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Registered Member #131
Joined: Fri Feb 10 2006, 09:25PM
Location:
Posts: 185
ZD-99 SOLDER STATION
ZD Electronic Tools ZD-99 General purpose solder station for the hobbist. Adjustable from 5 to 50 Watt (800 deg. F max) heat output for reparing PC boards to soldering transformer terminals. Station provides on-off switch, knob to control wattage, built-in stand, tip cleaning sponge & 1/32" point tip. 115 VAC line. Base L: 5-5/8†X W: 4-9/16†X T: 3-5/8†WT: 1.8 Data Sheet
Registered Member #131
Joined: Fri Feb 10 2006, 09:25PM
Location:
Posts: 185
All its going to be used for is general soldering, and removing of components from old electronics, budget is $50. My old soldering gun just died, So I am looking for a new one that will last.
Registered Member #27
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058
At $15 I would not expect it to be good quality but at that price it would not matter. A brand name quality one would cost many times as much so you have little to lose if it turns out to need replacement in a year or so.
Registered Member #131
Joined: Fri Feb 10 2006, 09:25PM
Location:
Posts: 185
I have been browsing the site and it seems like an Electronics Goldmine. Does it seem reliable? Thanks for fixing the link. Any more options on the station?
Registered Member #30
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706
It looks like a temperature controlled iron, but it's not. It's just an ordinary soldering iron with a lamp dimmer type circuit bolted on. But for $15, I think that's pretty good.
As for the company, I always remember what my mom said: Never trust an electronics store that can't spell "Hobbyist"
Registered Member #61
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:50AM
Location: Mountain View, CA
Posts: 43
If your budget is $50, then I totally recommend the Weller WLC100. Rock solid iron. Sort of like the one there, but made by a company that I've heard of and know to be good. I love mine.
Registered Member #15
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068
I agree. If you are planning on using it for additional electroncis projects, you might as well as spend the $50-100 and get a decent iron, otherwise this iron might last you a month or two, and then you'll be looking for a new one anyways.
Registered Member #30
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706
Arg, $100 is a lot of money for a soldering iron, but if you're going to do a lot of soldering, it could be worth it.
After breaking a bunch of those cheap yellow Antex irons, I bought the handle part from a Weller temperature controlled iron and built my own controller unit (based on a bunch of op-amps, some 74xx logic chips and a triac) to drive it. The handle alone was about $90 ten years ago, but it's worked fine ever since with only a couple of replacement tips. The tips last so much longer than on cheap irons, although I guess it helped that I made the controller turn down to 150'C if you leave it alone for 15 minutes.
The cool thing about a temperature controlled iron is that it adjusts its own power output to match what you're soldering.
At work we have a whole collection of temperature controlled solder stations from Xytronic and JBC. They all seem to work just fine, and the Xytronic ones are quite cheap. The JBC has a minuscule tip for surface mount work.
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