Pace MBT250 Soldering station repair

[wassap]

Hi Folks,

Looking for some advise on whether its worth getting a pace MBT250 repaired, i aquired this from a scrap with a few handsets, including the iron, tweezers, desoldering tools. Now it does work, but desoldering aspect doesnt work, it doesnt suck! so im guessing a pump issue?

I was thinking if its worth spending the time and money to repair it, or just buy a Yhua or other chinese clone station with hot air gun. I know the pace unit is early 2000's, are they a good tool still?

Thanks for any advice.

[Wallace Gasiewicz]

Repair it, it is better than the others you mentioned.
Frequently the problem is just dirt in the suction line and pump. Taking it apart and cleaning it solves that problem.The other common  problem with pump is the gasket that also contains the valves. Sometimes this gets damaged. or just dirty.
Anyway try to clean the air pump before making any decisions.

[CaptDon]

Pace has always been a good company and years ago I used to pick up parts directly at their Laurel Maryland factory. Some parts get obsoleted in my opinion "Long before they should be obsolete" and I think it is Pace's way of forcing you to upgrade. Your vacuum pump may have been damaged / contaminated buy idiots who don't use the cotton filter in the glass tube as well as the inline filter in the hose. I know it sounds crazy but from time to time I would pour about a teaspoon of isopropyl alcohol into a small dish and let the vacuum pump suck it up directly with no filters. It seemed to clean the residue from the pump diaphram and restore good operation to the valves. After the alcohol has gone through run the pump for about another 30 seconds to evaporate the alcohol out of the pump. Always use the proper filters for normal operations, don't skimp. I always thought the Pace units sounded like 'The incredible Mr. Limpet' in the movie by the same name starring Don Knotts.

[GLouie]

I have an MBT250 since 1997 and think it's totally worth repairing and maintaining. It's top notch kit and worth the cost IMO.

Most parts and service data are all still available online. My vacuum failed last year, and I discovered that the plastic pump connecting rod had cracked. I bought a new one, but thought to try to repair and reinforce the broken one. So far, it continues to work, probably because I have a replacement at hand! It is a rubber diaphram pump, driven through the connecting rod by an electric motor and eccentric. The rubber sheets and such are still available. You do not mention your symptoms, so we cannot know if you seem to have an electronic or mechanical failure. Pace has made this model for something like 30 years, so some parts have changed over the years. You can query Pace with your serial number to determine the appropriate parts.

I have photos of the insides of mine and here is my con rod repair.

[CaptDon]

That connecting rod repair is worth noting!! It certainly looks stronger than factory!! I have the Pace Micro Portable and I love it. It was made for mobile repairs and is 12vdc / 120vac compatible. The downside is that the heater is I believe rated at 12vdc and are no longer available. It has plenty of heat indeed and has of course heat sensing / heat control. Sadly they only made the Micro for a couple years so parts are not well sourced.

[GLouie]

My guess is that the con rod plastic simply deteriorates with time (30 years) and then cracks. My repair is a carefully formed stainless hose clamp, cut, curved, notched with a Dremel, and glued to the plastic with what is sold in the USA as Clear Gorilla Glue. Epoxy would probably do about as well.

[wassap]

Thanks for the heads up everyone. I took it apart today and indeed its the connecting rod that had broken. It seems they are available as spares still, its a £30 fix, so not mega money. I might try to CA glue it 1st , just to confirm the rest of the pump is ok, the pump service kit is ~£50.

Thanks for the advice so far.

[GLouie]

Check with Pace to make sure your serial number fits the correct con rod.
I also bought the pump rebuild kit, but it strangely did not include the diaphram where the con rod attaches. I have been meaning to ask Pace if this is available as I have not seen it online.

I don't think pumping alcohol would work here, as this unit has an internal paper Visifilter on the pump output. I disassembled my old pump block and it looked fine after a light cleaning, so I haven't installed it or the new con rod yet.

Equipment designed to be repaired and supported after 30+ years - what an idea!

[Haenk]

Disassembling the pump is not very complicated, and I'm pretty sure it needs a good cleaning. At least my one did, even it with filters installed all of the time.
Unfortunately, the cleaning still left me unhappy, the pump always pushed out a bit of air before sucking air - very annoying when trying to desolder. Luckily I got a NOS pump assembly from ebay for cheap, so I replaced the whole thing, keeping the old assembly for spares. The new pump is a bit better, as it does not push out too much air.

[GLouie]

for the curious, here's some photos of my pump. The replacement con rod and pump block came in black plastic. I did not feel that any glue on the con rod would be good enough by itself, so came up with the reinforcement band.

[wassap]

Thanks for the pics. I had a bit of epoxy in the shed, so ive glued the con rod with CA and then tried to use @GLouie idea of using a modded jubilee clip to give it a bit of strength, ive put some epoxy on the top of it.

Its not a pretty fix, but it will allow me to check the pump, out, id rather not buy parts for the sake of it, i will buy a piston as they are relatively cheap, the pump kit is quite pricey in the UK.