Homebrew PCBs

I had Aoyue 968 before, for the budget it's not so bad. Consider buying a preheater (Aoyue 853 is ok), it will make soldering or desoldering easier. Also get all the nozzles you might need at once. Temperature control is not very consistent, I recommend using a thermocouple to get the real temperature. Mostly it was working ok for qfp100 packages, don't expect it to unsolder or solder big packages or BGAs.

I had one for five years and it didn't break, the same for their preheater.



On 4 juil. 2011, at 03:00, "nathan_h_tna" <nathanhooyagroups@...> wrote:

I have some boards with smt parts that will really be a pain to solder with my iron. I've been thinking about getting a cheap soldering station, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Aoyue-968-Digital-Rework-Station/dp/B000HDG0AO, but I don't know if it will work well or how long it will last. (anybody have personal experience in this area?)

Anyways, I read today about how someone used a heatgun like this: 
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100371401/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
to reflow parts, and now I'm curious if anyone has done this?




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