I am building my first SMD board, and I am looking for recommendations for SMD soldering stations. I am planning on having JCLPCB install a majority of the parts, but there are a few on the backside of the board I need to had solder, as well as a few depending on some different configurations I want to test. Plus, there is always the Doh! moments when I realize that pesky resistor needs to be a different value.
What stations would you recommend in the ~$100 or less range? Is this a reasonable price point? What features do I need to be most concerned about?
Do I need a combo hot air/solder station, or is the solder station enough? (i.e. needed or nice to have?) When would I need a hot air station? What features do I need to be most concerned about?
What about microscopes? Needed or nice to have? Any sub $100 microscopes you would recommend? What features do I need to be most concerned about?
I am using some 0402 thermistors on the backside of the board to measure battery temp, and they fit nicely inside the 4S 21700 battery holder mounting holes. I will use double stick foam tape instead to hold the battery holder as well as the 8 TH solder pins.
Hot air is very useful for removing ICs but I like to use a hot tweezer for swapping 0603s to 1210s for example. This can also be done with two soldering irons, so the tweezer is not essential.
For 0402s…good luck. I and many other people try to use 0603 as the smallest.
Good point. I will change the 0402 thermistors for the 0603 version. They will also just fit in the holes. I will also look through the pcb and keep all parts 0603 or larger.
Any recommendations for a combo soldering iron/hot air station?
More context is needed to give you an appropriate answer. Are you a student, is this a startup, is this a one time thing, what is your skill level?
Personally, I’d only use a sub $100 soldering iron if I was about to visit a customer and a wire broke and I was in a panic.
I have a Weller WX2N soldering station with a soldering pencil and desoldering tweezers. Hot tweezers are essential for removing something like a 0402.
I have a hot air jet and it’s not that useful in anything other than a production environment - unless there is some burning need to reuse a chip, I find it easiest to simply cut the leads at the package and then remove the left over pins and redress the pad.
With regards to microscopes, I have a ProZoom SZ-4.5 with two eyepieces. Part of it is my age and need for reading glasses - when I was in my 20s I could work on 0402s easily now, not so much.
I’m mentioning this, because what I’ve listed above is in my basement and cost about $4k and is worth every penny. I should point out that except for the hot air jet, the tools are all over ten years old and well supported with spare parts so good tools will last a long time (like my Fluke 87 which is over 30 years old).
Rather than looking at Amazon, take a look at Digi-Key or Mouser and then look for online reviews of the tools they have available. That will give you an idea of what their capabilities are and whether they’re appropriate for your needs.
If I was to buy one now it would probably either be a C245 or T12 clone form China. Partly because I (sort of) like tinkering with the hardware, and these have an STM32 and firmware from github.
TS80 / TS100 is also popular, especially if you like a small form factor, but there are not many tip sizes for these, and the tips are very long, which amplifies hand vibration and reduces agility. This is especially detrimental when soldering small SMT stuff.
There are many variants of the C245 and T12 clones. From cheap and dubious to reasonably priced and (probably) more reliable. Also be wary of the cheapest handles, they look flimsy.
The Hakko FX-888 is a low-cost soldering station that is highly regarded among hobbyists, free-lance designers, and semi-pro assemblers. It’s really a general-purpose soldering station. You’ll have to get some of the small tips - especially the ones with bent ends - for SMD work.
The Hakko FX-951 is more specifically designed for SMD work, but it’s more expensive. There are less expensive third-party knock-offs which use the 951’s heating elements, and some hobbyists claim excellent performance from them. The key is to use genuine Hakko elements. Again, select elements with small tips - and bent tips.
How good are your eyes? My tri-focaled, superannuated, geezer eyeballs use fairly high power reading glasses (“+3” power, I believe) as well as a clamp-on-the-desk magnifier light. The “Mag Lamp XL UN1030” has a wide field of view, edge-to-edge focus, and no color fringes.
You’ll need a hot-air tool if you have to remove devices with more than about 6 pins.
Also invest in some paste solder. “CML Supply” is a good source for relatively small amounts. I find it much easier to get fully-wetted, non-bridged joints on IC’s and small transistors by using paste solder and a toothpick, than with even fine-gauge wire solder. (I know the advertised shelf-life is only 6 months, but with a few drops of isopropanol I can use 2-year old paste solder for repairs and rework. It’s a bit trickier to do initial assembly with stencils and older solder paste, but it’s usable for much longer than 6 months.)
“AmScope” often has stereo microscopes on a boom arm in the $200 range. When I need a microscope, 10X magnification seems adequate nearly all the time; on a few, rare, occasions I have slipped in the 20X eyepieces. I have often seen these on E-Bay, as well as the name-brands (Nikon, Bausch, Zeiss, etc) but they’re typically not far from the AmScope brand-new price.
I switched from an older Metcal to a JBC T210 clone (using authentic JBC tips) and it’s been great. Much, much better than a FX-888 or entry-level Weller for doing SMD work, in my opinion. And, no problem doing 0402s with this setup when needed.
I almost never use hot air for anything, at work or at home. It is certainly useful sometimes, but it isn’t where I would spend money to get started.
Also have had good experiences with AmScope microscopes.
I never bother with screening solder paste and reflowing - I just tin one pad with some solder, and place the component on it with a tweezer, while melting the solder with a very fine-tipped iron. Then I solder the other lead.
This is WAY faster and more accurate than trying to replicate a commercial process by hand. I’ve done many, many short-run jobs this way.
I want to thank everyone for their very helpful comments! I picked up a Yihua 982-III solder station and an Andonstar AD1210 LCD Microscope on Amazon Prime Day for a total of $160.
To answer @mykepredko, I am a retired EE/manager/consultant having fun. With my eyes, I need all the help I can get.
The components you expect to solder - Is it “just” some resistors? Or maybe some fine-pitch ICs with 8+ pins, too?
Your skill - I personally do everything down to 0402 with a small soldering iron and good tweezers. No hot tweezers, hot air, infrared, heated beds or other sophisticated stuff. Especially hot air is a double-edged sword. It can be incredibly useful to rework fine-pitch components if you are skilled with it. On the other hand you can ruin your whole PCB with the wrong settings. And in a much wider radius than with a soldering iron.
For “just” a soldering iron I swear there is nothing better than TS101 for a hobbyist, when you need an allrounder. I even use one at work for maintenance tasks.
It is mobile (if powered with a battery), has intelligent heat selection (with boost-function to solder GND), a wide array of available tips and enough power to solder bigger stuff, even.