Do you use soldering station or soldering iron? Please suggest a durable soldering station, if you use one?

Navier

Navier

Discoverer
I am getting into hobby electronics and currently using the 200 rupees soldering iron from flipkart, its currently working but I have gone through two of them because they break often.
If you are into hobby electronics or repair electrical equipment professionally, please suggest a soldering station for under 5-6k. I am willing to spend that much and I expect it to last for 3-4 years of use with proper care.

I am leaning towards these two.
https://robu.in/product/yihua-926le...elping-hands-adjustable-soldering-iron-tools/
https://robu.in/product/yihua-939bd...cb-soldering-iron-smd-rework-station-machine/

Thanks.
 
My first soldering iron was a Soldron 25W in the mid 1990s, I replaced it two or three times over the years since then but it was always a frustrating process since it wasn't temperature controlled. A about a year ago, I bought a T12X and the difference has been pretty shocking, I never knew soldering would be such a rewarding and easy process. I got a few wide bits from toolworld.in to complement the fine tip that came with the iron.

Now I want a T12X for every tip that I regularly use, just because they're so nice. The higher 72W power also helps with desoldering connectors and things.
 
rsaeon said:
I bought a T12X and the difference has been pretty shocking, I never knew soldering would be such a rewarding and easy process.
Click to expand...
I'm curious about all the t12 soldering stations on the net (most of them are clones of ksger if I'm not wrong), do these stations come with proper grounding? Which ones would you recommend?
 
rsaeon said:
Now I want a T12X for every tip that I regularly use, just because they're so nice. The higher 72W power also helps with desoldering connectors and things.
Click to expand...
How is the selection of tips for this model?

The 72W will come in useful to solder strips to 18650 cells but needs a thick tip for heat transfer

I had my eye on a Hakko for some time but the price is expensive...

Another ergonomics point is an analogue temperature dial is less fiddly and easier to use than buttons to set temperature. Which the linked model fortunately has but the new Hakko models do not.
 
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Alucard1729 said:
I'm curious about all the t12 soldering stations on the net (most of them are clones of ksger if I'm not wrong), do these stations come with proper grounding? Which ones would you recommend?
Click to expand...

If you go back far enough, all T12 stations are clones of the Hakko 951 that originally introduced the T12 tips. I like OSS's T12X because of the detailed information the high res screen provides.

Grounding is iffy with these units. There is some safety with the earth pin of the IEC connector grounded to the edges of the PCB which contact the enclosure but the anodizing in some units like mine acts as insulator and prevents the enclosure from being grounded properly. There are varying opinions on whether the tip needs to be grounded directly or through a 1M resistor but there is a PE (protective earth) solder point inside that can be used to ground the tip.

20230306_043024.jpg

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blr_p said:
How is the selection of tips for this model?

The 72W will come in useful to solder strips to 18650 cells but needs a thick tip for heat transfer

I had my eye on a Hakko for some time but the price is expensive...

Another ergonomics point is an analogue temperature dial is less fiddly and easier to use than buttons to set temperature. Which the linked model fortunately has but the new Hakko models do not.
Click to expand...

There's a pretty good selection of tips here: https://www.toolworld.in/product.php?q=t12+tip The ones I received were genuine Hakko ones when I ordered them a year ago.

I have this 5mm tip for desoldering bios chips one side (4 pins) at a time: https://www.toolworld.in/product.php?pid=10640&pn=T12-DL52 Soldering Tip

These newer cartridge type soldering stations are much easier to use and heat up far quicker (literally seconds) than the older styles ones like the Hakko 888 and similarly priced Weller's. For hobbyists, the combination of a T12 station and Hakko tips is pretty hard to beat. The best part is pushing in the rotary encoder to get a short boost in temperature (+50C for a few seconds) to help with desoldering larger components/connectors.
 
rsaeon said:
My first soldering iron was a Soldron 25W in the mid 1990s, I replaced it two or three times over the years since then but it was always a frustrating process since it wasn't temperature controlled. A about a year ago, I bought a T12X and the difference has been pretty shocking, I never knew soldering would be such a rewarding and easy process. I got a few wide bits from toolworld.in to complement the fine tip that came with the iron.

Now I want a T12X for every tip that I regularly use, just because they're so nice. The higher 72W power also helps with desoldering connectors and things.
Click to expand...
I went the reverse route, bought a T12X for some fiddly SMD soldering but ended up using the soldron 25W instead. I bought the needle tips for them and if needed, i'd sharpen them with my angle grinder. Works a treat for me
 
ibose said:
Opens fine for me. Your browser is probably overtaken by adware/malware.
Click to expand...
Lol, I was browsing through Android phone.

Most probably their site is hosted on some shared ip hosting web plan and someone messed something in the webserver. Funny thing is it opens now properly to that site. So suddenly no malware on my android phone? :rolleyes:
 
6pack said:
Lol, I was browsing through Android phone.

Most probably their site is hosted on some shared ip hosting web plan and someone messed something in the webserver. Funny thing is it opens now properly to that site. So suddenly no malware on my android phone? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Off topic but browser hijacks are known to happen irrespective of the OS (just google for it). Good that it is opening fine for you now.
 
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