2in1 862d+ SMD Soldering Iron Hot Air Rework Station good for Guitar Work?

noisenet

noisenet

New member
I'm working on putting together a small guitar workstation so I can stop paying others to do my repair work - plus where's the fun in that, right?

In researching soldering irons I came across these '2in1 SMD Soldering Iron Hot Air Rework Station' type devices which supposedly combine a soldering iron and a hot air gun. I guess the general purpose of these is for working on circuit board with IC chips & the like. Looking at these, though, they appear to get more than hot enough for simple guitar electronics soldering and the prices are well below that of a Weller or most of the other soldering stations out there. For the cost these actually appear to be a good deal. Am I incorrect in this hypothesis? It seems the hot air gun inclusion would be great for shrink wrapping my soldering work. Here is a link to one of these units.

http://www.amazon.com/Soldering-Rework-Station-Display-Nozzle/dp/B013DQQ4XO/ref=sr_1_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1451114262&sr=1-2&keywords=862D%2B

Anyone have any insight into these?

Thanks in advance, I look forward to your thoughts....
 
Re: 2in1 862d+ SMD Soldering Iron Hot Air Rework Station good for Guitar Work?

Just make sure you can get replacement tips easily.
 
Re: 2in1 862d+ SMD Soldering Iron Hot Air Rework Station good for Guitar Work?

Scott_F said:
I've been using one of these for several years. It's nice to be able to crank up the heat on certain items (mostly where I'm triying to get a great ground attachment point on the chassis where all that metal will suck the heat out of an inferior iron)

http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WESD51...8-2&keywords=weller+adjustable+soldering+iron
Click to expand...


I know the Weller stuff is great, it's usually what I see recommended. I was just wondering if the ones I mentioned would be a viable alternative given the price.....
 
Re: 2in1 862d+ SMD Soldering Iron Hot Air Rework Station good for Guitar Work?

It's misleading. Just the digital temp set display from what I can tell but it helps me dial it in much more quickly. Honestly, I don't adjust it very often. I get it set and only crank it up on those chassis grounds.
 
Re: 2in1 862d+ SMD Soldering Iron Hot Air Rework Station good for Guitar Work?

Ok. I'm leading towards the Weller as it is established as dependable. As pretty much a complete novice what temp should I use for general guitar soldering? And what should I turn it up to for those chassis/pot ground wires?
 
Re: 2in1 862d+ SMD Soldering Iron Hot Air Rework Station good for Guitar Work?

I like the hot air for shrink tubing however. I could use one of those. :)

Keep in mind, I'm soldering several amplifiers each year. You could likely spend 20 bucks on a pen soldering unit and do what you need to do for years to come.
 
Re: 2in1 862d+ SMD Soldering Iron Hot Air Rework Station good for Guitar Work?

Scott_F said:
I've been using one of these for several years. It's nice to be able to crank up the heat on certain items (mostly where I'm triying to get a great ground attachment point on the chassis where all that metal will suck the heat out of an inferior iron)

http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WESD51...8-2&keywords=weller+adjustable+soldering+iron
Click to expand...

That's what I use. ;)

noisenet said:
I know the Weller stuff is great, it's usually what I see recommended. I was just wondering if the ones I mentioned would be a viable alternative given the price.....
Click to expand...

It looks fine, but it's hard to believe that you get all of that for that price.
 
Re: 2in1 862d+ SMD Soldering Iron Hot Air Rework Station good for Guitar Work?

I've been using this for 5 or so years with no problems at all. It's 50 watts and gets more than enough heat to do anything you will want to do on a guitar or amp. The hot air gun is a luxury that isn't necessary at all. For heat shrink I just heat it up with the soldering iron. I've used a hot air gun, but it didn't do any better of a job than the iron. Digital display is just an unnecessary gimmick...just set it where it's hot enough to do the job and forget about it.

http://www.mpja.com/12-28-15.asp?r=345114&s=32

Unless you're doing a lot of work professionally, why get so much more than you need?!
 
Last edited:
Re: 2in1 862d+ SMD Soldering Iron Hot Air Rework Station good for Guitar Work?

For me, a heat gun is a must. I heat shrink loads of stuff. But not so sure I would trust everything to keep working on a $60 station like the one linked. I'm sure it would work fine, as long as it keeps working, but that price makes me think "you get what you pay for". I've had my Milwaukee heat gun for 20 years (was about 35 bucks back then). I use a separate Tenma soldering station. The first one lasted me over a dozen years and I did light "production" work with it for several years. I just bought a replacement about a year ago ... same model with digital display. Pretty fast recovery. They go on sale often enough in the 50-60 dollar range. I've had good luck with the Tenma's (MCM Electronics / Newark) but you can't go wrong with a Weller, even their entry level stations.

For occasional soldering, a plain old soldering iron (pencil) would work fine but I never had one that lasted very long.
 
Re: 2in1 862d+ SMD Soldering Iron Hot Air Rework Station good for Guitar Work?

I work on guitars and electronic equipment for a living, and fire this baby up every day:

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/TENMA-21-10115-/21-10115

I've been using this model for around 3 or more years now and keep waiting for it to break so I can splurge on a new Weller or Hakko, but alas, it just won't break! What's nice about the Tenma from MCM (when compared to the generic amazon stuff) is the easy availability of tips and parts.

You can also get mini hot air guns from MCM for heatshrink.
 
Re: 2in1 862d+ SMD Soldering Iron Hot Air Rework Station good for Guitar Work?

BrianS. said:
I work on guitars and electronic equipment for a living, and fire this baby up every day:

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/TENMA-21-10115-/21-10115

I've been using this model for around 3 or more years now and keep waiting for it to break so I can splurge on a new Weller or Hakko, but alas, it just won't break! What's nice about the Tenma from MCM (when compared to the generic amazon stuff) is the easy availability of tips and parts.

You can also get mini hot air guns from MCM for heatshrink.
Click to expand...

I used this one for over a dozen years. http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/TENMA-21-147-/21-147

It finally gave in so I've now had this one for about a year. http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/TENMA-21-1590-/21-1590

They go on sale often. I think I paid 60 something bucks for the new one.
 
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