Soldering stations!

[Wartex]

You are welcome: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/416001/reviews-some-people-collect-amps-i-collect-soldering-stations

[insurgent]

That's wild! They need a special episode of Hoarders for this guy!
Seriously though, that's a great collection of premium units and performance data, especially the info on the desoldering tools.

[ilikepez]

I wonder if he would ship me one?

[Polossatik]

top! thankx for sharing !

[SiBurning]

You should see my microscope collection.

That whole project started when I melted the coatings around a pad on an MSB Link DAC. The other side of things is that I acquired a Meiji stereo microscope. Then another. There's at least a dozen now in various states from fully functioning to DIY hacks. The sad result is that I hardly solder anymore.

I am sorry that I didn't follow through and do some more of those tests. Only 3 of those 11 tests listed are done. It would also have been useful to test some other less expensive stations typically used by hobbyists. I was hoping to have some discussion about testing methodology, but maybe a headphone site isn't the best place for that. There isn't a lot online about how to do a quantitative compare & contrast, and a lot of things about soldering stations are subjective.

If there's something you'd like to see added, maybe I could put down the glass cutter & camera for a bit and pull out the Weller ST2000 soldering analyzer. Meanwhile, I'll have a peek around EEVblog.

[saturation]

Welcome, SiBurning, I've been an admirer of your gear for far over a year.   It think there are several links to your posts and your photos on eevblog spanning that time.

I've noticed that the thermal recovery and stability of soldering irons is proportional to the time it takes in seconds to go from turn-on to 350C; of course always best to measure it directly but its a simple test most anyone can do without special gear.  The faster this is the more likely the iron+station can recover quickly and maintain tip temp as heat is conducted away in soldering, particularly with large traces and ground planes.

Can you share any such data on your stations?  I've posted a few of the top makes somewhere on the forum: Metcal/Oki, JBC, Hakko, Pace, etc.,

Do you notice any difference between ceramic heaters and nichrome wire based heaters say in Hakko vs Weller?

If you've used any Chinese brand copies of Hakko, noticed any differences?

You should see my microscope collection.

That whole project started when I melted the coatings around a pad on an MSB Link DAC. The other side of things is that I acquired a Meiji stereo microscope. Then another. There's at least a dozen now in various states from fully functioning to DIY hacks. The sad result is that I hardly solder anymore.

I am sorry that I didn't follow through and do some more of those tests. Only 3 of those 11 tests listed are done. It would also have been useful to test some other less expensive stations typically used by hobbyists. I was hoping to have some discussion about testing methodology, but maybe a headphone site isn't the best place for that. There isn't a lot online about how to do a quantitative compare & contrast, and a lot of things about soldering stations are subjective.

If there's something you'd like to see added, maybe I could put down the glass cutter & camera for a bit and pull out the Weller ST2000 soldering analyzer. Meanwhile, I'll have a peek around EEVblog.

[alm]

I've noticed that the thermal recovery and stability of soldering irons is proportional to the time it takes in seconds to go from turn-on to 350C; of course always best to measure it directly but its a simple test most anyone can do without special gear.  The faster this is the more likely the iron+station can recover quickly and maintain tip temp as heat is conducted away in soldering, particularly with large traces and ground planes.

One thing that this test doesn't account for is thermal inertia. Thermal inertia improves recovery performance, since it takes longer for the temperature to drop significantly. It also increases the time it takes to heat up, however.

[saturation]

You're very right alm, this would be noticeable using different tip geometries and sizes, and the actual construction of the tips too.  The turn-on test doesn't check if the tip temp is true based on feedback from the tip thermal sensor or if its calibrated so the temp is really 350C, or the time corrected for ambient temp; a Hakko clone could be way off and seem to be faster because its reached 'dialed' temp far under say a Hakko 936.  OTAH its hard to argue with the Metcal/JBC style heaters that reach that temp in under 10 sec, the 936 or the FX888 will heat to 350C in ~ 40 sec.  FWIW a typical unregulated iron takes many minutes!

So the turn-on test is just an index of its potential, a full station test is better but far more involved to get comparisons from other users. 

I've noticed that the thermal recovery and stability of soldering irons is proportional to the time it takes in seconds to go from turn-on to 350C; of course always best to measure it directly but its a simple test most anyone can do without special gear.  The faster this is the more likely the iron+station can recover quickly and maintain tip temp as heat is conducted away in soldering, particularly with large traces and ground planes.

One thing that this test doesn't account for is thermal inertia. Thermal inertia improves recovery performance, since it takes longer for the temperature to drop significantly. It also increases the time it takes to heat up, however.

[SiBurning]

I started a new topic to follow up the more general issues. Developing A Quantitative Approach To Evaluating Soldering Stations. It includes (some of) the notes I put together when I put this project aside.