Thinking its time to step up and start doing some building/modding. Will need to solder wires, drivers, spring braids etc. (no emitter reflows) so I’m looking at buying a soldering station, been researching the subject on BLF and I see this one is popular:
For the solder you should have good results with Multicore 63/37 with this diameter: 0.022" (0.56mm). Perhaps the working scientists here would like to verify or suggest a better one to use.
Perhaps a different solder gauge might be recommended but otherwise the Multicore eutactic solder here will be a great choice.
Make positively sure you are using a good fan to blow away the fumes.
A lot of the guys here are buying the YiHUA from Hobby King.
It’s $17.03 if you leave the add open until the pop up appears. I’ve not bought one yet but I have heard that they charge shipping but I don’t see any way to calculate for it.
The add says it ships from a US warehouse so that should be a big plus. The YiHUA also uses Hakko tips which are easy to find, I’m not sure what the other unit uses.
Personally I like the look of the SSVT more because I’m very limited on space in my tiny apartment, use a old folding B&D Workmate for a bench and the SSVT just looks more compact a unit.
Thanks for the info Photons. I needed some recommendations on solder type.
And thanks Martini. The Hobby King sounded like a great deal however their shipping cost was showing about as much as the item itself! (around $17 from US West Coast warehouse) so the total would be almost $35 to get it from them.
Found them for around $30 on fleabay. I emailed Hobby King about the shipping because it sounds awful high. (They show it out of stock at their East Coast warehouse) Fleabay ones suppose to be coming from New Jersey… New Brunswick, maybe they are TMART?
Still wondering if I should get the Stahl one instead. They also have an extra tip set of 5 for around another $5.00
It takes a while for the tip to warm up but I’m still able to use the stock tip to solder driver components and stack 7135s. It doesn’t have enough heat capacity for bigger parts such as pills so it can get pretty annoying trying to remove grounded drivers. Now that I have a rework station and Wight’s drivers the Stahl is only used for wires.
i’d rather get a “brand” 2-in-1, such as yihua, atten seems to be OK too. Of course it’s not western quality but quite bang for the bucks.
and I’d definitely go with 2-in-1… can’t imagine not having the hot air soldering anymore, after just 1 month of using it. SMD operations are a breeze now.
Been thinking of getting a hot air station for awhile now. I want to transfer microprocessors between drivers, but can’t remove them with just a soldering iron.
I have the Stahl and extra tips. I am very happy with it overall. It works for my soldering needs. For reflow I have a dual reflow/solder station, but the solder side is weaker than the Stahl. At least mine was. Mostly because it's a very thin pencil tip and those loose heat fast, for anything but the smallest components.
By the way - will a few craftspeople who are used to soldering flashlight drivers and related things please comment on the solder size that was mentioned? How does 0.022" (0.56mm) sound?
I use this one 3-in-1, power supply, hot air and soldering station, Yihua 953D with 30V 5A power supply, with current control/limiting (very useful for testing current controlled devices such as LED emitters)
