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Opinions on SMD rework stations

Unknown_K

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Looking through ebay I see that you can get either a 898D+ or 862D+ SMD hot air + soldering iron rework station shipped for around $50. Anybody have one of these that can recommend them?
 
Looking through ebay I see that you can get either a 898D+ or 862D+ SMD hot air + soldering iron rework station shipped for around $50. Anybody have one of these that can recommend them?

what sorts of parts are you desoldering? if it's just smt caps and resistors you may be better off with a hot tweezers
 
Voltage regs and other junk you can't do with a soldering iron. I have some laptops with bad SIMM slots that need resoldered as well.

I have a few soldering irons and a decent handheld desoldering gun and since I should have a $50 voucher coming from ebay I figure I should get some more tools.
 
Voltage regs and other junk you can't do with a soldering iron. I have some laptops with bad SIMM slots that need resoldered as well.

I have a few soldering irons and a decent handheld desoldering gun and since I should have a $50 voucher coming from ebay I figure I should get some more tools.

OK, just be careful with the hot air gun, it can delaminate a board if you aren't careful. They can get VERY hot.
That's mostly an issue with large through-hole devices where you have to pump a lot of heat into the board to pull
a device. If it's a surface mount SODIMM socket, you can put a small diameter tip on and take it off pretty easily.
I have a used Hakko (like http://www.ebay.com/itm/231957923778) or a Metcal for doing that sort of stuff.
 
Metal cost 10x the price

I have one of those 40$ hot air starions, does the job if you work a lot of smd ...but a ton of it can be done with an iron

I have one of those Hakkos at work, hate it it's got like an aquarium air pump in it so it poofs air blowing crap around a ton more than a steady stream from a fan...not to mention is sadly underpowered for large planes or even basic lead free
 
I have yet to see a soldering iron worth 500$ especially in a home hobby environment... my dad thought me the value of a dollar, and not to buy a rolls roice to get to work

The problem with used ones is that they end up being turned on in a factory for 15 years and chucked on eBay once they become a hassle, yea I got a cheap metcal too, replaced the handle, bought a 35$ heater/tip used it for about 3 years and the transformer fried taking out the temp controller and the lcd

60$ hakko knockoff has lasted me about 17 years now and the only thing I have replaced is the tip

Edit even if your going to spend a pile of.money for the price of a metcal you can get a jbc or pace iron which will out perform and outlast a mc in any situation
 
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A really good iron is worth the price. However a hot air gun is a pretty commodity item and there is very little difference in performance vs cost. Get a cheap gun and replace it when it fails.

I would, however, highly recommend you get an IR pre-heater to go with that hot air gun. Pre-heaters soak the board up to a heat level just below reflow. I set mine to 140C and my gun to 320-360C and flow rate based on the size of the components. It lessons the time components are exposed to peak heat and makes placing and removing much easier.
 
It's not exactly relevant to the original question, but sort-of. I have an Aoyue 968A+ that I picked up from someone broken/used. I replaced one of the potentiometers and all is well. It's a really cheap unit, but I've had great luck with it working on all sorts of surface mount componentry. This particular Aoyue also includes an iron with vapor removal. It's a "decent" iron, but the handle gets really hot. The additional tubing and nozzle for the vapor removal is a bit cumbersome to work with.

Overall, I'm pleased with the purchase and would imagine that similar hot air-only Aoyue equipment is equally fine. I can't really comment on the accuracy of the heating as I haven't tested it. Once set to a temperature that melts solder, it seems to hold that temperature well enough for my purposes.

I've even tried my fair share of BGA work with this guy. For those tasks, it's been less pleasing to use (seemingly due to uneven heating, etc.) I even tried buying a preheating station. It's just fiddly work that I find I don't enjoy doing. It's easier to just pay someone who has the "real"/automated BGA equipment to do the job.
 
I have a used Hakko 851 rework station, it's basically the smaller version of the 850 linked above. I think I paid $75 shipped for it, off eBay. I keep meaning to buy a Hakko 853 preheater, the small hot air pencil of the 851 is great for most of my new-build SMT boards (QFP and QFN mostly) and it's fine for pulling off a Flash IC for dumping, but it does require assistance when removing larger parts like power transistors. Currently I preheat the board with my paint stripper heat gun.
 
I have a Chinese (I believe it's called KADA 850 or so ) hot air station and allthough it works quite well, I find myself using CHIP QUIK alloy much more often.
It's an amazing thing in my opinion much safer for the board and the adjacent components than hot air .
Well worth trying IMHO.
 
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