Hi Kirby:
As Ron said in a previous posting, both Weller and Hakko (and probably several others) are all very good, so it's a matter of which you find to be more to your liking. ... Here's a 'boilerplate' response I prepared a while back for those who'd write to me inquiring about soldering stations and/or DEsoldering devices. I hope you find it helpful 73, Tom N0SS ... In response to your recent query regarding a temperature- controlled soldering station OR possibly a DE-soldering tool, please allow me to reply with the following 'boiler-plate' text. Trying to retype the same info over and over again has become a bit tedious. Sorry. TEMPERATURE-CONTROLLED SOLDERING STATION For a temperature-controlled soldering station, I can recommend the following from: http://kiesub.com.hakko936.htm or http://www.tequipment.net/Hakko936.html Hakko 936-12 with/907 iron Includes ESD (electrostatic discharge) protection 936-9 with/907 iron Grounded tip, but NOT specifically ESD protected. Tip is grounded however. If you want to know the difference between ESD-safe and not ESD-safe, here's what the Hakko web site says about the two. I own a Hakko 936-9 which is non-ESD. What specifically is the difference between the two and what can I do to the Hakko 936-9 to make it ESD safe. How important is it? QUESTION: What is the difference between ESD and Non-ESD? ANSWER: ESD means, electrostatic discharge. An ESD-safe unit will not create or sustain an electrostatic discharge that could damage components on or in the work being performed. ESD-safe equipment does not hold electrostatic charge but dissipates it, therefore it is safe to use on applications that are sensitive to static electricity Note that I recently had the opportunity to disassemble both the Hakko 936-9 AND the Hakko 936-12 soldering stations, in an effort to determine what they did differently to make one "ESD Safe". Try as I might, I could NOT find ANY differences between the two devices... none... nil! Since my 936-9 station is about 5 years old, the design of the internal power transformer was slightly different from that used in the newer 936-12 (ESD-Safe) model. But this was the ONLY difference I could find. Possibly the ESD protection IS actually being hidden within the windings of the transformer... that's about the only place it could be hidden as far as I'm concerned... <G> Both the Hakko 936-9 and the 936-12 come with the 907 iron attached, and include the 1.6mm chisel tip. I'd suggest you consider investing in several additional tips as well, to match whatever width PC board pad you are working on. I try to use a tip that's about 85%-90% the width of the pad... helps to prevent solder shorts between adjacent pads. HAKKO Catalogs General Products (c. 2.4Mb) http://www.hakkousa.com/Press/Catalog/index.htm Download the HAKKO Tips & Nozzles catalog (TC2000-4 catalog, 1.3mB) from: http://www.hakkousa.com/Products/Tips-Nozzles/index.htm If you have the HAKKO 936-12 (ESD) or the -09 (non-ESD), the tips you're probably looking for are the 900M & 900L series. The "L" series is generally a longer tip. 900M-T-LB Long, round, .008" tip, really skinny, helpful when cleaning out PCB holes All of the following tips are of the chisel (screwdriver) tip type: 900M-T-1.2D .047" (1.2mm) tip -- | For PCB work. The HAKKO 936-12 900M-T-1.6D .063" (1.6mm) tip |-- and -9 models ship with the | 900M-T-1.6D tip included. 900M-T-2.4D .095" (2.4mm) tip -- 900M-T-3.2D .126" (3.2mm) tip - For non-PCB work 900M-T-S3 .203" (5.2mm) tip - For heavy-duty work, including Coax Conns. 900L-T-S1 .221" (5.6mm) tip - For heavy-duty work, especially coax conns. Most, if not all of these tips are (I believe) available from: http://www.kiesub.com.hakkotips.htm and http://www.tequipment.net/HakkoPriceList4.html I'm sure they're available from a number of other vendors as well, but the prices at these sites are generally better than I've found elsewhere. ____________________ DE-SOLDERING GUN If you're interested in the Hakko model 808 DE-Soldering Gun, check out: http://www.kiesub.com/hakko808.htm or http://www.tequipment.net/Hakko808.html, and http://www.tequipment.net/HakkoPriceList4.html Consider also ordering a couple additional nozzles: A1394 This is a long (0.434"), slender (0.090") nozzle which will allow you to get into places the fatter tips won't. It is particularly handy when you are working on PC boards which are pretty tightly packed AND which have some of their components mounted on the bottom of the PC board with the soldered pads in and among the tightly packed components on the top side. Because it is long and slender, this is a 'delicate' nozzle, and probably NOT one you would want to leave on the desoldering tool when you do not need to use it. A1396 This is a short/fat nozzle, similar to the nozzle provided with the Hakko 808 when it is originally purchased. However, this nozzle has a 0.091" inside diameter, so it will suffice for removing most, if not all, of the connectors used on most PC boards. Some of these connectors use flat lug-type leads, instead of wire leads, which can be particularly difficult to remove if you find you must remove the connector itself. Of course, it also works well on the larger diameter leads of big diodes, etc. Contact these vendors directly for availability of these additional nozzles. Of course, standard disclaimers apply. I have NO interest in ANY of the companies referenced above. 73, Tom _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. 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