Decent soldering station and tips for surface work

Opportunities and Group Buys For Sale/Trade/Wanted
1

Hi,

I’m in the market for upgrading my cheapo maplin soldering iron. I’m probably now thinking of going to a soldering station with smaller tips as I am doing more surface mount stuff. Any recommendations of what you use at home? Is the hackspace soldering station worth getting? I’ve used and it’s pretty good.

2

Harvy,

What is your budget? There are several options depending on what you can
afford. The Metcal (Oki) soldering iron in the hackspace was quite
expensive:

http://uk.farnell.com/metcal/ps-900/soldering-station-60w-240v-eu/dp/1560738

The tips alone are £17.00

The link below is for the Hakko stations favoured by many hobbyists and
Hackers alike:

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https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/222760074716?chn=ps&adgroupid=49962971442&rlsatarget=pla-380178327240&abcId=1129946&adtype=pla&merchantid=118925208&poi=&googleloc=9046630&device=c&campaignid=974960578&crdt=0

It all depends on budget and skill level. I can make do with most cheapo
stations as long as they are temperature controlled and decent tips and
cleaner is available:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-ESD-safe-220V-HAKKO-936-HAKKO936-hakko-936-Soldering-Station-with-907-soldering-handle/524720490.html

I saw similar stations to these available in cheetham hill in the mobile
phone repair shops along with the useful soldering mat.

Hope this helps

Alex

3

Thanks, you covered a range there. I wasn’t really sure what my budget is.

I’ll probably be going a for a cheaper one, as I am just getting into smd stuff and not sure how much I’ll be doing in the future.
I might just head down cheetham hill next weekend and see what they have.

I didn’t know the hackspace one was that expensive!

4

I finally got around to looking at the options and probably going to go for the hakko one. On eBay it’s either £50 or £100+ why the price difference and what should I be wary of? Is just one is genuine?