Soldering & Desoldering Stations
Soldering technology:
Professional Soldering stations & Desoldering-Stations
Soldering Stations, What are they and How do they work?
How Choosing the Best Soldering Station?
A. Digital or Analogue
B. Tin-Lead Vs Lead-Free
C. Variable Temperature
D. Wattage Control
E. High Thermal Recovery
F. Design
G. Soldering Iron
H. Soldering Iron Tips.
Soldering Stations, what are they and How do they work?
Soldering stations are soldering tools that comes with separate station which helps you control the temperature and soldering iron.
It can be either digital or analogue.
A soldering station contains a unit that controls the temperature and soldering iron that can be attached to the station.
They are mostly used in assembling electronic PCB and manufacturing units.
Soldering stations are used for mass repairing circuit boards.
For repair and rework jobs, most of the genuine service centres use soldering stations with temperature control.
These stations are specially designed for professionals. However, even beginners or hobbyists can use it as well.
Amateur radio operators and remote control enthusiasts often have soldering stations.
How to choose the Best Soldering Station?
An ideal soldering station comes with accurate temperature control feature. It should also be ESD- safe as well.
Apart from that, it has to be ergonomically designed so that it doesn’t lead to fatigue while soldering.
There are several soldering stations and tools provided by different manufacturers.
To choose the best one that suits your requirements, we recommend to consider certain factors.
We have mentioned them below for your reference.
A. Digital or Analogue
Soldering stations come in either analogue or digital. Analogue soldering stations come with knobs that help you control (either increase or decrease) the temperature.
Being analogue, they don’t come with any display screen to display current set temperature.
They are perfect for tasks like mobile phone repairing. Temperature settings provided by these units are not accurate enough.
When it comes to digital soldering stations, they come with settings that help you control the temperature.
They come with display screen that notifies current set temperature.
Compared to analogue counter parts, they provide better accuracy and less tolerance.
However, they are a bit expensive.
B. Tin-Lead Vs Lead-Free
Since European Union introduced RoHS, most of the electronic brands around the world have started creating lead-free soldering units.
Melting point of lead-free solder wire is 217 to 221 degree Celsius. And the melting point of Tn/Lead solder wire is 183 degrees Celsius.
To solder leaded solder wire, we recommend to choose soldering station with 50 to 60 watts. Higher wattage soldering stations are perfect for lead-free soldering.
For faster thermal recovery, 70 watt with composite soldering tip is suitable.
C. Variable Temperature
To handle different types of projects, you require a soldering station that comes with temperature variability.
If you purchase a unit that has single temperature, then you have less flexibility.
And you may not be able to complete, attempt or repair certain tasks.
Wider temperature range means versatile capability of completing the tasks. So, check out the options before making the purchase.
Most of the temperature controlled units come with a thermostat which automatically turn off the heater once it reaches the desired temperature set by you.
Thermostat feature will help you adjust the temperature to right amount required for your project.
If you purchase a non-temperature controlled units, then iron will continue to get heat continuously – which means it will get too hot that required for your specific project.
It is one of the main factors to look out, especially you start looking for your own soldering station.
Apart from adjustable temperature, functional range coverage is also another feature to check out.
An ideal soldering unit should maintain the temperature consistently once it has reached up to the desired temperature.
Some units can vary widely and some are not accurate – in these cases, it is better to reject them and choose a unit that is accurate.
D. Wattage Control
It varies from one unit to another. It is better to choose a model with controls that are easy to operate and have wide temperature range.
Coming to wattage, some units come with 40 watts while others can go up to 80.
While analysing the wattage of a soldering station, we recommend to consider basic thumb rule – high the wattage, easier to complete complex tasks.
E. High Thermal Recovery
Soldering units with high thermal recovery are suitable for people who solder daily.
Cold solder joints are some of the problems often caused due to station units that have low thermal recovery.
Heat recovery capability of a soldering station lets you know how long does it take the soldering tip to heat up to desired temperature.
F. Design
Soldering stations usually come in 2 different types – ESD-safe and Non-ESD safe.
ESD represents electronic discharge which measures – rapid charge transfer that happen when objects with different potential come near.
Soldering station with ESD-safe design represents no static charge is generated on the station or iron.
These units are made using special materials and well-grounded so that unwanted electricity is discharged into the ground.
These soldering stations are perfect for modern electronic gadgets and smartphones. Because they have SMD electronic components which are sensitive to static charge.
And moreover, they can get easily damaged as well. Semi-conductors and ICs are also sensitive to static charge.
Quick Note: Make sure the soldering station comes with ESD safe design – because they are less likely to leaks and device failure, especially during operation.
G. Soldering Iron
Most of the soldering stations are plugged with a soldering iron. It contains a soldering bit and heating element.
They usually come with in-built temperature sensors which prevent damage often caused by overheating.
H. Soldering Iron Tips
Most of the soldering irons are equipped with interchangeable which vary in shapes like pyramid, conical, tapered and chisel.
They are mostly made up of nickel solder, copper or chrome.
Tips with different sizes are suitable for completing different types of jobs.
How you can lay your bead mainly depends on shape and size of the soldering tip.
Different tips are capable of handling different applications. Each of these tips have its own benefits and drawbacks.
Before purchasing a soldering tip, you should consider one factor – its compatibility to your soldering station.
You don’t exactly have to purchase the tips from same brand. You can use 3rd party chips as well. Most of them are similar in terms of design and interchangeable tips are common with soldering irons.
However, we recommend to refer the size requirements in user manual and select according to iron and size of other components present on the circuit board.
Next thing to consider is the shape of the tip. For beginners, we recommend to go for a chisel tip. It comes with nice flat surface so you it is easy to hold it in place.
If you can position it in different ways, then you can use it in several different ways.
You can also work with different wire and component sizes. For SMD’s, wire-to-wire joints, through-hold breadboard and de-soldering components, we recommend to go for chisel tips.
For drag-soldering multiple surface mount pads, we recommend to go for hoof tips. They are perfect for people with advanced skills.
If you have to work on SMD projects, hoof tip is perfect as it can easily work with it on advanced soldering projects, especially when they are coupled with right soldering stations.
Among the all types of tips, conical ones are hard to use. However, they are very precise.
We recommend them to only advanced users.
Material used for soldering iron tips is also an important factor to consider. Iron tips are cheaper and durable.
However, they cannot hold or transfer heat as effectively as copper tip.
High end soldering tips come with iron coated copper tip which provides the best of both options.