Well, i have a ERSA 60W 24V iron with a homebrew station,
it measures the temperature in the heating element by it's resistance.
nut the best method, but it works very nicely for me.
i never measured the temp ripple under normal soldering condidtions but
if someone is interested i will do it (I'm a bit curious too)
It uses the tips which slide on the outside over the iron.
You can't compare this to a cheapo iron without temp. control.
(I have written about the importance of closed loop control in another
post)
It's worth more than the difference in costs...
You can change tips on this iron also when hot, just lift the spring with
pliers and slide the tip off. there are also special pliers for this job,
with a groove for gripping the tip, but any pliers will work fine.
never grip the business end with the pliers, you could destroy the coating.
I also agree on the "broad tip" thing, if you have the right amount of
solder
it works fine...
Just seen a old small oven/grill on the attic today while looking for
something else.
maybe when i find the time (and a cheap source for soldering paste) i will
actually build
the oven...
Any ideas how to apply the paste? I used a syringe with a hose to a
machine in school, there was a button
which caused the delivery of exactly the same amount each time at the tip.
the hose looked like a air hose, but i wonder if the compressibility is no
problem.
(May have been water or oil in there also)
any ideas how to build this?
Any ideas if / how this could be fitted to a cnc drill?
is it possible to make such a automated dispenser??
ST
(I'm talking of smd resistors / caps here, ics take a bead, no individual
dots)
On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 16:46:59 -0000, ghidera2000 <
ghidera2000@...>
wrote:
> I'm with the majority here. I started out with an "economy"
> soldering iron and very quickly regretted it. Thing took centuries
> to heat up and lost temp very quickly. I finally gave in and bought
> a Weller WTCPT station. Not fancy, temperature control is in the
> tips not on the station. The difference was staggering though, heats
> up in < 1 minute, doesn't lose temperature when soldering. Has a
> nice range of tips (which seem to last a LOOONG time).
>
> As for the QFP - Some things I've read said that going with a fine
> tip might actually be harder than going with a wide one. They said
> go wide and solder several pins at once. Check for bridges when
> you're done and remove with a soldering wick.
>
> I haven't tried a QFP but I have tried some SOTs this way. Seems
> that the solder rarely bridges unless you put loads of it on. Even
> then I usually just turn the tip sideways and reheat one of the pins
> and the bridge melts away in an instant.
>
> Doesn't take a lot of practice to do this really. Thing is that I
> usually have the fine tip on when I'm soldering SMT caps and
> resistors etc and I can't be bothered to change tips (cool down
> time) so i just do them one pin at a time.
>
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Moore" <pminmo@c...> wrote:
>> Want to hand solder 44pin qfp's. Need a new soldering iron that
>> won't break the bank. (less than $50). Suggestions?
>>
>> Phil
>
>
>
>
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