up to temperatures. Industry rated though.
The cable isnt super thinn and soft. Thats the downside.

[GreyWoolfe]

If your soldering iron does he job in good order, why replace it?  Unless of course you just want new toys .  I would also look at the Quick 957DW, much better quality though you will have to justify the price difference yourself.  I had a Yihua 858D and like the Quick much more.

[Acecool]

I have a Zeny 853D which uses the 900M tips... it has the 1 ceramic heater in the iron, and the tips slide over it, then get a sleeve put over and a nut goes over that and holds it in place.
It also has the heat gun, which originally was permanently attached ( but the motherboard has 3 connectors plus a grounding wire on a screw ) and I used a GX16-8 connector and filed the opening larger to get it to fit. Being able to remove the hot air gun was a massive life saver.
It also has a power supply which lets you generate 0.0 to 15.xV and has a multimeter which checks DC - not sure on mins / maxs.

I do not recommend getting this station anymore.


The tips take a while to heat up, the heat loss is massive and it takes a long time to recover. I paid $70 USD I think for the station a long time ago and it was a hell of a buy. I did so many projects with it.


Now, I would recommend the KSGER T12 soldering station from Aliexpress or Banggood ( banggood sometimes has better prices for same thing ). I would recommend getting the Hakko style blue thick plastic iron... I got the black plastic with blue silicone and the front end gets to about 50C,, The thick blue one shouldn't have that problem.


The KSGER also has a heat gun station...

You may want to do some mods - but for about $100 USD you will have a heat gun, and a T12 / T15 tip soldering station which heats up and is ready to use in about 10 seconds.
You can also go on the Hakko USA website and get the 2.4D tips which are on clearance / sale for $4.70. They are incredibly accurate in terms of actual temperature so no calibration was needed for me ( I used the FG-100 to verify temps ). I would recommend spending also the $8 on the silicone pad to remove hot tips to swap them out, and maybe get a few other FM-2027 tips on the Hakko website - they are on sale / clearance.

I ended up getting 8 of the 2.4D ( D24 KSGER equivalent ) tips and a bunch of others on Hakko because of higher quality materials....

[Shock]

What soldering handpiece were you using on the Pace ST50? The PS90 which is the traditional large iron that uses a setscrew to fasten tips or the TD100, the one that takes the long cartridges?

The Pace ST50 is approximately a 90W station. The evolution of the handpieces went PS90 (Sensatemp and Intelliheat series), TD100 (Intelliheat series) and now TD200 which is a slimline aluminum handpiece (Accudrive series). The Pace ADS200 (120W) with TD200 costs about $277 for Eevblog members at the moment. If you have an old Pace Intelliheat station alternatively you can now buy the TD100A aluminum handpiece separately.

Anyway, your experience going to a Chinese 60/70W soldering station after the Pace ST50 might be a little disappointing. As mentioned don't get an all in one unless it's a quality brand, it just means you will have two overpriced cheap tools and you will eventually regret it.

Better to get separate 858D type hot air or if you need better performance aim for a Quick. But keep in mind they are both made of Chinesium (especially the 858D) and may have QC and safety issues.

[Orfeous]

Thank you thank you thank you for all your suggestions!
My soldering station for today is a Velleman VTSS30. Bought it yeeeeaaars ago. 2003 if i remember correctly.
It has been replaced by Velleman VTSSC78.
I mean it works and shouldnt need to be replaced. But as someone stated its fun with new toys.
I do not solder often. So thats why i dont want to spend x amount of money on a unit that barely going to be used.
Just for repairs for myself and for some friends. Done some LCD computer monitors, LCD TVs, Subwoofer Amp.. and such.. mostly replacing bad caps.

But now i want to be able to replace/repair HDMI-connectors/ports. One has failed on my Onkyo reciever. Because of my heavy HDMI cable the port is a bitt abused with load and glitching. Dont know
what happened.. have not open it and checked. I guess any pin or similiar has gone loose. Just gessing.

No advanced everyday usage.
Both a soldering iron/station and a hot air gun station can be handy in those situations. Good to have.

Specific requirements are: EU plug and 230V

Trying to build/setup a small electronic lab. Rigol oscilloscope, Fluke 179 multimeter, rework and soldering stations.

[tooki]

That's the TD100 handpiece. If you are used to that, you'll hate using a cheap station. A T12 clone should do alright, though, as it's also cartridge-style.

Are you the kind of person who likes to buy a good tool for life right from the start, or to buy cheap and upgrade/replace as needed? If you're the first, just buy an ADS200 and call it a day. If you're the second, then get a T12 clone station.

[Shock]

I suspect you got that station from work as they aren't cheap.

Really anything Chinese you will probably won't like, nowhere near the same robustness.

The new version of that station is the Pace ADS200 with TD200 aluminum handpiece.
https://paceworldwide.com/ads200-soldering-station-td-200-tip-heater-cartridge-iron

Or if you are sick of that old handpiece you can upgrade it with a new TD100A aluminum handpiece and stand, the new handpiece is cooler to hold no performance difference but all your old tips will work with the TD100A.
https://paceworldwide.com/td-100a-ergonomic-soldering-iron-tool-stand

Just to make things complicated, your Pace ST-50 should have an instant setback port in the rear of the station. If you upgrade and want this feature ensure you get the ISB instant setback version of the stand. It allows the stand to detect when the handpiece is removed or in the stand to control the wake and sleep functionality.

Pace are planning to bring out their MBT 450 Multi-Channel Soldering & Rework System this year which includes the upgraded TD200 (120W) iron and MT200 (120W) tweezers and also perhaps a SX200? vacuum desoldering handpiece. It won't be cheap though.

For hot air get an Atten 858D+ or a Quick 861DW depending on your budget and your amount/scale of smd work. They are fine for simple removals but if you need reflow profiles and integrated preheating you will have to look more upmarket.

[tooki]

I suspect you got that station from work as they aren't cheap.

He doesn't have the ST50. I understood it as being a model he used, and liked, at a former workplace.

His current one is some rebadged no-name something:

Thank you thank you thank you for all your suggestions!
My soldering station for today is a Velleman VTSS30. Bought it yeeeeaaars ago. 2003 if i remember correctly.
It has been replaced by Velleman VTSSC78.

FYI, according to Pace on the other thread, the TD100 is 60W.

[blueskull]

Stay away from anything 858-like. The giant handles are very not ergonomic and they will affect your concentration and precision. If you only do one offs, sure. If you solder a lot, get a real hot air station with the pump inside of the base unit. 957DW+ is a good choice for sub $100.

As for an iron, your best cheap bet is a T12 clone or JBC clone with genuine cartridges. A TS80P is also a good option despite being marketed as a portable iron -- it is powerful enough for most cases. I use a TS80 (non-P version with 3rd party Ralim firmware) as my main station, and I do high power electronics for a living.

I would say go for a TS80P to begin with, and when needed, get a JBC Nano controller clone with genuine JBC C115 cartridges for fine touches. I have a genuine old version (C105) JBC Nano, and I'd say while I don't use it all the time, when needed, it is there to save the day (like touch up of an SOT883).

[Orfeous]

I suspect you got that station from work as they aren't cheap.

He doesn't have the ST50. I understood it as being a model he used, and liked, at a former workplace.

His current one is some rebadged no-name something:

Thank you thank you thank you for all your suggestions!
My soldering station for today is a Velleman VTSS30. Bought it yeeeeaaars ago. 2003 if i remember correctly.
It has been replaced by Velleman VTSSC78.

FYI, according to Pace on the other thread, the TD100 is 60W.

Yeah, you understood me correctly. We had those at my workplace. I only have that Velleman that i mentioned.
Looks like Pace ADS200 will be a really good soldering station for me then. Good quality and a reasonable price here in Sweden. About 350 euro. With no tips though.
And for hot air station Quick 957DW/Quick 957DW+ (what is the difference?)

Rework station does not need to be very fancy because it want be used much. Maybe to learn on. We did SMD soldering at school when i was young but i forgot everything
I have no projects right now that can be good to have a rework station i think. The HDMI-port is the only project/component that i need to fix and that might be fixable with the Pace station and a small tip.

Maybe some kind of microscope/magnifying glass too. Maybe it isnt required? Some flux and some sweeps with the hot air.. might do it?

Sorry if i use wrong terminolgy.. hot air... rework.. etc.