Which soldering station should I buy?

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pcardoso73

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Joined 2021
#1
#3
On the T12 system, the soldering station does have a marginal role; it needs to be able to put up to 120W on the soldering tip to reach the preset temperature and that's it. You almost never look at the soldering iron display unless something is wrong. On your third option, some sets have a better stylus and this is a tangible improvement over the basic one. To be fair I don't use a T12 system myself, I bought a fairly more expensive Weller.
 
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#5
pcan said:
On the T12 system, the soldering station does have a marginal role; it needs to be able to put up to 120W on the soldering tip to reach the preset temperature and that's it. You almost never look at the soldering iron display unless something is wrong. On your third option, some sets have a better stylus and this is a tangible improvement over the basic one. To be fair I don't use a T12 system myself, I bought a fairly more expensive Weller.
Click to expand...
 
#8
The Weller I use at home is 40 years old, and I had to replace the heating element only once. The dependability and serviceability of a well-built electromechanical device is hard to beat.

But the T12 system is hugely popular in China now, and there are several specialyzed SMT tips that are very affordable compared to Weller, or even not available for my old iron, so I am watching that option. A generic T12 "soldering station" such as the one listed on pcardoso73 post are actually just a 24V switching power supply paired with a T12 controller board. I already have several suitable 24V power supplies, so to optimize costs I will rather buy a set with the bare T12 controller plus the handle and the required tip, something like this: https://it.aliexpress.com/item/32845526592.html
 
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#10
pcan said:
The Weller I use at home is 40 years old, and I had to replace the heating element only once. The dependability and serviceability of a well-built electromechanical device is hard to beat.

But the T12 system is hugely popular in China now, and there are several specialyzed SMT tips that are very affordable compared to Weller, or even not available for my old iron, so I am watching that option. A generic T12 "soldering station" such as the one listed on pcardoso73 post are actually just a 24V switching power supply paired with a T12 controller board. I already have several suitable 24V power supplies, so to optimize costs I will rather buy a set with the bare T12 controller plus the handle and the required tip, something like this: https://it.aliexpress.com/item/32845526592.html
Click to expand...
I had a Quicko 942 which needs an external power adapter. It's like the one you posted, but inside a box. It was a nice station and heated up in 10 sec. Insane.
But I prefer something with the transformer inside the case.
Just for your reference, I had this one
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mL7wydu
Cheers
Pedro
 
#11
Sorry about that last "reply"....something went amok there 😳

It all depends on your needs...lower cost is almost always lower quality. But, having said that - I have a hot air bench gizmo that costed just 50 bucks, and it works fine for me. If it doesn't last, I'll buy another...right? Maybe the same idea with your iron. For the price shown, I'd take a chance.

Any soldering iron should have an auto shut-off feature. That is, when you put the iron into the holder, it cools off the tip. Without this, the tips just won't last. Most of the ceramic type irons can heat up within seconds.

If you are soldering SAC305 or any of the ROHS solders, you need a hot tip. SAC305 melts around 215C, I think. That's roughly 419F. My iron is usually set to at least 700F for Sn96 and probably 750 for ROHS. I have used 780F successfully, but it's pretty hot and you have to be careful. To be fair, I use small tips....less thermal mass. This works fine form SMD work, and rework without damaging the PCB. If you happen to be using solder mask defined pads, then the PCB might have too much copper and those small tips don't have the mass to heat it up enough. For those you will need a larger tip....more mass.

quick summary:
1. Auto tip cool down when idle is mandatory.
2. Temperature controlled tip is mandatory.
3. Temperature to 750F or more.
4. Ease of tip swapping is helpful.
5. Availability of tips is helpful.
6. Buy an assortment of tips, from small to big.

good luck

gene
 
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#12
gearheadgene said:
Sorry about that last "reply"....something went amok there 😳

It all depends on your needs...lower cost is almost always lower quality. But, having said that - I have a hot air bench gizmo that costed just 50 bucks, and it works fine for me. If it doesn't last, I'll buy another...right? Maybe the same idea with your iron. For the price shown, I'd take a chance.

Any soldering iron should have an auto shut-off feature. That is, when you put the iron into the holder, it cools off the tip. Without this, the tips just won't last. Most of the ceramic type irons can heat up within seconds.

If you are soldering SAC305 or any of the ROHS solders, you need a hot tip. SAC305 melts around 215C, I think. That's roughly 419F. My iron is usually set to at least 700F for Sn96 and probably 750 for ROHS. I have used 780F successfully, but it's pretty hot and you have to be careful. To be fair, I use small tips....less thermal mass. This works fine form SMD work, and rework without damaging the PCB. If you happen to be using solder mask defined pads, then the PCB might have too much copper and those small tips don't have the mass to heat it up enough. For those you will need a larger tip....more mass.

quick summary:
1. Auto tip cool down when idle is mandatory.
2. Temperature controlled tip is mandatory.
3. Temperature to 750F or more.
4. Ease of tip swapping is helpful.
5. Availability of tips is helpful.
6. Buy an assortment of tips, from small to big.

good luck

gene
Click to expand...
I am soldering through-hole components. My PCBs are 2 layer and the bottom layer is, usually, a 10 X 10 cm ground plane.
Most of the time is easy to solder components but not so easy to de solder.
 
#14
pcardoso73 said:
But I prefer something with the transformer inside the case.
Just for your reference, I had this one
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mL7wydu
Click to expand...
The controller looks nice indeed, but I like a bigger handle size. I will not buy a low priced T12 station with internal power supply because on my experience this is the weak point of the device. As you can easily see by comparing the power board pictures with even a "basic quality" 24V SMPS from a reputable brand such as Mean Well, the cheap power supply lacks protection devices on the primary side, shields, the filter capacitors are smaller, and so forth. A stray unwanted RF may reach the heating element and damage the device to be soldered. This is unlikely; but since I already see far too many faulty SMPS power supplies on my bench already, I am trying to avoid adding my own devices to the pile.
 
#15
gearheadgene said:
Any soldering iron should have an auto shut-off feature. That is, when you put the iron into the holder, it cools off the tip. Without this, the tips just won't last. Most of the ceramic type irons can heat up within seconds.
Click to expand...
I'm glad my soldering station doesn't have that feature. The ones at work auto shut-off, and I find it very annoying.

Mind you, they auto shut-off after a fixed period of time and you need to press a button to turn them on again. Do you also need to press a button or does your station go from standby to on automatically when you pick the iron out of the holder?
 
#16
pcan said:
The controller looks nice indeed, but I like a bigger handle size. I will not buy a low priced T12 station with internal power supply because on my experience this is the weak point of the device. As you can easily see by comparing the power board pictures with even a "basic quality" 24V SMPS from a reputable brand such as Mean Well, the cheap power supply lacks protection devices on the primary side, shields, the filter capacitors are smaller, and so forth. A stray unwanted RF may reach the heating element and damage the device to be soldered. This is unlikely; but since I already see far too many faulty SMPS power supplies on my bench already, I am trying to avoid adding my own devices to the pile.
Click to expand...
So, you would prefer to buy one of these over the ones with internal PSU,right?
 
#17
Get the Quecoo, not because I've used mine for two years, but because the Ksger has safety code violation in the PCB assembly, at least at the moment I was shopping a T12 station. I'm not aware of they having corrected that violation or not with the later shipment. The issue is that the heatsink for the MOSFET in the PSU straddles on a primary side trace on the PCB, negating the clearance/creepage the PCB layout intended and making it a potential safety hazard. It can be fixed though by removing the MOSFET/heatsink, cutting away the part of the heatsink to suffice the clearance/creepage required by safety code, putting tape over the trace if needed, then reinstalling the MOSFET/heatsink.

The unit I bought had the tip floating, un-grounded, despite the grounding was provided inside the unit as a seemingly "option". I personally don't like the tip hard-grounded as it's not a proper ESD protection measure. I grounded the tip with a 1M-ohm resistor in series.
 
#18
pcardoso73 said:
So, you would prefer to buy one of these over the ones with internal PSU,right?
Click to expand...
Yes, I do not trust any T12 clone power supply. They are almost never tested or certified to any safety/quality standard. I agree that a self-contained supply is useful, but I will rather use a Mean Well, Delta or equivalent from a trusted brand. Fitting the power supply and the controller inside a box is trivial and will also make any future replacement very easy.
I also experienced myself on a similar soldering iron from China the grounding issue described by nattawa; 1M resistor or hard grounding is a matter of preference (I like hard grounding because I don't usually work with sensitive semiconductors), but a floating tip is definitely a mistake. By assembling the system yourself, you will be sure about this issue.
 
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