On 2008-02-01, Jon Elson wrote:
I have a one-channel unit at home for desoldering only. I use it rarely,
but when I have some large number of connections to desolder, or something
expensive that is likely to be a bear with other tools, it is a great
tool to have. No matter how difficult the thermal considerations of the
board, the Pace WILL desolder the part with no damage, and I get a clean
part and a clean board without wrecking the through holes.

I have an MBT station at work that has 3 channels. We got it with a
whole pile of tips, handles, etc. I used it for a while for both
soldering and desoldering, but am now doing a lot of extreme
micro-soldering on chips with 0.5mm lead pitch, and we needed a real
micro iron. So, we got a Weller WSL with the WMP micro-pencil, which is
actually a darn good general iron for all electronic work.

I have a collection of older Weller digital readout soldering stations
at home with the 1302 mini soldering pencil, which I actually like just
a little better than the WMP. You can get an EC2002 and ESD1302 pencil
fairly cheap on eBay if you are patient.

Interesting. My regular $3 soldering iron is fine for wires, but too
large for circuit boards. I will indeed look into soldering stations
and will check out my station thoroughly to see what soldering
possibilities it offers.

i