Quote:
Originally Posted by DonaldStott
I have seen eye-watering prices for Hakko Hot Air Rework Stations on eBay and Amazon!
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Those are the cheap and cheerful ones that work reasonably well, for a while, I found, using them at work.
The really cheap ones do seem to have problems, blowing out pieces of glass after someon put the handpiece down too hard.
I tried a fairly expensive Weller, but it kept eating elements. So that got replaced with a JBC unit. Very expensive, but very good, easy to use and dependable. But JBC are at the Rolls Royce end... at least they deliver what they promise. That Weller was very disappointing. Have they lost the plot?
Back in the HP days, I used a Pace hot air station. Superb. Tightly focused air and a very small handpiece. The bench top part looked industrial. But it did require a compressed air feed at about 50psi, along with dryers and de-oilers.
I don't have a hot air setup at home. I do have compressed air, so an old Pace would be very attractive, but I may have to save up for a JBC station.
These better units are smoother to use, the air is less erratic and it's a lot easier to not blow parts all over the place. The cheapie ones need a lot more skill to get good results.
David