Casual soldering: Soldering Station or Pencil?

[johnanderson]

Ok, so after reading through the number of threads I've decided to get either a xytronic soldering station or the pencil. However I'm not sure if I should spend the extra money on the soldering station since it seems the pencil suits my needs. Here are the two that I'm looking at:

http://www.amazon.com/XYTRONIC-AUTO-...0615022&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Xytronic-253-P...0615022&sr=8-3

I usually solder maybe a few times each year, mostly headphone recables and computer volt mods. Tips are basically the same for both. I'm leaning towards just getting the pencil unless someone can recommend why I should go for the station. Thanks.

 

[tot]

The station has more power for soldering connectors (they have more material to heat up).
The station includes a stand.

 

[stevenkelby]

I can't see your links as I'm down to 64kbps at the moment (normally at least a few thousand kbps) but here's my opinion.

If you can afford the station, get it. Saying that I do use a normal pencil, but I'm good with it,

you have to be in order not to melt things, overheat things, burn things etc. It takes a lot of patience, preparation, speed, accuracy and practice to get good results with a pencil. You can get the same result with the right size pencil but it is much easier with a temp controlled station.

I keep almost buying a station but I would want a good one which I can't find locally and now that I have "mastered" the pencil I feel kind of good about using the skill. I know it would be much easier and quicker for me to use a station and if (when) II do get one I will throw away the pencil and think I was an idiot for not getting a decent station earlier.

I say, get the station, your life will be much easier.

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

If you get the pencil you'll probably end up buying a stand/sponge for ten bucks. And then you don't have the temp control. I would go with the station if you can afford it.

 

[johnanderson]

Thing is I've gotten pretty good with a pencil soldering iron since Ive been able to do volt mods and rewire headphones with a 10 year old crappy radio shack iron with a bent/worn out tip and still havn't killed anything yet

If you guys think its worth it to spend the extra for the station then thats probably what I'll do. I just have two quick questions:

1. How long will the station last me?

2. Is it recommended when soldering with a station to turn off the iron when not using it and then turning it back on when your ready to solder again?

 

[tangent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnanderson /img/forum/go_quote.gif 1. How long will the station last me?

My first (of only two) soldering stations was a POS and saw light use for the first 6 years or so of its life. Then I entered this audio DIY world in 2001 and used it heavily for several years after that. It's still working except for the LED bar graph that sometimes doesn't light up correctly.

Even a POS soldering station is pretty hard to kill. They're just too simple inside for something drastic to go wrong.

Quote:

Is it recommended when soldering with a station to turn off the iron when not using it and then turning it back on when your ready to solder again?

Absolutely. The longer you leave the station on, the faster you'll use up the tip, just like with a fixed-temp pencil iron.

In fact, this is one of the features you can get in a better soldering station. Some sense that they haven't been used in a while, others sense that the iron is "parked" and temporarily lower the tip temp until you remove it from the station. The latter variant only happens at the higher end, where you also have fast heating, of course.

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

The longer you leave it burning the more oxide layer will build up on the tip, and since oxides don't conduct heat very well that will eventually kill the tip and you'd have to get a new tip. This is why tinning the tip is a good practice. Some people are very, um, diligent about it, but the way I see it it's like knifes, you can still use it even if it's dull, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[M_Bipartitus]

I'm also a vote for the station. I had been using a radio shack pencil for ~10 years. I have also used a nice station (weller) at work for a few years and it is great to have more control over the temperature and a safe place to set the hot iron.

Matt

P.S. I recently splurged for a hot air & pencil station and it is even better.
(http://www.aoyue.com/en/ArticleShow.asp?ArticleID=359)

 

[legatedm]

Bipartitus, what's the hot air ma-bobber for? smd? Also, does the smoke sucker work well? That would probably help me out a lot in a dorm-room environment... I'm scared to death that I might set off some kind of smoke-alarm after a long session of soldering.

 

[Joshatdot]

I've been using a cheep $8 RS 15watt iron for about 18 months off and on, mostly buildin CMoys.

I want to get a 20watt Hakko Dash pencil..but I think I'll jsut go for the Hakko 936-12 station.

 

[tjohnusa]

I did electronics repair for 7 yrs. My iron of choice is a Weller pencil 30 watt. It does take alot of practice to get good with an iron like this but I liked the heat...especially for desoldering with solder wick. I also prefered a chisel tip to the pointed tip because they lasted longer. I would keep my iron on for 8 hrs a day and had a brillo type tip cleaner that worked just fine. The only time I used a station was for surface mount devices with low temp solder. Whatever you chose it takes practice.

 

[ericj]

I wouldn't recommend the pencil strictly because it's only a 20 watt pencil. That's pretty borderline - i used to use a 23w xytronic that was only just barely enough. I'd recommend 25 or 30 watts.

But mostly because there are better, cheaper, more versatile pencils even from xytronic:

http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/7484

I have one of those for days when i need to solder something that can't come to my Weller station. Aint bad at all.

 

[M_Bipartitus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by legatedm /img/forum/go_quote.gif Bipartitus, what's the hot air ma-bobber for? smd? Also, does the smoke sucker work well? That would probably help me out a lot in a dorm-room environment... I'm scared to death that I might set off some kind of smoke-alarm after a long session of soldering.

The hot air is mostly for SMD stuff. It's best for little chips. It can be hard to use a pencil and get good results for SSOP for example (I've been doing work with 28 pin SSOP DACs lately). It can also bee good for rework of larger through hole DIP packages as you can heat up all the pins at once. That makes it a lot easier to take a chip out and replace it. Also it's nice for heat-shrink to have a little hot air rather than the quick and dirty use of a soldering pencil (a minor point, but makes for more pro-looking stuff.)

I have found the smoke sucker works well. I haven't noticed any solder smoke rising into my face since I started using it.

 

[TMM]

Go for a soldering station. The temperature adjustment is useful for when you need a high temp (soldering plugs etc) or a low temp (soldering sensitive components).

Another option is to get a higher wattage (50W~) iron for the big stuff and a smaller one (<20W) for the small stuff

 

[amphead]

The station, hands down. That is my next purchase. I have used Weller 30 watt for years, but always wanted a station. Go for it!