On Apr 9, 11:09*pm, axolotl wrote:
On 4/9/2011 1:24 AM, Ignoramus30421 wrote:

I took a picture of what I have. It is called "APE SMD-2000M"
soldering/desoldering station.

A few years ago, I could not make either of them work, so I just kept
them in a corner.

Perhaps, now that I have a little more experience fixing stuff, I
should take another look at those stations.


Iggy,
Looks impressive indeed - like one of those projects we can all get
going real good if we just do......(however long it takes) G whats
the hand-pieces like, what sorta tips did you get, is there a cleaning
kit, etc etc.? - does it work - its obviously had a hard life - this
new thing - is it going to help, or get in the way. And not meaning to
be rude, honest, but you DO know how to hand solder, the basics is
being able to do it without a complex machine. Getting in the way,
mostly. Needing maintenance.
I got trained in the Aviation industry on How to Solder
Properly....thought I knew how before I did the course. Nearly went
insane making up wire grids, 1 inch square, then soldering every
intersection. 3 months of it. There was a glass case in the foyer -
some bloke had gone nuts, years ago, and built a Really Impressive
soldered wire frame Spanish Galleon from all the practice attempts
littering the place up..

I got machines like that - Chinese knock-offs of HAKKO, usually.
(Yours look a tad more classy - production line stuff, or high level
servicing.) Good luck with it. My stuff is the soldering equivalent of
the 9 by 20 generic lathe. They work ok, saved me neck a few times,
but for 80% of the time, the plain ordinary temperature controlled
iron for $40 just chugs along. I know how to solder, who cares if its
got a bull**** temperature readout.****ed off with Weller - went great
for 20+ years, nice iron. Then started dying, all the new spares were
crap, didnt last. Even bought a new one, same thing - just crap. The
other 20% - well, usually a $10 100w beast got ages ago - half inch
tip... lethal design, but gets lots of heat into a joint.
Relic Scope irons here in Oz..- crude but effective technology using
a carbon tip pushed against the rear face of the bit - 3.3V, 30 amps
peak. You could get them hot enough to light a cigarette. Anything in
the car, no worries. not too good on transistors and IC's though.....I
had a version of one in my cable jointers van - big lead acid 6v
battery. 30ft of cable to the iron. Worked well, if you looked after
the battery. I did, knew about SG and stuff like that, had hygrometer,
voltmeter, kept an eye on it. Could work all day if it had to. Had
enuff grunt. Was Good.

Andrew VK3BFA.