If I need a soldering station for home use with tweezers, what are my options today?
I have a little bit of experience with Metcal MX500 (STTC cartridges) and OKI (now Metcal too) MFR 1100 station (SFP cartridges).
I used MFR tweezers too.
High-frequency stations have a lot of power and I probably never had an issue with [imprecise and limited] temperature.
But for home use I probably want a more flexible solution with adjustable temperature. And buying cartridges for different temperatures quickly add up to the price.
Summing up my experience with this forum I see 4 options:
1) Metcal MX
2) Metcal MFR
3) JBC
4) Pace ADS200
1) Older MX series stations are very cheap on ebay. Also ebay probably has the widest selection of used MX cartridges including the exotic ones. It might not last for long, but right now there are a lot of them.
But used MX tweezers are rare. New tweezers+stand are about $400.
New STTC cartridges are about $30, new tweezers cartridges are about $60-70 (like 2x STTC).
On the negative side the unit is bulky, each cartridge has fixed temperature.
My guess would be the initial cost to be about $200 (station) + $400 (tweezers) + (soldering iron + cartridges ~$300) = $900.
Heating power is 40W (?).
2) Older Metcal MFR series often appear on ebay too, but less common than MX. MFR tweezers seem to come to ebay more often than MX but still rare.
New cartridges and tweezers/handpieces cost the same as MX.
Unit is smaller than the MX series.
Initial cost maybe $800.
Heating power is 60W (?).
3) JBC sounds like the most expensive option, but surprisingly JBC tweezers are pretty common on ebay.
What I don't understand is which 1-tool soldering station supports tweezers. I.e. will CP series station work with some regular soldering iron handpiece? Will CD station work with PA120 tweezers?
Tweezer cartridges are about $50, which is even less than the Metcal ones.
New CP station (set) is about $800. If it supports soldering irons, then maybe additional $200 - $300 for the (used?) iron and cartridges. ~$1100 total.
Heating power is 80W (?)
4) Pace ADS200 is brand new, does not appear on ebay.
$450 for initial 3-tip set + tweezers set for $525 (!). Total is $1000.
Tweezer tips are $65 (more than JBC!)
Heating power 120W (?)
Given that it has no used parts on ebay, exotic tips are very expensive and seems to have a long (half a year) lead time.
This way Pace is an exotic option itself. But new and attractive.
This way I don't see anything significantly cheaper than $1000.
JBC surprisingly sounds like a nice option with respect to a set of used cartridges on ebay.
Am I right with my calculations? Are there other options that I missed? Are there any JBC clones capable of driving tweezers?
Home
Help
Search
Login
Register
