Soldering and de-soldering station - advice required

[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