I'm in the market for a new soldering station. I was keen on the Weller wec 1010 but then saw a video on YOUTUBE how the coil blew up because there was no fuse protection for it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUtj-bWHeKY
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8itTKH5tj3s


My budget is modest, about £125.I think thats about $135 us??

I.m just a serious amature and will be doing mainly pin through hole stuff and a little smd,caps,resistors and the like.

I would be interested to hear from those who could advise what I should look out for and what features would be nice to have. Any help with this will be appreciated greatly............Thanks a lot.

 

My first impulse would be a Hakko FX-951 but lately there are other, less expensive options.

This station https://www.banggood.com/Mini-V3-0-...tion-Soldering-Iron-Tips-T12-K-p-1338117.html uses Hakko compatible tips and has excellent reviews. Some QC issues, apparently, but this particular version has excellent build quality and critically, uses an iron that doesn't have a screw on collar. The tips slide in like the Hakko. Check out online video reviews.

With the savings you can but a proper selection of tips, even genuine Hakko, and a reel of good 63/37 solder with a stand, and, maybe even have left over for a hot air desoldering station like the 858D which is everywhere.

Just a note that you will want at least a smallish screwdriver tip like the Hakko T15-D08 or similar.

 

Hi JDR04.
I have quite a selection myself now. I have 3 ERSA soldering irons, 1 with a small tipped iron for doing fine work, 0603 & 0402 SMD, one larger iron for doing contacts, connectors, diodes etc. and 1 tweezer set for soldering.

I also have one of these:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/YIH...lgo_pvid=d52440c2-1ff9-4fee-b27d-c1c94f88aae7

And finally the cheapest an older model of this:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Fre...lgo_pvid=5bb3c62c-0718-4df4-a7cf-dc64c5d2b4ef

The ersa irons are good, but I don't notice so much difference between them and the chinese models. I can however get lots of different sizes of tips for them.

The soldering station with hot air is very nice to have, its great for soldering difficult SMD components (particularly ones with pads on their undersides) with solder paste, or unsoldering ICs etc. Its a bit noisy when the pump switches on for the air though. It also has a fume extractor pipe on the iron which is very handy for when you are soldering big components that use lots of solder.

All in all... a must have would be an iron with digital temperature control / readout and it should be >60W with something like a 2.2 & 3.2mm chisel tips.
If you are doing varied work (eg. 0603 resistors, but also through hole capacitors, big diodes etc.) then having 2 stations one with the small iron / tip and a larger one is very handy (the smaller iron can be less power full).
If your doing SMD work then a hot air gun attachment is very handy too (also good for heat shrink!) but it may just push you over budget!

You also need to consider solder. For SMD work I now mainly use solder paste- lead / tin / silver based with dispensing syringe and compressor driven dispenser unit (I actually bought an OKI one from
https://www.solderconnection.com/
When I was feeling wealthy!)
The silver makes everything flow and wet that much better. You can get some 0.46mm wire solder with silver too, but even on 0603 components you tend to get a bit of a spherical blob most of the time (the surface tension makes it hard to only use a small amount of solder). Having a manual syringe with a bit of flux around is also good, as it can be a life saver if you have been a bit over enthusiastic, and you get solder bridges between pins on ICs etc. Some "solder wick" is also good, if you have been even more enthusiastic!

 

You may laugh at this cheapo suggestion, but I have one of these and like it a lot. Found a similar (identical?) one on Amazon for a Christmas present.

I won't pretend it's a great unit, but it is nice for the price. Lot's of favorable reviews. I chose it for the replaceable tips because I was tired of throwing out even cheaper irons that were cheaper than a replacement tip. Ironically, this station lets tips last a much longer time if you set the temperature right. I'm not sure I've even burned thru my first tip yet.

It's very cheap, has nice replacement tips available, and so far has held up well for several years now. All my old pencil irons - cheap crap from RS or wherever - failed due to dead tips, and I bought a bunch of replacement tips along with this station. My first tip lasted longer than any of the old ones ever did.

Get some solder to go with it. Like this. (The soldering station and solder are both available elsewhere, and you might not need that much solder but that's the kind you want, 60/40 tin:lead.)

 

I ordered a Weller WLC-100 yesterday, should be here tomorrow. Will replace my old Weller WTCP that no longer seems to want to maintain tip temperature (either overheats or doesn't heat at all). The WLC-100 is 'power controlled' rather than 'temperature controlled', we'll see how well it works.

 

I ordered a Weller WLC-100 yesterday, should be here tomorrow. Will replace my old Weller WTCP that no longer seems to want to maintain tip temperature (either overheats or doesn't heat at all). The WLC-100 is 'power controlled' rather than 'temperature controlled', we'll see how well it works.

Hi, thanks for your input. I've used Weller for many many years and was about to buy the WEC-1010 WHEN I saw a video of one that had been accidently plugged into 240V instead of 110V ac. It smoked like hell. On investigation, they discovered that there was no protection fuse to the primary coil inside and so the magic smoke appeared. This really put me off which I'm rather sad about. Apparently it is "normal practice" to include such a fuse with soldering stations so there is a bit of a shouting match going on. Check out youtube for yourself. I hope this issue does not apply to your model as well.Would be keen to know though.

 

Hi, thanks for your input. I've used Weller for many many years and was about to buy the WEC-1010 WHEN I saw a video of one that had been accidently plugged into 240V instead of 110V ac. It smoked like hell. On investigation, they discovered that there was no protection fuse to the primary coil inside and so the magic smoke appeared. This really put me off which I'm rather sad about. Apparently it is "normal practice" to include such a fuse with soldering stations so there is a bit of a shouting match going on. Check out youtube for yourself. I hope this issue does not apply to your model as well.Would be keen to know though.

One thing to consider. Newer technology irons have the heater incorporated into the tip. They are much more efficient than older designs with separate tips. That's why I suggested the station above, which while cheap, is the more modern design and far better.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I've settled for the HAKKO 888-D. Bought it from AMAZON in the hope of avoiding the fakes out there but it arrived without its outside box and the tip looks used. I dont know if this is due to testing at the factory or its a return and they have simply bundled it off to me?

What's really infuriating is that I cant find a way of emailing Amazon about it. They say its sold by Amazon themselves but when I click on the name nothing happens. It almost seems that once they have your money they try avoid hearing from you by making it difficult!

Anyway,so far its working well but time will tell. Thanks again for all the suggestions and advice...........

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I've settled for the HAKKO 888-D. Bought it from AMAZON in the hope of avoiding the fakes out there but it arrived without its outside box and the tip looks used. I dont know if this is due to testing at the factory or its a return and they have simply bundled it off to me?

What's really infuriating is that I cant find a way of emailing Amazon about it. They say its sold by Amazon themselves but when I click on the name nothing happens. It almost seems that once they have your money they try avoid hearing from you by making it difficult!

Anyway,so far its working well but time will tell. Thanks again for all the suggestions and advice...........

Amazon has a process for dealing with returns. Follow that. It's not email, it's a series of web pages that you fill out and you have a chance to explain things.

The 888 is good, just be sure not to turn it up too high. For various reasons, I set my stations to read out in °C, and I would strongly recommend not exceeding 350°C (~660F°). Keep the tip clean, and don't leave it on when you are not using it.

Usually, the 888 comes with a conical tip. That will drive you crazy, get a chisel tip, it's worth the few dollars to get the genuine Hakko.

 

This is the tip: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004OR9BV4/

 

Will replace my old Weller WTCP that no longer seems to want to maintain tip temperature (either overheats or doesn't heat at all).

After over 40 years, my trusty Weller WTCP finally stopped working. The heating element burned out. A replacement element was $22.

 

Watch out for clones of brand name units.

If you have a professional requirement Metcal (RF irons) is pretty good. I use a MX-5251

https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/305/2332-1189522.pdf