[sdiy] Soldering station decision

[george leonard]

Hi Chaps.
I absolutely agree Magnus.Metcal does exactly what it says on the box!.(not
cheep though!!).We replaced about 30 at work 2 years ago and diched our
Wellers.The only issue we had with Metcal was suitability with static
sensitive devices(no grounding connection on soldering station)but were
informed that, because tip heat is generated by an RF signal rather than say
24V DC as in Weller stations, this is not a problem(not that many RAF
Tornados have fallen out of sky so far so we figure they are telling the
truth!!!).
Another iron we have tried recently is ERSA.
The bottom range digital version is pretty high spec: providing password
protected temperature adjustment (we have a lot of semi skilled staff) and a
few other usefull features.Going up a grade gives you RS232 control allowing
you PC monitored callibration on a daily basis!. Bottom range from memory is
about GB£ 130.00

George.
-----Original Message-----
From: Magnus Danielson <cfmd at swipnet.se>
To: trevor at resonance.fsnet.co.uk <trevor at resonance.fsnet.co.uk>;
t at introspectiv.org <t at introspectiv.org>
Cc: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Date: 01 November 2002 21:01
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Soldering station decision


>From: "Trevor Page" <t at introspectiv.org>
>Subject: [sdiy] Soldering station decision
>Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 20:13:37 -0000
>
>> Hi all,
>
>Hi Trevor,
>
>> The time has come for me to get myself a decent soldering iron station!
>
>> I'm very familiar with the Weller station because I use one at work, and
>> I know that I cannot go wrong with this station. The Xytronic, however,
>> would probably do exactly what I want but for half the amount of money.
>> I've never used a Xytronic, however, and I have no idea how the quality
>> compares with the Weller. I know that the method of swapping between
>> bits is the same, which is good. The station will probably see fairly
>> moderate use, mainly SMD, and I want this thing to last for ages. It's
>> important to me that the quality of the iron itself is similar to that
>> of the Weller.
>>
>> Any opinions on this? Any user reports on the Xytronic products?
>>
>> Regards and many thanks in advance for any advice offered.
>
>Well, I am not sure what I am going to recommend is in the league you are
>looking at, but I want to point you to a good choice for both through-hole
and
>SMD components, namely the Metcal stuff. A Metcal station with a few
different
>tips and then a suitable stereomicroscope, and you can do alot. The Metcal
has
>the benefit that it only pumps out the energy when the tip is cooled, it
works
>extremely well.
>
>I don't have one at home, but at work we have a pair of stations and they
are
>used with great satisfaction on a daily basis in our development/repair
shop.
>I'd like to have one at home thought... ;O)
>
>Cheers,
>Magnus