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
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.