9802	2014-03-06 04:37:48	Thomas S. Knutsen	Re: Soldering SMD, was: Collecting and Storing SMD Parts
Message	Date	From	Subject
The Aoyue 968 is quite common in the maker world, its an chinese soldering station with hot air. Be avare that you do want the + version, this have both better temprature control (PID) and more durable heating element. The solder smoke absorber is, in my opinion a idiotic attachement, since the smoke comes out of the hot air nozzle. The idea is good but they did a bit to much in order to save money, I would have liked an hose that could go out the window. The hose that go to the hot air handle is in my opinion a bit stiff and quite annoying to handle, but the handle is decent enough (Hakko is not much better). As an alternative, I would reccomend getting an decent soldering iron (Hakko or Weller perhaps?) and an separate hot air tool. The Atten 858d is avaible for about $50 and does an decent job both soldering and heating heathshrink. There are heating elements avaible for both the soldering irons and the hot air nozzles, you may want to get some extra of those, when it burns out. An small box of solder paste is quite handy to have around for soldering SMD. You can see me using it both with an soldering iron and hot air here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udKRrEDVN4k 73 de Thomas LA3PNA. 2014-03-05 20:29 GMT+01:00 David Nushardt <daven9ooq@yahoo.com>: Yeah:I have both and a third one gray in color that has smaller but more compartments than the one shown there all on ebay from china, yes there nice! No point in going thru Adafruit a middle man unless your in a hurry! I'm just getting my first SMD solder station a Aoyue 968+ any recommendations? I was first looking at the xytronics stations but they all seem to be built by one company,and very cheaply made , my thought was to go with a brand name but I saw the review for the one i got the on you tube and it looked much better in quality than xytronics i'm disabled with a stroke my left side is out , so i can only use my right hand fortunately i am right handed! I was concerned about the smoke absorber atached to the solder iron, who's brilliant idea, not ,i see a replacement iron on ebay for another 20 bucks with out the smoke absorber, don't need any hoses or attachments impeding my soldering. Thanks! Dave
9803	2014-03-06 05:30:52	Roelof Bakker	Re: Soldering SMD, was: Collecting and Storing SMD Parts
Hello all, I have been using a Xytronic LF-2000 HF soldering station for a couple of years now. It works extremely well and responds very quickly at heat demand, without causing excessive heating of components. All in all it gives a completely new soldering experience. It is rated at 100W and it is no problem to solder parts to a ground plane. Since I use it, my trusty Weller station has only seen use in tinning enameled wire! Best of all the cost is very modest when looking at prices for similar solder stations. In Germany it is available here: http://www.reichelt.nl/STATION-LF-2000/3/index.html?&ACTION=3&LA=446&ARTICLE=89344&artnr=STATION+LF-2000&SEARCH=xytronic+LF-2000 The LF-3000 is a similar solder station, rated at 90W. 73, Roelof Bakker, pa0rdt
9804	2014-03-06 10:03:58	David Nushardt	Re: Soldering SMD, was: Collecting and Storing SMD Parts
Thanks much! Tom I do have the Aoyue 968+ version, and yes I('m very pleased with the temp tracking even has a led to show when it is active. heats up very quickly both the iron and hot air , my main complaint with it is, with all the tips you get none has a solder cup tip, same with the nozzles for the hot air they could give you a better selection, fortunately parts are readily available. The overall quality is not bad, and the functionality is good also. thanks for the link! too. Anyone make a smd board for the direct conversion receiver in EMRFD chapter 1, and since I'm on the topic of boards and new to the group are any boards in the book available? especially the Spectrum Analyzer boards supposedly available from Kenga,but not. it would be nice to see the art work posted so readers could make their own boards. I would much rather purchase boards, since life is difficult enough with one good hand, ever try winding toroid cores with one hand, its all about the challenge of it! Thanks 73's Dave N9ooq