Hello all, I need a soldering iron and I have read "do not buy a cheap soldering iron". I think I will also need an hot air gun soon or later, so that the best choice is to buy now a 2 in 1 station...
There are some choices on ebay, this one looks interesting:
If someone own it and use it, please give your opinion, thanks 
Or, if you use other models that are not cheap but not overpriced, please share
I have one of these http://www.ebay.com/itm/Full-Pack-USA-GQ-5200-brand-SMD-Rework-station-2-in-1-hot-air-soldering-Iron-/121039076545?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c2e7dbcc1
One of the best soldering irons I have ever owned. Heats up within seconds. Comes with extra parts and tips. I have had this unit for more than a year and never had any trouble with it.
Ok, I hesitate between the many models available...this one looks good too:
But the 220V version cost 10€ more than 110V version...Still, 85€ might be good price
I'm not familiar with those brands, but I can tell you that you should be careful about what brand you choose. I've seen a lot of nice looking deals on ebay/amazon that come with a bunch of spare parts, but replacements are either impossible or difficult to find. Getting 10 tips is great, but if you only really use one of them and it wears out then you can find yourself looking for a whole new soldering station. I picked up an Aoyue 937+ recently for about $56 that I've been very happy with. It does what it's supposed to do, and it can use hakko tips so replacements are available everywhere.
I'm new to electronics so I may be way off, but it seems like hot air is more of a luxury than a necessity unless you're planning to design/etch your own circuit boards and populate them with mostly surface mount parts. Even then, most can be soldered with an iron it seems. It might be worth skipping the hot air and putting the money you save towards getting a nicer soldering iron.
I suspect those things are like screwdriver sets where you get two dozen screwdrivers but only ever use two of them. They look like thy take up a hell of a lot of desk space, too.
"do not buy a cheap soldering iron"
You'll hear that about anything if that's what you want to hear... cars/clothes/furniture/TVs/computers/cameras/phones/skateboards/power tools/houses... you name it, somebody out there will scream "don't buy cheap!!!!"
For light-duty use I suspect any soldering iron will work. I use a cheapo $15 iron which just has a mains lead and a plug. I've got another one which is very fine/low wattage for extra-small parts. Between them they do what I need to do. I'm not working with surface mount or lead-free solder (ie. hot air, high temp), I don't care if it takes a minute to warm up instead of 10 seconds. The only thing I made sure of was that the same shop sold spare tips for it that were fine enough for small electronics parts.
OTOH $85 isn't a massive investment...
fungus:
I suspect those things are like screwdriver sets where you get two dozen screwdrivers but only ever use two of them. They look like thy take up a hell of a lot of desk space, too.
Really bad analogy. I only have one soldering iron and it's the one I posted, GQ 5200. Yes, they cover more desk space compared to an iron that only has a cord and plug. But they can do more than a $15 iron will..
fungus:
You'll hear that about anything if that's what you want to hear... cars/clothes/furniture/TVs/computers/cameras/phones/skateboards/power tools/houses... you name it, somebody out there will scream "don't buy cheap!!!!"
I would agree on this as I am a firm believer in "you get what you pay for." But if someone with a hint of knowledge recommends a cheap brand and has first hand experience of how it works in the real world, then I am going to try it.
fungus:
For light-duty use I suspect any soldering iron will work. I use a cheapo $15 iron which just has a mains lead and a plug. I've got another one which is very fine/low wattage for extra-small parts. Between them they do what I need to do. I'm not working with surface mount or lead-free solder (ie. hot air, high temp), I don't care if it takes a minute to warm up instead of 10 seconds. The only thing I made sure of was that the same shop sold spare tips for it that were fine enough for small electronics parts.
So you have 2 irons? I would think that one temperature controlled iron would make more sense. As one iron would be easier to organize on a work bench than 2 irons. I would recommend a high wattage iron for thru=hole components due to the large amount of solder needing to be melted. Try mounting a DC supply jack with a low wattage iron and you'll find yourself melting just half of the solder you need.
For those tiny SMD components, a low wattage iron is preferred. Using a lot of heat on SMD parts is risky. Too much heat and that part will not operate within specs or not work at all. So you would need a second iron just for SMD.
With the station I posted earlier (GQ 5200), you get a hot air station as well. Great for those SMD ICs. Truthfully, I rarely use for that purpose. I use it for shrink wrap mostly. I find that I like my prjects to look professional and neat. So heat shrink is one of my best friends.
In summary, the OP asked for recommendations on soldering irons. If I did not believe in the soldering iron I am using, I wouldn't recommend it. Of course, as luck would have it, he would get the "cheap" iron I recommended and the damn thing wouldn't last a week. That's the risk that anyone takes buying anything these days.
codlink:
So you have 2 irons?
One of them doesn't come out of the closet very often. Normally I just have one.
codlink:
I would think that one temperature controlled iron would make more sense.
Well ... I didn't go in a store and buy both of them on the same day.
codlink:
I would recommend a high wattage iron for thru=hole components ... For those tiny SMD components, a low wattage iron is preferred.
Yep. One of mine is 25 watts and one is ... 16 watts (I think).
I can understand needing one of those stations of you sit all day desoldering/reworking things and using different types of solder but it's not what I do. I mostly just solder things to perf board.
codlink:
In summary, the OP asked for recommendations on soldering irons. If I did not believe in the soldering iron I am using, I wouldn't recommend it. Of course, as luck would have it, he would get the "cheap" iron I recommended and the damn thing wouldn't last a week. That's the risk that anyone takes buying anything these days.
Farnell lists ones that look pretty much the same as for thousands of dollars. Are they worth it? What's the difference?
$85 actually seems a little on the cheap side to me, given that a decent wire + mains-plug iron costs about $30 and new tips are about $10 each. How does a complete station with hot air $85 fit into the "don't buy cheap!" mantra?
I did look at the 10-$20 solder irons and figured if I stay in this hobby (which I was planing on), I would want something to work with when I was knowledgeable enough to use it.
I admit I don't use mine everyday, maybe once a week at most. But, I know it will get the job done, whatever that job is.
I would imagine that the high priced irons would last a lifetime. That's the only advantage I see up close. For a person like me, $85 is a substantial investment. Hell, it took me several months to save up enough to buy a used Oscilloscope from Ebay. I have only used it once in the last 6 months, so is that a good investment, probably not but it's here if I need it.
I would suggest to buy an iron that suits the hand of the operator. It doesn't need to be fancy, just to get the job done.
To add to the mix, I can say that hot air works really well for removing components without causing damage. It is especially helpful with SMT parts that have many legs.
The trick is to heat the board and then smack the edge of the board on the table. In some cases, many parts will come off at once. I learn the process while harvesting parts from an old board.
cyclegadget:
To add to the mix, I can say that hot air works really well for removing components without causing damage. It is especially helpful with SMT parts that have many legs.
Yep. If you do a lot of DEsoldering then I imagine one of those things is very very useful because you can heat up a whole area at once.
Whacking things on the table works well for desoldering all sorts of things. Even things with multiple legs can often be removed with a normal iron by heating one leg at a time and whacking it to remove the solder.
My answer to all of this is that it depends on what you are working on and your soldering skill. In fact you may end up with more than one of the tools on this list. Here are a list of tools and how I would recommend them to be used:
-25-30 Watt Pencil Iron -- General Purpose, very limited surface mount
-25-30 Watt Pencil Iron with Ground -- General purpose and static/AC sensitive circuits, very limited surface mount
-45 Watt or more iron -- Terminals, RF Connectors
-Butane Iron -- General purpose (also terminals and RF connectors in some cases), some surface mount
-Soldering Gun -- Terminals on non-sensitive circuits (soldering guns cause spikes when turned off and can sometimes light LEDs with the spikes), RF connectors, wire splices.
-Temperature controlled soldering Iron preferably 45 watts or more with multiple tips and digital controls -- General purpose, Sensitive components, Terminals, RF connectors, wire splices, and surface mount components.
Now you can expand that a bit on each one depending on skill. Some electronics techs may use a standard 45 watt iron for most items and some people can use standard pencil irons to do more advanced surface mount. If you do a lot of surface mount, you may want to apply more flux than what is in the solder if needed to prevent bridging in some cases.
I have an X-tronic 4040
http://www.ebay.com/itm/X-TRONIC-4040-HOT-AIR-REWORK-SOLDERING-IRON-STATION-/180672745995?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a10ef520b
that I purchased for around this price.
The soldering iron part works great, I use it with a small tip for putting thru hole boards together with small diameter leaded solder.
The hot air part gets used with nozzles I purchased from mjpa.com that were selected for the ICs I use - 28-pin FT232RL, 32 & 44 pin TQFP, and some other sizes. The nozzles are not inexpensive, but controlling the air flow around a part really makes unsoldering a part easy as all pins get heated together.
Examples:
Rework Station SMD Nozzle 5.7 X 15mm for a part like FT232RL
and maybe this for a 32 pin TQFP
Rework Station QFP Nozzle .39in. X .39in.
I did a bunch of measurements before I ordered to make sure the nozzles I selected would line up over legs/pads nicely.
Do you own measuring as well.
I use Kester EZ256 leaded solder paste for surface mount parts.
"cheap" is a relative term.
If you're just starting out, just buy whatever "iron" or "system" you want/can afford.
Don't worry about it. They'll all do the job more or less.
But as your skills or needs increase, you'll begin to see the limits (or irritations) of the tools you have. -- then you'll exactly know what features you want from the high end models. Then you can spring for the higher, expensive model and you'll know/appreciate it's value more. Only you can tell when the time is right for YOU to "upgrade."
example: I use a $200+ desoldering gun. Because I know the frustrations, wasted time, difficulty, etc.. and in the end ruining a $300+ board by using a $5 manual sucker pump desoldering multi-pin parts without trying to ruin it. That $200 desoldering tool is "cheap" in my book because it has saved me time, frustrations and made desoldering multi-pin delicate parts very easy without worries. But for someone else, $200 vs $5 for a desoldering tool may not be worth it.
If you're just starting out, just buy whatever "iron" or "system" you want/can afford.
Don't worry about it. They'll all do the job more or less.But as your skills or needs increase, you'll begin to see the limits (or irritations) of the tools you have. -- then you'll exactly know what features you want from the high end models. Then you can spring for the higher, expensive model and you'll know/appreciate it's value more. Only you can tell when the time is right for YOU to "upgrade."
this pretty much sums up my advice. I used a radio shack iron for many years.
If you get a chance to try a better unit (e.g. a friend, work, school, etc) you can see if you have outgrown the one you're using.
I used a Chinese knock-off of a Hakko iron at home for a few years, but used a real Hakko at work. After a while I started watching ebay until I found a used Hakko unit I was willing/able to pay for. I had the luxury of doing hot air at work, until I managed a good deal on a Hakko hot air station for the home shop.
-j
