Rework Station or Soldering Station?

[ShadowReaper]

I am thinking of buying the aoyue 968:
http://www.aoyue.com/en/ArticleShow.asp?ArticleID=359 which has both soldering iron and hot air and I can afford the money for the station.
What's your opinion about the station?
Should I buy it or it would be better to buy a soldering station only (without the hot air)?

[Simon]

Depends on what you want to do

[ShadowReaper]

Depends on what you want to do

Thank you for your reply.
Could you elaborate or give an example?

[Valhallasmith]

Depends on what you want to do

Thank you for your reply.
Could you elaborate or give an example?

Well, are you going to do anything that required hot air?  Typically this means small pitch items with hard to get at pads.  Like small chip scale packages.

[Zyvek]

I have an all-in-unit that is similar, and it also has a desoldering gun.

http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/9766

Not a bad deal, and if you are short on bench space they reduce your foot print.  I've done SOIC, with the iron and SMT with the hot air gun as well.  They are pretty versatile, and there are a lot of iron tips and air nozzles available, including SMT tweezers (I haven't bought one of those yet, but it's on the wish list).

The big downside is if the machine goes down you might be totally out of luck vs. having separate machines

FWIW

[ShadowReaper]

For now I don't have any specific task which requires hot air. I think of buying the rework station so I won't have to buy another hot air station in the future if I need it...

[EEVblog]

Aoyue aren't exactly a good brand name iron.
I'd get a good brand name iron (Hakko, Weller, Pace, Ersa et.al) and an el-cheapo hot air unit.
You use the iron all the time, so it's important to get a brand name one I think.
Hot air less so, so a one-hung-low brand should do fine.

Dave.

[ShadowReaper]

Thank you all for your answers.

I found the aoyue 968 at ebay with 200$ including shipping costs.
Which other soldering station would you suggets?

[EEVblog]

Thank you all for your answers.

I found the aoyue 968 at ebay with 200$ including shipping costs.
Which other soldering station would you suggets?

The classic Hakko 936 is $84 with free shipping.
Available from Amazon (see my store www.eevblog.com/amazon) or a million other places.

Dave.

[ShadowReaper]

Thank you very much Dave,
the problem is that I live in Greece and Amazon does not ship any electronic equipment there. I found hakko 936 at ebay and it's 50$ cheaper than Aoyue 968 (including shipping), that's why I am asking if it is worth to pay 50$ more for a 3in1.

I also found out that Hakko 936 is discontinued(Hakko FX-888 is its successor), will there be any problem with that? (for example not enought tips, support etc)

[DJPhil]

Thank you very much Dave,
the problem is that I live in Greece and Amazon does not ship any electronic equipment there. I found hakko 936 at ebay and it's 50$ cheaper than Aoyue 968 (including shipping), that's why I am asking if it is worth to pay 50$ more for a 3in1.

I'd say it really depends on how much hot air work you plan to do. I was facing a similar choice a while back and decided that I'd get the 936 and fish around later for hot air and vacuum tools if I needed them. In my case it proved to be the right thing to do, as I've learned to solder and desolder (with wick and two different sizes of hand held vacuum) well enough to do the larger surface mount stuff with just a small tip. If you're trained and used to hot air, or you plan to need it as much as you need a regular iron, then it might be a good call. I actually spent as much on my first batch of supplies (good solder sucker, solder, a larger and a smaller tip, liquid flux, flux pen, desoldering braid, and more) as I did on the 936 itself, and I think it made a huge difference in how fast I learned.

I also found out that Hakko 936 is discontinued(Hakko FX-888 is its successor), will there be any problem with that? (for example not enought tips, support etc)

I checked Hakko's site and they're not cross compatible, which was a bit of a surprise. It's likely that you'll be able to find parts for several years to come, as the 936 has been a production iron in Asia and across the world for . . . something like a decade or more? Hakko's manual lists part numbers for every washer, bolt, and plastic doohickey for the iron, and there's a lot of inventory out there. I'd recommend avoiding the no-name brand tips if you can, I'm not sure I'd trust them the way I treat tips.
The FX-888 looks like the direct successor as ordained by Hakko, and is likely an excellent investment. I'm very impressed with their design and support, and I'd recommend either one to someone starting new. A soldering iron is part of my holy trinity of electronic tools along with a scope and a meter, and I'd recommend spending the extra cash for quality, single purpose iron. Of course, this is just my opinion.

Hope that helps.

[EEVblog]

Thank you very much Dave,
the problem is that I live in Greece and Amazon does not ship any electronic equipment there. I found hakko 936 at ebay and it's 50$ cheaper than Aoyue 968 (including shipping), that's why I am asking if it is worth to pay 50$ more for a 3in1.

I also found out that Hakko 936 is discontinued(Hakko FX-888 is its successor), will there be any problem with that? (for example not enought tips, support etc)

The 936 and before that the identical 926 (just older styling) have been an industry standard for at least 20 years now I think. I think I bought my 926 circa late 80's IRRC. Apart from maybe the Weller's I'd say it's the widely sold solder station in the world. So you can expect tips and parts to be around for a long time I suspect.
I don't know why the new 888 is not backward compatible, that seems crazy.

Dave.

[kaptain_zero]

Weird, I just saw this post and had to check it out before I spring for a 936-12 in Canada... it's on sale right now for $89.40 CDN which is a pretty good deal locally(sorry Dave). There is no indication from Hakko NA that the 936 is discontinued and even if it is, I would expect parts to be available for quite a few years, otherwise it would be to Hakko's detriment, as nobody is going to purchase new equipment from a company that doesn't support it's older, yet still serviceable equipment.

Regards

Christian 

[exodia]

Sorry for hijacking the thread.

I'm in a search for a soldering station my self. I leave in Greece and we have 220 V mains so all the hakko's i found on ebay are sadly for 110v. Any other alternatives? I would like a digital temperature setting, also i would like to do my first SMD soldering desoldering with that

[djsb]

Buy a step down transformer. There must be a company in Greece that makes them. I've just bought a Pace station from the USA and it will cost me around £40 for a 500VA transformer.

http://www.airlinktransformers.com/transformer/us05011-500va-american-120volt-transformer.asp

David.

[McPete]

Sorry for hijacking the thread.

I'm in a search for a soldering station my self. I leave in Greece and we have 220 V mains so all the hakko's i found on ebay are sadly for 110v. Any other alternatives? I would like a digital temperature setting, also i would like to do my first SMD soldering desoldering with that

I'm a Hakko Fan, and yeah, most of the ones avalible internationally are US 110V (no good for for me either; Australia is at 240V/50Hz). My leaning would be toward this;
http://www.tequipment.net/WellerWESD51D.html

This one looks nice, but the iron tips are expensive;
http://tequipment.net/WellerWSM1.html

Given an open budget though, a Hakko 702B or a JDC Nano system would be awesome

[Ronnie]

I'm a Hakko Fan, and yeah, most of the ones avalible internationally are US 110V (no good for for me either; Australia is at 240V/50Hz). My leaning would be toward this;
http://www.tequipment.net/WellerWESD51D.html

I'm also considering the Weller WESD51D since I live in the Philippines where electricity is 220V/60Hz. Its digital temperature readout is a good feature.
http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?SKU=9843988

Hakko FX-888 (replacement for Hakko 936) is nice but I'm not sure if there is a 220V/60Hz version. Take note that FX-888 is not available in North America.
http://www.hakko.com/english/products/hakko_fx888.html

[Hypernova]

Check out my unboxing of this interesting piece of kit:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=1287.0

[sonicj]

aside from $35, im not seeing the difference between the wesd51 and wesd51d....

http://www.tequipment.net/WellerWESD51.html
http://www.tequipment.net/WellerWESD51D.html

anyone know?

[kaptain_zero]

Looks like the difference is that the 51 is a 120v unit, and the 51d is the 240v version. 

Regards

Christian

aside from $35, im not seeing the difference between the wesd51 and wesd51d....

http://www.tequipment.net/WellerWESD51.html
http://www.tequipment.net/WellerWESD51D.html

anyone know?

[Ronnie]

Looks like the difference is that the 51 is a 120v unit, and the 51d is the 240v version.

WESD51 is 120V 60Hz and WESD51D is 220V 50/60 Hz as can be seen from this link http://www.cooperhandtools.com/onlinecatalog/Parts_Lists/WESD51_OI_PL.pdf

What about the Hakko FX-888 Aus/NZ model sold in Australia and New Zealand is it specified to work at 220V 60Hz electricity? I believe Australia and New Zealand are both 230V 50Hz.
http://philippines.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=getProduct&R=6803464#header

If FX-888 Aus/NZ model is only 50Hz then I'll get the Weller WESD51D for US$180.60 (+ US$12.34 shipping) at http://www.tequipment.net/WellerWESD51D.html

In terms of temperature stability FX-888 is ±1°C better than WESD51D ±6°C.

[exodia]

What do you guys think about Hakko FX 951 from IPmart

http://www.ipmart.com/main/product/High,Quality,HAKKO,FX,951,Lead,Free,Digital,Display,Constant,Temperature,Soldering,Station,220V,,271000.php?prod=271000

BTW ip is reliable, anybody that have traded with them?

[SuperMiguel]

Looks like the difference is that the 51 is a 120v unit, and the 51d is the 240v version. 

Regards

Christian

aside from $35, im not seeing the difference between the wesd51 and wesd51d....

http://www.tequipment.net/WellerWESD51.html
http://www.tequipment.net/WellerWESD51D.html

anyone know?

digital display