I was considering using "hot air" and was looking at something along the lines of these:
TENMA 21-10130 UK+EU Rework Station, 500 °C, 220 V
would this be suitable for soldering SMD with the hot air? Would this tip be suitable?
FWIW, Tenma is a brand name owned by Farnell that they seem to fulfill with products from the lowest bidder (my experience at any rate).
I'm not a fan of the all-in-one stations of this caliber either, as when one breaks the entire unit is down. Separates also offers you the ability to have a better quality iron than hot air, as it's used a lot more often. This is even true for SMD (think drag soldering; if it's got legs coming out of it or pads up the edge, you can solder it with an iron).
Hot air in general would do what you want, and you don't need a bunch of different nozzles.
NOZZLE, SINGLE, 4.4MM I take it that I can use this and run along the edges of a device (I.C.'s) ?
Yes.
As per sizes & shapes, I just use the 3 round nozzles that came in the box (6.4mm, 8.4mm, & 12.7mm). Thin sheet metal, such as heavy aluminum foil used to make disposable bakeware (just needs to be easy to form), works wonders for shielding surrounding areas from hot air if that's an issue.
So... would this work station be adequate for low volume production, like a few pcb's a day? prototyping mostly before I take the plunge for outsourcing, or low volume as I have mentioned already...
I'd be a little concerned with that particular unit, but a decent one, Yes.
- DIP? I wonder if it would work, hmm...
Yes, particularly for desoldering.
And one last question, how do you "solder" the "ground plane" / "Exposed Pad" for since plenty of these devices now have the pad at the bottom, do I just put paste and warm it from the underneath? How will I know it has melted?
Paste is certainly one way to do it. Pre-tinning the pads with an iron & adding liquid or paste flux to the pads prior to placing the chip is another (this method won't leave un-melted solder balls). The biggest trick IME with SMD is to use plenty of flux (iron or hot air).
Assuming you're not aware, do yourself a favor and use quality name brand consumables rather than unknown brands (solder wire, solder paste, flux, even desolder braid/wick as you still need this to clean up pads).
If you can make the chip dance/rock on the pads, then the solder underneath the chip has melted (this does assume the airflow is set properly <i.e. decent flow rate, but won't blow the part off the board>).