For soldering, I use a Hakko FX-888D with a variety of official tips depending on the application. It's been a reliable performer for me, no complaints.

For desoldering, I use a Hakko FR-301 desoldering gun. It's also a reliable performer, but does require regular cleaning to ensure it works optimally.

Weller TCP-24 soldering station.

Edit: Picture added.

Ersa iCon Nano for soldering and chinese ZD-915 desoldering gun for… eh, desoldering. When I have something where I need to just replace one or two caps or equivalent domponents, I often just use soldering iron and good old manual solder sucker.

For multilayer boards I also use hot air station to warm up the area and make desoldering job a bit more smoother. And of course for surface mount stuff. I recently got pretty neat soldering tweezers too, but haven’t yet had any notable projects with it.

I just use the iron that came with the rework station which is a Yil-lua 968DA+ III

I use a knockoff Hakko soldering station which has a soldering iron and a hot-air soldering gun.

For desoldering, I use an antique desoldering station which has ain electric air-pump.

The plunger style solder suckers are trash as are the desoldering irons with a rubber bulb.

Also use solder-wick when appropriate.

THe one I use most is my oldest, I've had for 30+ years, an: EDSYN 951sx
Good base/holder, heats fast, easy temp control.
I don't do much "fine" work anymore, but you'd be surprised at how fine
I can get with this things "chunky" wedge tip.

When I do need something finer, I have a: Hakko FX-888D
with a good assortment of tips etc.

For desoldering/rework, I have: Aoyue 474A++

and...: EDSAFE W.E.P. 858D SMD rework station
(lots of tips but a bit clunky, good when to have to clear off lots, or big parts)

I still have a few old "pencil" type (which I don't use anymore), as well
as a super-small USB powered one - doesn't get super hot, but it works and
I can power it from a battery - really good for "no power" places.

And I think I still have and old RadioShack vacuum desoldering iron.
Hollow tip and rubber ball on top to "suck".

cyclone3d wrote on 2025-11-11, 23:42:

... The plunger style solder suckers are trash ...

I still have one of those, and at certain times still find it useful.

For years I had old Weller desoldering station, with the electric suction pump - but it got so had to find tips for it that I gave it up,
and replaced it with an Aoyue rework station (also with vacuum pump) - not super high-end/fancy but it works well enough.

Hakko FX-600 + T18-D32, FR-301 + N61-05, and some plunger style solder suckers.

3.2mm wide D tip is convenient because you can use the corners to reach small areas.
The FR-301 is not an all-purpose tool, so I also use a plunger-type tool. In terms of instantaneous negative pressure, a plunger-type sucker sprayed with grease spray far exceeds the FR-301. It is useful for sucking out large holes in large-capacity pads (THT power inductors and AC-related circuits).

Pinecil and Yihua 948 for Rework. Both work wonderfully! Had a Yihua 989D+, liked it, but the Pinecil is so much easier to use for long sessions. 😀

As a beginner who didn't intend to get into soldering, I got a WEP 927-IV station (50 bucks). It gets the job done although it all feels quite cramped to have everything be part of the main unit. No issues with the iron or temps though.

If you're replacing capacitors or doing anything that requires desoldering, then by far the most important (like, life-changing) purchase you can make is to get a desoldering gun. Yes, they can be expensive, but they are very worth it.

I use the Hakko FR-301. It's great.

I've also used something like the Chinese ZD-915 mentioned previously in the thread. It's probably half the price of the Hakko and worked just as well (as I recall).

Another mention of the ZD-915 here. Probably single best tool purchase I've done in this whole hobby. Yes, you can use copper braid and suckers, but they suck (sometimes not literally enough) compared to a good desoldering iron. The braid is still very useful for cleaning up though.

As for soldering, I used to use an Ersa RDS80. It's decent, but the base is big, heavy and if you drop it and break the display, Ersa's not interested in supplying spare parts 🙁 Then last year I got the best christmas gift ever: a Pine64 Pinecil USB-C powered soldering iron. It's small, it's light, it heats up almost instantly and yet is powerful enough to get things connected to big ground planes melting. Can't recommend the thing highly enough.

Honorable mention to my Aoyue Int852 "SMD rework station", in fact just a big hot air gun. Not in any way subtle, but does the job of blowing lots of air at a specific temperature at whatever needs heating. Like SMD stuff, but also those big irritating ground planes.

jh80 wrote on 2025-11-12, 08:49:

If you're replacing capacitors or doing anything that requires desoldering, then by far the most important (like, life-changing) purchase you can make is to get a desoldering gun. Yes, they can be expensive, but they are very worth it.

I need to do all the electrolytic caps on a Radeon 9800 Pro, and at least one electrolytic cap on an Intel PERL motherboard (that board is packed with them though). CPC seems to be the best supplier available to me and I am not sure how much to spend, or what additional bits I might need:

https://cpc.farnell.com/w/c/tools-maintenance … ts?sort=P_PRICE

MattRocks wrote on 2025-11-12, 13:27:

I need to do all the electrolytic caps on a Radeon 9800 Pro

Those are surface mount capacitors, so you won't need a desoldering tool for them. Best way to remove them in my experience is to cut the old ones at the base with flush cutters, remove the metal can and plastic base, before finally removing the leads and solder using solder braid.

This video goes through that method (method #2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fP1wKfwOyU

I've also tried the twist off and desoldering methods, but those are more likely to damage the underlying pads.

dionb wrote on 2025-11-12, 12:49:

Another mention of the ZD-915 here. Probably single best tool purchase I've done in this whole hobby. Yes, you can use copper braid and suckers, but they suck (sometimes not literally enough) compared to a good desoldering iron. The braid is still very useful for cleaning up though.

compared to braid or a mechanical pump, yes the ZD-915 is a godsend

that said, it clogs up way too frequently and I wish I had paid a bit more to get something nicer which didn't require as frequent cleaning

Hakko.. That's new to me. At first, I thought Hakko might be the name of another siblling of Yakko, Wakko and Dot.
Anyway. These Hakko soldering stations are interesting, they even colour match Play-Doh. ;)

Jo22 wrote on 2025-11-12, 14:51:

Hakko.. That's new to me. At first, I thought Hakko might be the name of another siblling of Yakko, Wakko and Dot.
Anyway. These Hakko soldering stations are interesting, they even colour match Play-Doh. 😉

Cousin.
This is an old Japanese brand that is most often counterfeited in China.

My journey so far (wrt irons; won't touch on hot air/plates, dedicated desoldering tools etc. here):

First stop, those old magnetically self regulating, but fixed temperature Weller ones. Similar to Jo22's image, though I can't make out whether that's a temp dial (better models) or a fuse holder (model I had). Given to me by someone who hasn't bothered updating their tools/knowledge in decades. They work but aren't a good experience at all. Do not recommend.

Second stop, Hakko clones. Finally temperature control! Much better experience, but not a lot of thermal mass compared to the Weller, which can be an issue when you have a bigger ground plane. Was alright for a while, but enough friction to keep me looking for alternatives. Acceptable if you can get one for free or cheap; if not, read on.

Third and current one: TS100. My first experience with "next generation" irons, and a great one, especially after you install IronOS (yes, soldering irons have operating systems now). Thermal mass could be bigger, but it's smart enough to read the situation and start actively pumping as much power as possible into the tip pretty much immediately when necessary so it's much less of an issue compared to earlier gens. There's other makes/models that use e.g. USB C for power, but that can be hit and miss - mine came with a dedicated PSU with a very long, very flexible lead which is a pleasure to use. The "next gen" tips for all of these are more expensive though since they now include the heating element.

elszgensa wrote on 2025-11-12, 15:31:

First stop, those old magnetically self regulating, but fixed temperature Weller ones.

http://remotesmart.wikidot.com/weller-wecp-20
I tried this Weller once, and it was excellent.
By today's standards, it's clearly an outdated model, but the feeling it gives is simply superb.

In my experience, the most important thing is heat capacity*power.
No one cares about maintaining the temperature precisely within the range of 1~ 50 degrees.
The main thing is that it responds adequately to PCB grounding solid polygons and does not go crazy when soldering a single pin.
In other words, the temperature does not have to be accurate, it just has to be stable.
And how to achieve this (with a massive iron or the right PID-regulator) is secondary.