Soldering and de-soldering station - advice required

[albertofenini]

Hi everyone,
don't know if this is the right section to post, so eventually please move or remove if non appropriate.
We would like to replace our soldering tool ERSA 15W and heated de-soldering pump EWIG 40W
with something more "professional".
Can anyone suggest a model, maybe doing both things with a single unit, that is professional
enough to not damage our units, but won't cost an arm and a leg ?
What are you using ?
Thanks in advance !!

[EugeneNine]

Rough cost?
Are you a hobbiest at home or a company?

[albertofenini]

Hi EugeneNine
Thx for your reply, we are definitely hobbyist people,
It’s me and my 12 years son, it has to be something that we can buy here in Italy or in Europe and should cost not more than 150 €,
Any idea ?

[albertofenini]

Sorry but we just deleted by mistake this reply :

Dave Frederickson has just replied to a thread which you have subscribed to at HP Forums. This thread is titled Soldering and de-soldering station - advice required.

Here is an excerpt of the message:
------------------------------------------
I have a Weller WES51 which has been replaced by the WE1010NA.

https://www.amazon.com/Weller-WE10... (visit the thread to read more..)

Dave can you please re-post your answer ?
However that's an excellent soldering station, what do you suggest as a de-soldering
solution ? Possibly something not manual that needs to be charged for any action,
more like a heated vacuum gun ...

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

As a pure hobbyist myselt, I have been using this cheap - 26 Euros - Chinese digital soldering station for some years now (ebay.it item number 132788272137). They are also sold on Aliexpress and other sites that have Chinese junk.
I was skeptical at first (have been using quality soldering irons - but with fixed wattage - for decades before that one and paid a lot more for each of them) but it works very well. Be sure to get the bag of extra tips in different sizes as well when you order (item no. 311823305367) which costs an additional 11 Euros. Compared to real good soldering stations from Weller and Ersa that I have used on various occasions, the main disadvantage is the relatively long heat-up time. And the display does not show the actual temperature but the one that you want to get.

And for desoldering I have an even cheaper tool, an electrical desoldering pump. They are from China too of course, but sold in Europe for example from the Dutch electronics distributor Velleman. Or again from ebay.it e.g. item number 311823305367. I used this tool for example to cleanly desolder an HP-25 before I converted it to a "Panamatik Low Power" unit. Took only a few minutes...

But both these tools are not good for surface mounted devices. For those you will need much more sophisticated and expensive equipment.

Saluti
Max

[albertofenini]

Thanks Max,
we are not looking for tools to work SMD, although we have a good number of calcs that use
SMD technology, we are not into repairing these.
We mostly works on Classic, Woodstock and Spice.
We checked the TAS items but we couldn't find anything with those item numbers,
could you please send me more details ?
The desoldering tool is manual or automatic ?
thx again for help !

[Dave Frederickson]

(09-16-2019 09:42 PM)albertofenini Wrote:  Sorry but we just deleted by mistake this reply :

Dave Frederickson has just replied to a thread which you have subscribed to at HP Forums. This thread is titled Soldering and de-soldering station - advice required.

Here is an excerpt of the message:
------------------------------------------
I have a Weller WES51 which has been replaced by the WE1010NA.

https://www.amazon.com/Weller-WE10... (visit the thread to read more..)

Dave can you please re-post your answer ?
However that's an excellent soldering station, what do you suggest as a de-soldering
solution ? Possibly something not manual that needs to be charged for any action,
more like a heated vacuum gun ...

I deleted my post because it didn't address the desoldering requirement. Also, the WE1010NA exceeds your budget when purchased from Amazon Italy.

I've been spoiled over the years and have had access to high-end soldering and desoldering equipment, so I really can't suggest a hobbyist desoldering tool.

Dave

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(09-16-2019 10:04 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  Or again from ebay.it e.g. item number 311823305367. I used this tool for example to cleanly desolder an HP-25 before I converted it to a "Panamatik Low Power" unit. Took only a few minutes...

This is the link to the tips. Could you find the link to the desoldering pump?
Thank you!

[Sadsilence]

Hello,

I have been using a ZD-987 solder/desoldering station for many years now and are very satisfied with it. There are different soldering tips available and with fine ones even SMD (re)work is possible. E. g. all WP34S USB boards were built with that station.

Best regard,

Werner

[rncgray]

The Hakko FX888D is a good affordable option as well.

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(09-17-2019 06:03 AM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  This is the link to the tips. Could you find the link to the desoldering pump?
Thank you!

This is a link to Amazon (but you can find the same item on eBay and elsewhere too): https://www.amazon.com/Velleman-VTDESOL3...290&sr=8-1

That's a soldering iron combined with a mechanical desoldering pump. Probably the cheapest solution on the market for the occasional user.

Hope it helps
Max

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(09-16-2019 10:13 PM)albertofenini Wrote:  Thanks Max,
...We mostly works on Classic, Woodstock and Spice.
We checked the TAS items but we couldn't find anything with those item numbers,
could you please send me more details ?
The desoldering tool is manual or automatic ?
thx again for help !

Here is a link to the same soldering station on Amazon. However the price for exactly the same unit is twice that of the eBay seller! https://www.amazon.com/Aven-17405-Solder...ay&sr=8-14

And regarding the desoldering tool from Velleman I answered Massimo one minute ago :-)

Good luck
Max

[albertofenini]

Hi everyone ad thank you for all your answers, may be this is a topic of interest for few of us
This is what we use today :

   

   

We are quite happy with the soldering tool, it's pretty much the same I used at school ,
just a newer version, but same power 30W, which until now has proven to be
low enough to not burn anything,
but the manual de-soldering pump is good only when few components have to be removed,
like tonight that we re-worked an entire HP-67 logic board something automatic would have been
better.
Among all the suggested tools the one that we
like the most is the ZD-987 solder/desoldering station suggested by Sadsilence.
Anyone else is using something like this ?
thanks again !!!

[EugeneNine]

I good thread over here https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/ha...?topicseen

[albertofenini]

Thanks!
Yes It is nice but I’m afraid that most of the American units are 110v based
As of now we think that the ZD-987 is the best compromise but we are open to
any other suggestions before we buy it

[teenix]

(09-18-2019 01:20 PM)albertofenini Wrote:  Thanks!
Yes It is nice but I’m afraid that most of the American units are 110v based
As of now we think that the ZD-987 is the best compromise but we are open to
any other suggestions before we buy it

I have similar to S-993A type of vacuum de-solder gun. I've had it for 20+ years and it still works. There are lots of models around of varying prices.

cheers

Tony

[Siegfried]

I recently bought a ZD-985 (from a Polish seller on EBay) and while it occasionally clogs up it still eases desoldering of multiple pins quite a lot. I have not tried it on a calc but 80´s homecomputers should be similar. I got a used Metcal for soldering but that seems to have been a lucky find as they don‘t seem to come up often.