Weller 70W Digital WE 1010 1-Channel Power Unit T0053298599
Amazon and Bunnings both have it for $247.50. Got Bunnings to pricebeat it which brought the price down to ~$201. They tried to tell me they don't do online online stores but I pushed back and they begrudgingly did it.
Yeah there are some advantages to brick stations like these. They can put a more constant heat. They'll retain their temps much better and much quicker than pinecils.
I've used quite a few different stations and setups. I've found the most effective to be the JBC ones. I'm testing out some cheaper knock off ones now that take the same tips and it's performing very similar to the real thing.
Much quicker? I have seen a finirsi hs-01 go to 350c in less than 10 seconds and it maintains it pretty well. On a new tip it fluctuated a bit but after the 3rd heat up it stabilised.
At $60 I'd chose one over this, pretty much paying for the weller name.
I can't speak for the wellers heat up time. I do think the technology of the Weller is out of date, I can assure you that when working on heavy ground PCBs I'd want a good quality 240v station.
The value for money and the portability of the USBC irons are very useful for quick wiring jobs and the like.
@Wasgood: I think saying that large ground plains are the realm of 240v stations is a bit false.
Voltage is irrelevant, power to the tip is what matters.
A TS-100 with an old 22v laptop charger as a power supply with it's heaviest tip would beat a Weller or Hakko with the same sized tip.
A TS-80P wouldn't be too far behind.
Here is a practical review of the TS-80…
https://youtu.be/_Z9es-D9_8g?si=aKRJuaKMtqsMhe3T
The TS-80P is about to slightly better in performance and with USB-PD supplies becoming more common it's a good choice.
Last time a similar question was asked elicited angry retorts and negative votes
How OzBargain has evolved.
I have seen a finirsi hs-01 go to 350c in less than 10 seconds
My JBC knockoff (which was half the price of this) does it in literally 3 seconds. These old style ones are just obsolete now.
The big desktop units are more rugged and replacement tips are cheaper. I suspect if you're soldering continuously for long periods of time the smaller ones might crap out on you or get uncomfortably hot to use.
I used to work repairing electronics and switched to a TS100 and never looked back. The smaller ones are faster, more temperature accurate, and much nicer to use.
I do minimal work with mine, may occasionally change a component on a board, solder a plug on a cable, etc so the pinecil is perfect for my needs. Was just curious as to the advantages these bench units may have. Thanks for the replies all
I haven't used a pinecil or ts100, but I've used an offbrand T12 iron that runs off a laptop powersupply. I would imagine it would perform similar. They work great, and has handled everything I've thrown at it. I like the t12 type irons so much that I bought a benchtop station version too.
This style of iron with a tip separate to the heating element are probably considered "obsolete" but they still work fine. You don't get the easy to swap out tips, but really. do you need to? I've got a couple of stations that are probably upwards of 30+ years old. I admittedly don't use them much any more, but they still do the job just fine. I just like trying different things, and there are only so many irons I can hold in two hands.
The only reason I don't recommend the cheap offbrand desktop soldering stations is the somewhat sketchy earthing that is fairly well documented on them all. It is fixable if you are up to the task, but for the beginner, they may not be comfortable messing with mains cabling (even if it's just the earth).
That's where I think the name brands have merit - in a professional setting, or for someone that doesn't want to mess with things.
For the beginners that just want a cheap iron, you just can't go wrong with the USB-C or DC plugpack powered ones. I bought one of the early generic T12 ones, and have now modded it to work from USB-C too, but now there are a bunch out now on Ali, that have the USB-C built in. Add an old 65+ watt laptop power supply, or usb-C brick, and you are set.
Sorry, this might have turned into more of a rambling rant than I intended.
I'm not a regular user, but got a OSS T245 of AliExpress for around $100 and am stoked with the power, temperature control and heat up time. Not trying to say this is a bad deal as I've never used the Weller, but I struggle to see how it could be 2x better.
Wait until someone posts another popular brand and get up in arms in comments 🙄
i'll get it rolling
there are great no-name aliexpress soldering stations better than wellers and hakos 2-10x the price.
Hi All,
Can someone please share a link and recommend some good but economical solder that can be used to solder some LED light strips and some DIY projects.
the one posted is already more than the cost of the entire DIY project - lol
Thanks a lot in advance
A lot of misinformation in here, and it wouldn't be efficent to reply to every post… Just going to work my way down…
I've done production soldering for many years from 0402SMD components to large mass connectors.
Used various Irons from Hakko (837, 937, 951 FX888D etc..) Weller, JBC, MiniTool TS80x, TS100
Thermal mass and consistent heat was mentioned.
This iron does NOT have an advantage here.
For thermal mass you want a physically larger bulb near the tip, something like these…
https://www.jbctools.com/c245-long-life-cartridge-range-prod…
For consistent temperature, you want a tip and element that are ONE PIECE, not a tip that slips over a seperate element.
For this reason all of the basic Hakkos and the Wellers fail.
They can be OK for general purpose work, but they simply can not deliver that consistent temperature that you can get from an iron whose heating element, tip and temp sensor are bonded permanently into 1 single piece.
For the hobbist the TS80P and TS100 are great irons.
Both outperformed my Hakko FX888D thermally, and do it at half the price.
Tip selection is limited, but what exists will cover most scenarios.
Also with the rapid heat up many of these irons will 'standby' and then heat up to working temp in literally a few seconds.
I've found this to be excellent for tip life too.
The TS-100 has a caveat that it's best run on a >20v power source, it will do odd jobs fine on 12v, but it's heat up time is <10 seconds from dead cold on >20v
The TS-80P on a USB-PD power source seems to be 99% as good as the TS100 thermally.
The other caveat for the TS100 is it's poor handle ergonomics.
The handle isn't round so if not using a conical tip and you want to rotate the iron somewhat it's harder to do so.
Handle to tip distance is also a bit long.
The TS80P is almost as good as the 100 thermally, but soundly beats the 100 in ergonomics.
Round handle, shorter handle to tip.
I stress these are for hobbies, occasional use.
The biggest issue overall for daily / production use is the lack of a good stand.
This is where the Weller and Hakko shine.
The slightly compromised performance is quickly overlooked when you have a STURDY stand, with brass wool and a sponge.
This is essential for commercial use.
The ultimate, buy once, buy for life as far as I'm concerned is something higher end from Hakko, Pace or JBC.
My current bench unit is the CD-2BQF and I'm thrilled with it.
https://www.oritech.com.au/jbc-cd-b-digital-soldering-statio…
It has some performance similarities to a well setup TS-100 (yes, I'm comparing it to a chinese hobbist iron), only slightly better, and with superior ergonomics on top.
It's almost the complete package.
The only thing i could wish for is a stand seperate to the station itself.
Possibly doable and with a small hurdle to overcome, as the stand has a sensor that senses the iron is in the stand and drops it to a standby temp of 120c (configurable).
Also it shuts of the element completely after about 5 minutes.
I've found irons that standby the element like this to give a dramatically longer tip life, thus negating the cost of the more expensive tips.
Probably a little late to the table with this info, but hope it helps somone.
As for the deal, not a fan personally… butter options exist slightly cheaper all the time.
The Hakko FX888D would probably be my choice at this price point.
Is there any advantage to something like this compared to something like a pinecil or ts100? This is a genuine question as i got a pinecil to replace my ancient weller (very basic, no temp control) and the difference is night and day. The pinecil is so light, has many to sizes available, temp adjustable up to 400c and wakes and heats in a couple seconds when you pick it up. Just wondering if soldering irons like this weller or a hakko are just as good or better than the usb powered ones available these days. Probably just because everything i had used prior to the pinecil was 20+ years old