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which is the best soldering & desoldering stations?

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best soldering iron

Metcal was the front runner for many years. Because of this there are many used older models for low prices on the auction web sites.
 

best solder station

I use weller soldering station for many years without any problem...it´s a good tool!
 

best soldering stations

For hand work nothing is better than a Super Soldapullt. It's a spring driven vaccum hand tool anout 12-20$ US
Keep it clean & lubed
 

best desoldering station

mbyka said:
hi all
Which is the best soldering&desoldering iron stations systems

Antex www.antex.co.uk
JBC www.jbctools.com
Ersa www.ersa.com
and Weller www.cooperhandtools.com/brands/weller/index.cfm

I want to buy antex products
Click to expand...
I would say that none of the above is the best.
I think Metcal is the best you can get.
I have a lot of experince with both Weller and Metcal and I must say that Metcal is much better than Weller.
Once we only used Weller in the service department of a big company I used to work for, but then we tried one Mectal MX-500TS Soldering/SMT Rework System with Talon Handpiece and now we have replaced all Weller stations replaced all Weller stations with Metcal MX-500.
One of best thing about Metcal is that is so easy to change the tip, you don't have to unscrew anything.
Another greart feature is that is warm almost the same second as you turn it on, there is also no problem if you have to heat up a very big solder joint.
But the thing I like most about Metcal is that you hold it like a pencil.
I was used to Weller, so it was a little stange at the beginning, but when you first get used to it, it is much better than the traditional solder grip with a long soldertip.
Nothing really compares to Metcal in my opinion.
Our company have saved a lot of time and $$ on bronken PCB's pads after moving from Weller to Metcal. We replace a lot of PLLC SMD packages in after sales serviceing and and the number of broken PCB pads went down after changin to Metcal, so the price differerence between Weller and Metcal didn't really matter in the long run.
Link: http://www.metcal.com

But Metcal is also quite expensive compared to Weller or at leat it used to be when I worked there, I don't know the prices now.

There is also another interesting company not mentioned yet: PACE
**broken link removed**
I haven't tried PACE personally (only looked at it), but another person from my former company tried it and he preferred Metcal, I haven't met anyone who didn't thought Metcal was the best.
It looks like PACE have copided many of the Metcal ideas at the PACE HW 100 and HW 200 HeatWise solder stations.

I don't like Antex at all, I my opinion it is only good for hobby use and not for complicated SMD soldering. The only advantage: it's cheap. I think Antex is the worst of the ones mentioned.

In my opinin Weller is also a good solder iron, but it looks like both PACE, JBC and Ersa have improved the last years.
Antex is still the poor old "hobby" design.

If you want the best go for Metcal, if you wan't a cheaper alternative you should look into alternatives from Weller, PACE, JBC and Ersa. It would be best totry the different brand before you choose.
If you are in a big company, the distributors will come out and demonstrate them for free.
Otherwise go a electronics trade show to try them or try them at your local reseller if you can.

I only have a lot of experince with Metcal, Weller an Antex.
Here is my experinces with the three brands:

Weller:
In my experince the Weller soldertips are very good, long lasting and fairly priced. You can buy 3rd party soldertips for weller, that are much cheaper than the original ones, but they don't last quite as long as the original Weller tips. In my old company we used the 3rd party tips and was satisfied with them and we saved some $$ at the same time.
Weller is a respected brand and probably the most sold quality solder iron in the world (at least it is in my part of the world).

Metcal:
Metcal solder tips are very expensive but they com in all shapes and sizes and it is very fast to change from one tip to another and the new one heats up in no time. The heat power is very well regulated and there is much more heat power reserves for big solder joint than the other brands because of the special heating technology.
Some Metcal soldertips can fail after a short while, but we got all the defect soldertips replaced for free if it was not because of normal wear.
Automatic time-out increases tip cartridge life. The MX-500P power supply senses whether the tip cartridge has been used during the past 30 minutes, and automatically shuts off to maximize the life of your tip cartridges.

Antex:
I think the soldertips are of poor quality and they don't last long, the design is very unhandy. I would only use Antex for simple solder and desolder jobs. As a professional serviceman it would never use Antex.

At home I have a normal 50W 24V Weller solder-iron and is quite satisfied with. I think it is the best in that price range. Allthough I would like to own a Metcal solder/desolder station at home if I could afford it.
I'm considering to buy a used Metcal, but Metcal is not as known in Europe as in USA, so maybe I have to buy it at eBay from USA, but I would prefer to buy it from my own country if I can find it.
 

the best soldering station

What makes Metcal so good is their special tips that maintain temperature within 1 C during soldering. They inductively heat the tip and the tip is made from a special metal alloy which changes its mu with temperature. Even though the patent has expired, no other company has been able to reproduce the alloy.
 

soldering station best

Just looked up the SP200 from Metcal...

around 450 Euros from distributor...excluding any soldering tip...
so definitively NOT for hobbyists (o;

But remembering tried one many years ago...really leightweight and awesome heatup time...hbut back then we only used bigg-pads through-hole components..so weller was just fine (o;

Wonder why at least a standard tip isn´t included...
 

best soldering pencil

The reason a standard tip is not included is that they make dozens of tips and they all sell so it would be a waste of money for the customers to have to pay for a tip they never use.
 

best desoldering

davorin said:
Just looked up the SP200 from Metcal...

around 450 Euros from distributor...excluding any soldering tip...
so definitively NOT for hobbyists (o;

But remembering tried one many years ago...really leightweight and awesome heatup time...hbut back then we only used bigg-pads through-hole components..so weller was just fine (o;

Wonder why at least a standard tip isn´t included...
Click to expand...
I just saw the new Metcal PS-800 for 259 € at a European distibutor, it seems like a better deal for hobbyists. They also use a new tip design for PS-800, which makes the tips cheaper.
Minimal Cost Of Ownership

The PS-800 Soldering System employs replaceable heater tips rather than cartridges, making cost of ownership extremely competitive. The unique two-piece design separates the heater coil from the tip. The long-life heater coil remains in the handle,while replaceable tips are easily removed and replaced. Most importantly,the cost of the heater tips is comparable to that of conventional tips.
Click to expand...
If 259 € is still too much I would reccomend Weller. It's cheaper and still good quality.
Don't waste money on Antex allthough it is cheaper than Weller.
After looking closer at JBC and ERSA I wouldn't choose any of them either. I rember using a JBC recently at my friends house and it was poor quality.

That leaves only three choises left:
Metcal
PACE
Weller

Metcal is expensive and it seems Weller makes better solder irons than PACE in the cheap price range, but if you want to spend a little more, some of the more expensive PACE models is also an alternative.

For hobby electronics I would reccomend Weller WTCPT / WTCPTD at the bottom of this page:
www.cooperhandtools.com/brands/well...g Stations&att2=Industrial Soldering Stations
This is the cheapest Industrial Weller solder station with temperature controlled by the tip selection. A ferrormagnetic temperature sensor in the tip controls the tip temperature - no controls are necessary.
Tips available in 3 standard temperature ranges: 600°F, 700°F, and 800°F (316°C, 371°C and 427°C).
If you want it even cheaper you should buy the TC201T Replacement Soldering Pencil for WTCPT Soldering Station without any soldering station and then buy a seperate 1.75A (min.) 24V transformer and put it in a housing with a fuse. This is much cheaper than buying the original Weller solder station / transformer. Many companies choose to do so and that is what I have done at home too. Then you get a very cheap quality solder station.
If you want to have a solder station with manually controlled temperature


TC201T Replacement Soldering Pencil for WTCPT Soldering Station: www.cooperhandtools.com/brands/well...g Stations&att2=Replacement Soldering Pencils
PH1201ESD Iron Stand: www.cooperhandtools.com/brands/well...=1&att_id=WEL011&att1=Accessories&att2=Stands
PT Series tips: www.cooperhandtools.com/brands/well...d=WEL007&att1=Tips and Nozzles&att2=PT Series
Weller Electronic Soldering and Desoldering Tools Catalouge: www.cooperhandtools.com/brands/cf_files/act_download.cfm?type=Literature&filename=550147.pdf

I would never buy any of the Weller Consumer Soldering Stations but would rather stick to the TC201T Industrial Replacement Soldering Pencil and buy a standard 24V 2A tranformer, and a housing with a fuse and a 3 or 5 pin DIN socket to fit the solder iron plug. The Consumer Soldering range is a poor quality compared to TC201T, but TC201T is still cheap enough for hobbyists.
Here is the original Weller schematic, as you can see it is easy to buy your own transformator and build the circuit.
The schematic is taken from this pdf: www.cooperhandtools.com/brands/cf_files/act_download.cfm?type=Parts_Lists&filename=WTCPT_OI_PL.pdf
 

best solder iron

There is also a company called Edsyn that makes solder and desolder systems:
https://www.edsyn.com
 

best solder stations

Weller is the Best...

I have been using Weller since 1983 and nothing happened...

Recently I use this one and I highly recommend..

**broken link removed**
 

best soldering irons

I recently switched to Metcal, and I'm not going back to Weller.

Weller is ok for smaller projects with mainly leaded components. If you're dealing with a lot of <small> SMD you'll have to work a bit harder with Weller than with Metcal.
 

best soldering tools

For hand soldering its hard to beat the Metcal but $$$. For soldering big BGAs, I would suggest the Sniper.
 

desoldering stations

Never spend any money on Weller desoldering, and if you get it for free, throw it away. You will save yourself a lot of time and nerves.
 

top soldering irons

Just heard today that it takes at least up to end of August to get the new PS800 soldering station from Metcal here in my country...*aaarrrgghhh

Seems Metcal is 2000 units behind in production..

Someone knows a company who has them on stock?
 

expensive soldering irons

I agree, borisov57. The vacuum-pump can only cooling the tip, but not give enough vacuum
 

best desoldering

A suggestion for hobby user:

If you don't have enough funds to buy a good soldering station, I have an advice which worked for years without any problem.

I put an 1N4148 diode on the tip of a cheap mains power solder, and connected it to a comparator circuit with a relay out to the solder. The diode was in a silicon cable which is resistant to heat and wrapped aroun to the tip. There should be a histeresis in the comparator circuit...

betanorm
 

ideal solder station

imho Hakko 92X series.
Goot too has some good ones.

delay (delayed by technology)
 

best soldering iron stations

I had two Antex soldering stations with sliding Potentiometer for temperature control (10 years back )
and they worked fine for around 5 to 6 years .
But tip changing was difficult, it was a slip on kind of arrangemet with a clip.
 

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