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Soldering iron/station?

Buy a Weller WTCPT and be done with the search for a quality station.

Here's a good priced one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Weller-WTCPT-soldering-station-TC201T-Soldering-Iron-COMPLETE-FREE-SHIPPING-/221086460819?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3379c7ab93

All you will need after this purchase is a tip or too in your preferred 600f, 700f or 800f temperature.

This old WTCPT design completely manages the temperature and if left on all day (as it's designed to do for production work) will never runaway on you. An added benefit is that it takes all of 30-45 seconds for it to reach temp from cold.
 
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Not certain which cheap one from Parts Express that DCinDC was referring to. But I have had two of this $16.87 model and I would guess that it is the best in this price range. I would agree that anyone buying this should get an extra set of tips because they don't seem to last. But for the money this is a very good tool.

But I recently joined the Hakko camp and could not be more pleased with my FX-888. It does not have the digital temperature read-out, which I agree would be nice to have. But the Hakko does have a red light which stays on when the iron is below the temperature you set on the dial. When the iron reaches the temp you set the solid red light goes off. Simple but effective. And the iron heats fast.
 
Owned & used Weller WTCP stations for years... it is a GOOD tool, but until you've tried the Metcal system you have not used a GREAT soldering tool. Heats faster, uses electromagnetic energy to heat the tips (tip metal composition determines the temp), warms up in roughly 10 seconds, tips hold up better than the Weller, no heaters or thermal switches to fail, the wands are slimmer & they sleep when put into the stand. It's just a better product all around, and if you add the compressed-air driven desoldering tool, it's game over (assuming you have access to compressed air of course).

Look at the Metcal MX-500P system as an example, and the MX-DS1 desoldering tool. These are the last soldering tools you will ever need.

John

MikeCh said:
Buy a Weller WTCPT and be done with the search for a quality station.

Here's a good priced one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Weller-WTCPT-soldering-station-TC201T-Soldering-Iron-COMPLETE-FREE-SHIPPING-/221086460819?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3379c7ab93

All you will need after this purchase is a tip or too in your preferred 600f, 700f or 800f temperature.

This old WTCPT design completely manages the temperature and if left on all day (as it's designed to do for production work) will never runaway on you. An added benefit is that it takes all of 30-45 seconds for it to reach temp from cold.
Click to expand...
 
HypnoToad said:
Hakko FX-888 it's around $80.00 The color scheme is a bit funky but you won't be sorry.
Click to expand...

DITTO!!!!! Hakko blows the doors off of Weller I have had both and once you have a Hakko soldering station you will never look at anything else.:yes: Oh and one more thing, I hate them and I'll bet you do too, surface mount parts but we have to deal with them. Hakko has the best heated tweezers, and heads to deal with these pesky parts
 
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Well, almost:

http://www.okinternational.com/product_soldering/mx500

Their older Talon tweezer tool:

mxtalon.jpg


the current tweezer system:

http://www.okinternational.com/product_soldering/mxPTZ

I'll put these up as best in class against all comers, including Hakko.


John
 
jdurbin1 said:
Owned & used Weller WTCP stations for years... it is a GOOD tool, but until you've tried the Metcal system you have not used a GREAT soldering tool. Heats faster, uses electromagnetic energy to heat the tips (tip metal composition determines the temp), warms up in roughly 10 seconds, tips hold up better than the Weller, no heaters or thermal switches to fail, the wands are slimmer & they sleep when put into the stand. It's just a better product all around, and if you add the compressed-air driven desoldering tool, it's game over (assuming you have access to compressed air of course).

Look at the Metcal MX-500P system as an example, and the MX-DS1 desoldering tool. These are the last soldering tools you will ever need.

John
Click to expand...

That Metcal setup looks extremely nice and for major production purposes would likely have no equal.

However, in the context of this thread and the fact that folks are battering around $18.99 pencils or the under-$100 stations AND looking for high quality, my suggestion of a slightly used WTCPT fits the bill nicely for a reliable and easy-to-use option.

Best,
Mike
 
Well, it is true I am a well-known tool whore... but to me the money spent on excellent tools is rarely a poor investment.

You'd be surprised to know how little my MX-500P system has cost so far. If you're patient, one of these systems can be assembled pretty cheaply. I'm also sure over time it'll save money as I don't have to buy tips near as often, nor heaters, nor switches. Probably the biggest factor is it makes it really hard to wreck a trace or solder pad, particularly with the addition of the MX-DS1. Then there's the savings in time, not waiting for warmup, speed in desoldering with the MX-DS1 (which requires less time & cost to keep it cleaned out) or lost time spent cleaning up damaged boards.

Anyway, to each his own and ymmv but I guarantee if you try one of these you will find it hard to go back to other soldering tools.

John

John

MikeCh said:
That Metcal setup looks extremely nice and for major production purposes would likely have no equal.

However, in the context of this thread and the fact that folks are battering around $18.99 pencils or the under-$100 stations AND looking for high quality, my suggestion of a slightly used WTCPT fits the bill nicely for a reliable and easy-to-use option.

Best,
Mike
Click to expand...
 
jdurbin1 said:
Well, it is true I am a well-known tool whore... but to me the money spent on excellent tools is rarely a poor investment.

You'd be surprised to know how little my MX-500P system has cost so far. If you're patient, one of these systems can be assembled pretty cheaply. I'm also sure over time it'll save money as I don't have to buy tips near as often, nor heaters, nor switches. Probably the biggest factor is it makes it really hard to wreck a trace or solder pad, particularly with the addition of the MX-DS1. Then there's the savings in time, not waiting for warmup, speed in desoldering with the MX-DS1 (which requires less time & cost to keep it cleaned out) or lost time spent cleaning up damaged boards.

Anyway, to each his own and ymmv but I guarantee if you try one of these you will find it hard to go back to other soldering tools.

John

John
Click to expand...

It seems like this is a place to put opinions, so here's mine.

I've used a lot of different irons.

The Weller WTCP:
As far as reliability? Not so much. It's okay if you stock replacement parts (heater, mag switch, cord), but they put the heat where you need it. Kind of high maintenance compared to todays irons.

Metcal: They are used extensively at work. Fast heatup, etc. I wouldn't call these cheap, or low maintenance. At work we have a large selection of tips. About half of them don't heat up like they do when they are new. Purchasing lots of expensive tips. They don't seem to recover tip temperature as quickly as my +20 year old Hakko 926. have replaced cord/pencil on several of them. When I use the MetCal, I find myself wishing I had my way cheaper Hakko to use. Solder keeps flowing on the Hakko. The Metcal makes the solder "bunchy" on the MetCal's for higher mass connections.

Hakko: I can only go by +20 year old model 926. Never replaced a heater, cord, or anything. I have replaced a few tips, but they stay unbelievably clean and unetched. I have replaced sponges. I have replaced the porcelain-like collar in the stand that I broke. Still works as it did day 1. It worked on day 1 as the best iron I've ever had. It's also nice to have dial to "pump up the volume", when dealing with heavy connections.

No affiliation to Hakko, but they have great support and still have parts for my old iron.
 
Interesting... I haven't seen the tip issue at home yet, nor at work, but we use them more in an engineering environment at work as opposed to production so maybe not the same conditions. I'm still on my original tip at home though, no signs of temp or surface issues so far (knock wood). I have half a dozen or so tips on my workstand but rarely find I need to change shape or temp for what I work on, so the one tip has been getting almost all of the use and it still looks & works great. I know Tinman told me he has to replace them occasionally, but as a full-time tech, safe to say his usage is a lot higher than mine.

Good to know about your experiences with these, gives me a better idea of things to watch out for as this MX-500P system gets older.

John
 
jdurbin1 said:
Interesting... I haven't seen the tip issue at home yet, nor at work, but we use them more in an engineering environment at work as opposed to production so maybe not the same conditions. I'm still on my original tip at home though, no signs of temp or surface issues so far (knock wood). I have half a dozen or so tips on my workstand but rarely find I need to change shape or temp for what I work on, so the one tip has been getting almost all of the use and it still looks & works great. I know Tinman told me he has to replace them occasionally, but as a full-time tech, safe to say his usage is a lot higher than mine.

Good to know about your experiences with these, gives me a better idea of things to watch out for as this MX-500P system gets older.

John
Click to expand...

Interesting....I haven't experienced the issues you guys are claiming with the Weller WTCPT model. I've used the WTCPT (different units mind you) off and on since the late 80's. In the late 80's I worked for a company that built broadcast radio consoles and all of us used the WTCPT for production work and I don't ever recall any power supply/pencil failures, tip wearing or heater malfunctions.

The WTCPT that I'm currently using since it's purchase 2 1/2 years ago is on the same original tip and sponge. I bought additional tips at the onset so I'm set there but perhaps I need to buy a spare heater-core just to be safe.

Mike
 
It may be that I have access to the tip wasteland at work too.

It's an Applications Lab, so it's not like a production area. There's one Laotian lady that uses the iron all of the time. She does mostly smt soldering. The desk over from her is like the "whoever needs to solder, sit here" desk. Both have MetCal's but hers looks a little fancier. Same tips and all that though.

When she leaves, she take out her tip and puts one of the wasteland models in. Then she hides her tip somewhere. Her tip works perfectly in both stations, so I'm betting the loss in heat is all about the tip degenerating somehow.

I'll try to take a picture tomorrow. There's a stand that has about 7~10 tips.
All of those tips just seem to get hot enough to melt solder on the tip, but struggle with "heavier" gauge, such as 16ga.

There is a MetCal tip at work that I'm impressed with. It is a copper square, kind of like a thick tile. That one gets up and goes. You can solder seam on copper EMI tape.
 
I used the WTCP stuff for probably 20 years or longer, and you definitely do want to keep a replacement heater and spare mag switch on hand. Nothing worse than picking up the tool and finding it cold when you need to solder something, and then having to dismantle the thing to replace one of those parts to get it going again.

I found it pretty serviceable overall though, wouldn't have kept using it for that long otherwise. I'd possibly still be using one today if I hadn't visited Tinman once and gotten exposed to the Metcal system. Bought my own shortly thereafter and retired the Weller to the garage.

I reckon the Hakko could have had a similar effect but we do have both at work (as well as a few straggler Weller stations) and though I don't work in engineering, I have played with both a little and that never happened. Just don't have a lot of hands-on with the Hakko at this point so I tend to defer to those of you that do own & use them; I'm sure it's a great product and if the Metcal ever wears out its welcome, that would be my next stop.

John
 
MikeCh said:
Interesting....I haven't experienced the issues you guys are claiming with the Weller WTCPT model. I've used the WTCPT (different units mind you) off and on since the late 80's. In the late 80's I worked for a company that built broadcast radio consoles and all of us used the WTCPT for production work and I don't ever recall any power supply/pencil failures, tip wearing or heater malfunctions.

The WTCPT that I'm currently using since it's purchase 2 1/2 years ago is on the same original tip and sponge. I bought additional tips at the onset so I'm set there but perhaps I need to buy a spare heater-core just to be safe.

Mike
Click to expand...

I don't think that we're talking about the same iron.

The one I remember was the WTCP. I think that's what it was. It's been awhile, but one thing I do know is, it only had a 4-letter model number. Not like WTCPT.

Hopefully Weller got their act together on a different model number.

The WTCP did have magnetic switch failures, heater failures, cord failures. Don't get me wrong, that's what I was using. It was no big deal, it was easy to do, it got done. The Weller was the best thing going at the time.


Is Weller better now? I guess around 1984 I had a bad experience with them. It's when they moved from CT(?) to North Carolina. I think they were bought be Jensen Tool, or something like that. It was a temperature controlled thing. Noticeable reduction in build quality. It lasted 2 weeks. No problem, send it back for warranty. It came back no charge. Heater replaced. Started using it again. 2 weeks later, went cold. So I called them up and they said, "You're putting too much water on your sponge".

So, I went to Al Lasher's Electronics in Berkeley and they said they carried Hakko. I sorta heard of them. I bought the 926. It's the exact, same one I have today. It is either cursed, in a good way, where it doesn't break like a mortal iron, or they just have insane reliability. I'm not sure.
 
Check on the temp rating too when you scope that out; they did have 600/700/800 selection and the metal composition is different. I have an 800 but have yet to use it, my 700 fine point is working on everything I need it for including desoldering some pretty good-sized cap lugs where they slot through the PCB. The 700 degree range works on just about everything, at least in my experience so far.

Haven't started playing with the desoldering tool yet, which also have different sized apertures to choose from for different applications. Mine came with two sizes but until I fire it up for a recapping exercise I won't know whether they're suitable or I need to get something different.

They do have some pretty wild ones for specific applications, like lifting surface mounted IC's in one piece etc. but I don't do enough of that to warrant the cost of the specialty tips at this point. There are a couple at work I can probably use if it comes to something in that area, where we bought the correct size/shape rectangle or whatever for a specific rework job.

John


P.S. I was also talking about the WTCP, was under the assumption that it was the same series MikeCh was advocating. Comments about same to be taken in that context, if that assumption was wrong.

Jon_Logan said:
It may be that I have access to the tip wasteland at work too.

It's an Applications Lab, so it's not like a production area. There's one Laotian lady that uses the iron all of the time. She does mostly smt soldering. The desk over from her is like the "whoever needs to solder, sit here" desk. Both have MetCal's but hers looks a little fancier. Same tips and all that though.

When she leaves, she take out her tip and puts one of the wasteland models in. Then she hides her tip somewhere. Her tip works perfectly in both stations, so I'm betting the loss in heat is all about the tip degenerating somehow.

I'll try to take a picture tomorrow. There's a stand that has about 7~10 tips.
All of those tips just seem to get hot enough to melt solder on the tip, but struggle with "heavier" gauge, such as 16ga.

There is a MetCal tip at work that I'm impressed with. It is a copper square, kind of like a thick tile. That one gets up and goes. You can solder seam on copper EMI tape.
Click to expand...
 
I spoke with the Laotian technician who does all of the soldering.

She felt that the lack of heat in all of those tips was because people that were using them didn't keep the tips clean. She said it's because they let them get "dry". So, I'll give them a cleaning using a Hakko brass "Chore-Boy" type of a tip cleaner. I'll flux'm and tin them and see. They looked pretty shiny when I was using them before. I'll give it a shot, though.

I'll tell you though, what I miss at home, that I have at work, is foot actuated solder paste dispenser. Solder paste makes perfect, shiny, strong connections. It's invaluable for IC's with finer pitches. I don't really see any SMT work at home, but if I did, I'd get solder paste and maybe a MetCal. They have fine tips that work really well for small smt devices.
 

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Hmmm...I think I need to have one of our sales engineers stay close to AK, as I don't think a day has passed since AKfest that someone here has not mentioned equipment, soldering tools or components. It turns out you guys are like our dream clients and unfortunately for us, and the members here, we're not giving you the daily live interaction that proves this. I'll work with David to see where we can post weekly specials and I'll get one of our audio gurus (Tom) to join AK and troll the threads to see if we can help the world of AK with our years of experience.

A link to a quick post I did back in June on our product lines, including Hakko.

B&D Discounts for Hakko & more..

We carry tens of thousands of Hakko products in-stock everyday and can support you, not only with price and shipping, but most of all service and expertise. If anyone has any questions on Hakko, or anything else for your DIY adventures, let us know - you can contact me via a post here or a PM. I'll have Tom on-board the AK forums starting this afternoon.

Dean
 
My philosophy with that is, buy the one that is designed for the iron.

In the case of my old Hakko, the tips have lasted better than any other soldering iron tip that I've used before. Most would get crusty or corrosion would pit the tips. I wouldn't risk this great performance on a sub, even at a cheaper cost.

If your on the bench, the last thing you want to fix are your tools.
 
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