Hi!
Use lead solder, trash unless solder.
I use a regular solder iron. Jbc 30.
You can buy ayuie rework station, I have one, but the jbc iron is better

dont buy chinese crap, too dangerous. I use a hakko 888, but weller also has good stuff on the low price side too.

I use the chinese made TS100 iron, which 'borrows' some of the design from higher end irons - it runs off a laptop PSU and with the biggest tip, I can reliably replace capacitors on motherboards.

Upgrading it to custom firmware is handy because it gives a live view of the power output: https://github.com/Ralim/ts100
That way, I can get a visible confirmation that the board is heated through for desoldering etc.

That said, I'm not so sure it's the best for really tiny work, because the firmware isn't working well with keeping the smallest tip at the right temperature.

I bought a Tenma SMD Soldering/Desoldering Tweezers at Microcenter a couple of months ago (might practice the soldering).

I use Goot soldering irons (20, 40 and 60W), regular ones without any fancy temperature control. They're well made (Japan), cheap, and the ceramic tips last a long time, which is enough for my hobby level of use. Some people despise the conical tips but it's not a big deal to me at least.

I also agree on not using lead-free solder if you want to avoid frustrations. Flux also helps a lot with SMD stuff.

If you're just getting started, it is worth the cost to find some sort of temperature-controlled station. Once you try it, you'll wonder why you ever bothered trying to work with anything else. The really low-end Chinese irons that some shops offer for free with any order, in particular, are uncontrolled garbage that are just as likely to cause you to destroy your board as they are to let you successfully solder the part.

I don't like conical tips at all, especially for surface-mount work. To start with, I'd use a relatively fine flat tip set to a temperature just slightly over that needed to melt the solder you are using. It seems to be a fairly commonly-held opinion here that lead-free solder is unnecessary for hobbyist-level work.

Also, if you want to experiment with surface-mount parts, flux is your friend, especially to start with. Find a no-clean formulation that isn't conductive.

I am NEW to soldering.
I recently started to learn how to solder repairing old electronics and computers.
I hope to build a good soldering work area in the future.

What Iron to use ? Currently I use an inexpensive $20 iron.
What Solder type? 60/40
What Flux type - SRA , Kester, Paste, No-Clean
What WiCK ? - Copper
What USB Micro soldering station -Andonstar 5 inch Screen 1080P Digital Microscope HDMI Microscope for Circuit Board Repair Soldering Tool ADSM302

What USB MicroCamera - Plugable USB 2.0 Digital Microscope with Flexible Arm Observation Stand for Windows, Mac, Linux (2 MP, 250x Magnification)

Huh. That's very interesting. I have a logic board station and solder station that holds wiring in place (what I used when I made my own A/V cable for my Commodore 64).

Magnification, any magnification, is very handy. As for which soldering iron to use, I have a Hakko FX-888D (which is excellent) and a 90W Chinese STM32 based T15 iron (this one - I like it better than the Hakko).

I feel good thermal control is more important for SMD work due to the larger variation in thermal masses involved.

http://www.tmeeco.eu/BitShit/SolderingStation.jpg

I use this Hakko clone, I have had it for about 4 years now and earlier this year I had to replace the heater. It seems to be pretty decent and uses RTD rather than thermocouple for temp sensing.

Thermalwrong wrote:

I use the chinese made TS100 iron, which 'borrows' some of the design from higher end irons - it runs off a laptop PSU and with […]
Show full quote

I use the chinese made TS100 iron, which 'borrows' some of the design from higher end irons - it runs off a laptop PSU and with the biggest tip, I can reliably replace capacitors on motherboards.

Upgrading it to custom firmware is handy because it gives a live view of the power output: https://github.com/Ralim/ts100
That way, I can get a visible confirmation that the board is heated through for desoldering etc.

That said, I'm not so sure it's the best for really tiny work, because the firmware isn't working well with keeping the smallest tip at the right temperature.

This !

I really like this iron. I might be biased because I've alway have had crap irons before, but I doubt you can make a better iron for just 50€. This thing melts almost everything without needing to get super hot, and it heats up really quick. I think this should do the trick for many soldering jobs

user33331 wrote:

Hello (Amateur solderings :blah: ) I have by time often come up with some SMDs missing and thinking that I could finally do some […]
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Hello (Amateur solderings 😒 )
I have by time often come up with some SMDs missing and thinking that I could finally do something about those.
I need inspiration on buying a SMD soldering iron and multiple needle small tips\heads.
What brands and models do you use ?
Do I have to pay that 100-200euros for a "station style model" or will some eBay's budget sharp tipped 60W be good enough for 1st timer ?

I have used 10euro irons: LUX-tools 30W and 60W(German China brands).
- They eat tips I can use the tip only one time and after the one use the tip's "silver coating" is gone, color is turned black orange and the tip's performance is really poor after that happens.
Weller's battery operated AA cordless 20euro iron was really bad it was like 10W. I trashed it.

I buy also:
- Tiny 0.5mm diameter unleaded solder. D=0.020" and/or 0.015".
- 1mm braided solder wick.

I went with 3 separate stations, slodering, desoldering and hotair and don't regret. If you want to buy one all-in-one station that is at least average, then you have to pay more. This is how it works.
1. for soldering - 60w (I guess) solomon/pensol. my model is SL30ESD but can be found under different names in other countries
+ no issues regarding operation, I got it it like 4+ years using same ceramic insert and same tips set
+ tips are cheap, longlasting, 5 or 6 shapes, station holds temperature with small fluctuations only
+ ceramic heater
+ price is good
- heats up about a minute
- to change tip you have to wait until it cools down to unscrew it (weird)
- for some situation it may be still to weak when it comes to heat transfer
If you are a DIY person then on ebay you can find a thermocouple set to make your own soldering station, just need a soldering head (hakko?) with a tip + case.
2. for desoldering I use ZD985:
+ not very expensive
+ does the job done
- slow (like really really slow) to heat up
- tips are not longlasting. If you would like to desolder components from like 10 motherboards with the same tip, then good luck, chances are you will burn the joints eventually as the tip will degrade with use. This does not mean it's usless, you just need to have few spares and check its condition before any longer repair. Fortunately they are cheap.
- pistoll gets clogged with some solder gunk over time, but the long skewer in 3 sizes is provided in a set, so a little plumbing skills are required 😎
- some early models had earth/ground wire swapped in cable provided and it caused LCD to burn.The cable is like the one from PC PSU, so check the marking before plugging. Mine was ok. Just change cables and that's it.
3. for hot air SMD stuff I use Quick DW861
+ this thing is great
+ not super cheap, but fairly good price
+ quiet, reliable
+ 3 channels with temperature
+ tips are available (4? is available in a box), but some may be quite expensive (like some models for BGA or big size QFP packages)
- I havent't found yet, best buy so far

For soldering I use standard solder (Pb) wire and I guess for hobbyst stuff you don't need anything special. For BGA this is different story. I bought once from ebay a low temperature melting solder for tricky situations when you cannot afford to heat up components too much. A word of warning with hot air, buy a few reels of kapton tape - this makes your life easier and less stressful. Hope that helps a bit.

+1 for the TS100

Yeah, I like soldering with No-Clean flux and hot air gun. Super simple.

I use a cheap YiHua soldering station and it's very nice : precise temprature control with digital display and analog knob, fast heating, come with several tips... build quality is cheap of course, but it works very well and cost me less than 40 euros.

I have the following setup

The lab bench power supply is a piece of garbage but it has a nice feature, once the current demand reaches the set current limit it beeps and kill the output, it also has a RF indicator for mobile phone radio.
the YIHUA station its quite new but always worked perfectly, my soldering station has lots and lots of use, still working great to this day, the desoldering station is also quite new(used twice), it works well but sometimes the tube gets clogged at the end so while it is powered i insert my soldering iron tip to the other end and on the front i use the provided tool to unclog.
I did some repairs with this setup worked nicely, but i can't assure the durability of these tools since i don't use it constantly.

BloodyCactus wrote:

dont buy chinese crap, too dangerous. I use a hakko 888, but weller also has good stuff on the low price side too.

What danger are you talking about like blowing up or just danger to the project?

I have been using a cheap Chinese station with a small tip and it's been ok, tip is crap now solder doesn't stick in all places but it is good for desoldering when just need something to apply heat.

apart from that I got a mini ts100 which goes to 400C max but I find it doesn't heat well, maybye because it is made to work from a laptop charger or my laptop universal charger is crap

And just recently I got a weller wes51 which is like driving a Porsche after using the Chinese station for a few years

While on the subject of low-cost Chinese-made units, I have some practical experience. My extra-cheap hot-air station is an imitation Hakko unit, and the soldering wand happens to be a copy of the same design as my genuine soldering-only Hakko unit. While it does work and accepts the same tips, the performance and feel are very different. The best comparison I can make is the experience using a cheap OEM or counterfeit MS mouse, which are often light, plasticky and jittery, versus the genuine retail versions, which are nicely weighted, have a solid feel and track smoothly.

Chinese knock offs are getting better and better. Even a cheap imitation is much better (and MUCH cheaper) then the tools we had to use a decade ago. Hobbyists probably don't use them enough for the difference in reliability to matter. A handheld vacuum pump desoldering gun has made my repair work so much easier. I would hate to recap a Mac G5 Imac without one for example.