appiah4 wrote on 2025-11-14, 08:36:

I recently upgraded from a simple pen solder to a Yihua 878D solder/rework station and I love it.

I also have that soldering station under a different brand although it's probably the same chinosium tech. It's surprisingly good and very affordable, not the fan of the short, rigid tangly wires though.

Mandrew wrote on 2025-11-15, 09:37:

appiah4 wrote on 2025-11-14, 08:36:

I recently upgraded from a simple pen solder to a Yihua 878D solder/rework station and I love it.

I also have that soldering station under a different brand although it's probably the same chinosium tech. It's surprisingly good and very affordable, not the fan of the short, rigid tangly wires though.

I have this exact same hot air station. Incredibly cheap, but so far has worked just fine for my needs.

In general I’m of the opinion that one should invest more for quality soldering iron/station and save money with these additional tools that aren’t always even needed. I would also skip combo stations, because iusing individual tools makes upgrading equipment much simpler and in the case of something like PSU failure, you don’t lose all your equipment. When you buy a quality soldering station, you can most likely use it just fine for 20 or more years.

Soldering iron is the most important tool in electronics repair and when you are working with something with large ground planes, a poor iron will make it an infuriating and frustrating experience. It is not about the wattage alone, but the thermal design of the tip and heating element.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2025-11-15, 10:28:

It is not about the wattage alone, but the thermal design of the tip and heating element.

Well said!

Tiido wrote on 2025-11-14, 19:12:

At home I use my no-name 852D+ station, which has been modified to have two soldering irons instead of iron + pump based heatgun. The heatgun is wholly useless to me so I reused its circuitry for second iron. It allows me to have two of mym ost used tips ready and dual wielding is very useful every now and then too ~

I also added an IEC power socket since original power cable was permanetly attached and the outer insulation had gotten so stiff it was broken on both ends... Now there are no problems with that anymore ~

Heh, nice!
That looks very much like my KADA 852D+.
Probably the same China factory that made them.
Very interesting to hear how you converted it to dual irons.
On mine, it's the soldering iron that I almost never use, since it uses very cheap 900M type tips and the heat transfer (and capacity) is very poor. It's one of the least used irons in my fleet. The hot air, though, I did use quite a bit back in the day to reball BGA ram chips and also pull some TSOP components. I even used it to pull a mid-size GPU (Radeon HD5750) from a video card... with the help of a gas stove as the bottom heater, of course. 🤣

That said, my 852D+ wasn't without its problems either. Actually, the weirdest issue about it that I had to fix was to properly convert it for its rated voltage (120V AC). When these stations were still new in the market back in the day, apparently there must have been a shortage, because mine came with a North American (US) 120V plug, but the internal power transformer was rated for 220/230V. With the internal supply voltages only half of what they should be, the station worked (miraculously), but the temperature display showed all kinds of random numbers. And the soldering iron had absolutely zero grunt, since, instead of being capable of outputting 40 Watts, it could only output 10 Watts (half the voltage across a resistive element = 1/4 the power output.) Luckily, I was able to source a very similar internal transformer for free, so I fixed the voltage issue, which in turn fixed both the displays and the power output of the iron. Nevertheless, that didn't help the soldering iron's crappy tips enough to make it useful to me.

BTW, I like you homemade stand/holder. Funny enough, all of my soldering iron stands are exactly like this - down to the part with all of the random pulled parts on them 🤣 - that's how you know someone's workbench is really used and not just for show/decor on videos. 😉

Tiido wrote on 2025-11-14, 19:12:

In any case I love the pots for temperature adjust. I hate all the buttons+menu based things, highly unergonomic...

Agreed.
Though if the iron always starts and is able to maintain a reasonable temperature, then this is less of a problem.
On my CSI 2900, the default temperature is 350C, which is more or less OK. Normally I just hold the down button for 2 seconds to bring it down to 320-330C, as that's almost always enough for my needs (in rare cases, I bring it down to 300 when working on moisture-ingressed/sensitive phenolic boards that like to "pop"). Only when I'm doing MOSFET replacements on video cards or motherboards, I leave it at the default 350C. With the help of a 2nd iron, TO-252 MOSFETs come out pretty easily - much easier and quicker than with hot air, and without needing a bottom heater.

There's actually one more thing that is different in the station, it has a new transformer since original buzzed quite loudly. The new one also gives higher voltages and is able to put about 100W into an iron. But yeah, it is from a time when the T900 based stations were all the rage and better ones were not available or were really stupidly expensive. This one was 200€ range when it was new all those years ago... I have had to change heaters twice now, last ones were very different from what there used to be and I had to actually do full on recalibration (with few extra mods needed) since it seems despite same model number, the heaters evolve still 🤣.

I made that stand in my early teens in carpently class at school. I have had this thing for more than 20 years now 🤣. The desk is cleaned several times a year since a relative mountain of parts builds up on it from all the stuff that gets done on it 🤣. There was a cleanup about a week ago, to make room for the current project that is about halfway through now.

The need to change temperature is definitely reduced if there's some standby function, to preserve the tips but nothing beats "turns a knob for temp I need" aspect ~
Whatever the next station is, it'll have tips with integrated heaters, and because knobs seem to be gone, it'll be something I build myself.

If you trust Chinese quality or are on a tight budget, you can consider brands like Zhongdi, Yihua, Yaogong. They seem to start with Z or Y. There are eshops which specialize in them.

They come in both single function and multi-function:

Yaogong 858D (hot air)
Zhongdi ZD-409 (tweezers)
Zhongdi ZD-8915 (desoldering)
Yihua 959D-II (hot air)
Yihua 938D (tweezers)

Yihua 878D (hot air, soldering)
Yihua 899D-II (hot air, soldering)
Yihua 948-I (desoldering, soldering)
Yihua 948-II (desoldering, soldering, hot air)

Yihua 948-I in particular is probably enough as a starting point for recapping work. You will need 2nd soldering iron to recap one.

In Europe we get "Toolcraft" (house brand of Conrad Electronic), made in China, but better accessories. More expensive than traditional Chinese stuff. They also have high frequency 150W model with quicker heat up, making it "Chinese" JBC.

A good soldering iron for old hardware hobbyist would be Ersa I-CON Nano MK2 (not Pico, buy at least Nano). Not cheap at all. Hakko FX-971 is another option, but even pricier.

A more expensive professional option is JBC Tools CD-2BQF (very expensive tips, you would not buy this for home usage).

If you are rich you can go for Ersa, Weller or JBC Tools. ERSA i-CON Vario 4 MK2 or JBC Tools RMSD-2QB would be nice to have. Connectors on Ersa are different for each tool so one cannot easily have everything by buying an additional tool (most boxes do not have all connectors). With JBC Tools two big boxes are needed for desolder + hot air.

I use hakko, one has a vacuum for desoldering, another has two outlets to use with tweezers, and I also have the battery one. Years ago I started comparing stations, but the pictures are all gone.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/reviews-some- … tations.416001/
I still have the pictures and a markdown file with most of that thread, if there's any interest.
Someone posted a fanboy link to my thread https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/soldering-stations!/ and I followed up with some thoughts https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/develop … ering-stations/
Also did some posts on ecigarettes, this one about toxicity of flux in inhalers https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/threads/sol … -safety.247208/
That's about all of any interest, for what it's worth.

I posted a pic here of some of my stuff back in 2011 Re: post up pics of your "computing area".

I'm just a hobbyist that only sporadically needs to put this kind of equipment into play.

So this is what I currently use (pros around, please try your best to keep the laughing at an appropiate minimum 😀 ):

Has worked fine for me thus far, though beware that the tips are cheapo, don't last for long, and replacement tips will be needed in the long term.

No need to make fun of Yihua. If you pay more they have a copy of JBC Tools RMSD-2QB
- Yihua 982D SE 200W
- Yihua 982D-II
- Yihua 982D-III 2-IN-1

They have handles for tips D115, D210, and D245, similarly named like JBC C115, C210, and C245.

There are many brands that have equivalent products like i2C (i2C-2SCNi, i2C 2SDN), RF4, Fnirsi (Fnirsi DWS-200), MaAnt, Sugor, Qianli.

These soldering stations cost 1/3-1/4 of JBC Tools RMSD-2QB, are thus in hobby price range and many tips are often included. You can ask yourself if you want Ersa I-CON Nano MK2, Hakko FX-971 or a Yihua 982D-III for the same price, a copy of JBC tools with very similar capabilities to the original.

This is my current soldering setup.

I replaced my Hakko FX-888D with a Hakko FX-972 station with two attachments:

• Hakko FX-9701 soldering iron
• Hakko FX-9705 soldering tweezers

The soldering tweezers have been a game changer for me. They're great at removing SMD components especially from confined spaces where a traditional iron or hot air is less practical. Also found them really useful for MOSFETs in conjunction with the iron. Having three points of contact makes removing those components much faster and easier.

Also still using my Hakko FR-301 desoldering gun and Quick 861DW hot air station.

I have a variety of tips for the FX-9701 iron, all of which have come in handy for different types of soldering.

AlexZ wrote on 2026-08-12, 15:14:

These soldering stations cost 1/3-1/4 of JBC Tools RMSD-2QB, are thus in hobby price range and many tips are often included.

Correct, plus some of these Yihua can get original Hakko tips which improves things a lot and I believe makes them adequate for most people.

Is that pronounced Yee Haw?

I prefer Metcal, but buying new can be expensive.

However, there are bargains to be had on the used market.

The tips last years for hobbiest use. The RF phase change tips nearly eliminate temperature overshoot. Temprature overshoot contributes to lifted pads. I have not encountered any lifted pads since switching to Metcal. Even when reworking extremly fragile 1960s era printed circuit boards.

If one can afford it, tips with a traditional heating element integrated in the tip are also an excellent choice. A heating element thermally bonded to the tip, also significantly reduces thermal overshoot.

Common examples are JBC, Pace, Hakko FX-951, or Hakko FX-971.

Be physically gentle with integrated tips--don't drop them or bang them, and be gentle putting them into the holders. Some are fragile ceramic that can crack, and Metcal tips are very sensitive.

+1 on integrated tips. There's a huge difference in temperature accuracy and stability between tips with integrated heating elements (stable) and those with the heating in the handle (huge variations) that justify a much higher price. They also tend to have the temperature control & heating elements close to the tip--very important for temperature stability and recovery. Unfortunately, that much can be very VERY very much. The other major factor to look for is having a good selection of different tips: thin & fat point, hoof, spade (straight and angled), etc.

Integrated tips are no where as fragile as you describe. I have found the performance outweighs the downsides.

akimmet wrote on 2026-08-12, 19:11:

I prefer Metcal, but buying new can be expensive. ...

Oh yeah, the Metcal stuff is really nice!

I've never been able to justify the expense - but I do have a "bit" of Metcal 😀

I did some work for a company that used Metcal, and the hardware guy had just gotten in a new piece of Metcal equipment that came with a "jewelers loupe" for examining really fine detail - he already had a very good microscope, so he offered it to me! - Very nice! and super clear for looking at really tiny stuff.

I've used it a fair bit over the years and the "Metcal" name is kinda worn - but you can still make it out!

Shponglefan wrote on 2026-08-12, 15:45:

... The soldering tweezers have been a game changer for me. They're great at removing SMD components especially from confined spaces where a traditional iron or hot air is less practical ...

Here's a video showing them in action on vintage hardware, this guy also speaks highly of them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rox9DQcSjWw

akimmet wrote on 2026-08-12, 23:21:

Integrated tips are no where as fragile as you describe. I have found the performance outweighs the downsides.

That depends on who's reading the thread. As for performance and cost, one burnt pad could cost way more more than a really good station.

This was my first soldering iron, it cost 1.60€:

The temperature dial is fake, it has no active regulation. It just sets a fixed wattage for the iron and continues pumping heat into the tip until it burns through. After destroying a couple of tips this way (they're dirt cheap, thankfully), I came up with a method that actually makes this usable: Set it to 200C in standby, and 30 seconds before you solder a joint, set it to 450C, then immediately set it back to 200C. I recapped my first PSU and motherboard with this iron, even bought a second one to use them together as ghetto SMD tweezers. But one day, disaster struck - I wasn't careful enough with the temperature and it lifted the pads on a graphics card. Realizing the potential for damage, this was the day I retired it.

I then decided to splurge and spent 25€ on this T85 USB iron:

First impression wasn't too great, its temperature was off by a whole 85C - hence the name T85, probably. Thankfully, it has a configurable temperature offset in the menu to correct this. The cartridge-style tips and temperature control were a massive upgrade. One problem is that there are no good quality replacement tips available. The ones I bought were a scam, they look different (tip is slightly darker), solder doesn't stick to them at all and the heat conduction is terrible. I had to keep using the original chisel tip which is quite small, so I always need to preheat the area when desoldering larger components. Wouldn't buy this iron again because of the tip situation, but it still works fine for the little soldering I do, so I never felt the need to upgrade it.

And this is my "mythtiger Professional Heat Gun" (12€):

This thing is hilarious because it didn't work at all when I first tried it. It has two air speed settings, and at the lower speed, the airflow is so weak that the heating element keeps overheating and shuts itself off. Took me a while to figure this out. It also has no label on the temperature dial, so you have to memorize which setting corresponds to a temperature. I originally bought this to preheat boards, but it worked surprisingly well for replacing SMD components and memory chips.

For desoldering, I can't recommend this enough (low-melt solder paste):

Makes it easy to desolder through-hole components with just braid or hot air instead of a desoldering gun.