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Just realized my $30 Chinese soldering station heats up faster than my old Hakko 888
Picked up a cheap 858D hot air rework station last month to compare with my trusty iron on a board full of switches and the heat recovery time for ground planes is shockingly close for a third of the price, anyone else notice the budget gear catching up?
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tessap9714d ago
My cheap station handles big ground planes better too, weird how that works.
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alex82014d ago
I've been using a KSGER T12 station for about 18 months now and the tip-to-ground continuity was actually better than my old Hakko out of the box. I'd still keep a fire extinguisher nearby if you run it overnight, but for normal soldering these budget stations are totally fine. Just check the grounding first thing with a multimeter and you'll probably be good.
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You ever have a buddy who swears by the cheap stuff? My friend Dave bought a no name hot air station off Amazon for like forty bucks last year. He was fixing an old graphics card with a big ground plane and his expensive Weller was struggling to keep up. He grabbed the cheap one out of frustration and it reflowed the joint in half the time. Still works fine a year later, but he keeps his Weller plugged in just in case the thing bursts into flames.
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