Soldering Station Recommendations
 

I just had a chance to use an ancient Hexacon TOT1002 to do capacitor
replacement on a motherboard where I was soldering in the middle of
massive ground planes.

I have a whole bunch of other irons and none of them could come close
to getting that job done.

Unfortunately, the Hexacon was buzzing like crazy and finally went
dead. (I determined that the transformer and triac were good and then
gave up. It's a simple board but there is an IC and I don't know the
effect of a broken wire in the iron will cause. So I pretty much gave
up on it.)

I really liked it so was thinking find another one on eBay.

Of course, then I read about the Hakko 936, Edsyn 971HA, and some
Wellers.

The Hexacon is insanely priced, but it sure is old school.

Any suggestions?

NOTE: I kept getting the feeling that the Hexacon was actually
boosting the iron WHILE I was soldering that ground plane.

I don't think, even though termostatically controlled, that any
stations response time could be quick enough to boost power DURING a
2-3 second soldering.

wrote:

I don't think, even though termostatically controlled, that any
stations response time could be quick enough to boost power DURING a
2-3 second soldering.

In the engineering lab I used to work they had a Weller iron that
responded pretty quickly.

The power LED on the base was bi-colour. When the heat was on it was
red, green when off. When you touched the iron to something you would
see the duty cycle change right away.

The small tip would heat pretty quickly (room temp to 900F in under a
minute).


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Do you know what model it was?

Shawn D'Alimonte wrote:

wrote:

I don't think, even though termostatically controlled, that any
stations response time could be quick enough to boost power DURING a
2-3 second soldering.

In the engineering lab I used to work they had a Weller iron that
responded pretty quickly.

The power LED on the base was bi-colour. When the heat was on it was
red, green when off. When you touched the iron to something you would
see the duty cycle change right away.

The small tip would heat pretty quickly (room temp to 900F in under a
minute).


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Looks like Hakko 936 maybe hard to beat: 30 second warmup time and
+-1 deg C temperature accuracy. They claim "lightning fast thermal
recovery."

(The Hexacon is +-10 deg F which is pretty slow. Xytronic & Edsyn are
around +-6 deg F)

wrote:

I just had a chance to use an ancient Hexacon TOT1002 to do capacitor
replacement on a motherboard where I was soldering in the middle of
massive ground planes.

I have a whole bunch of other irons and none of them could come close
to getting that job done.

Unfortunately, the Hexacon was buzzing like crazy and finally went
dead. (I determined that the transformer and triac were good and then
gave up. It's a simple board but there is an IC and I don't know the
effect of a broken wire in the iron will cause. So I pretty much gave
up on it.)

I really liked it so was thinking find another one on eBay.

Of course, then I read about the Hakko 936, Edsyn 971HA, and some
Wellers.

The Hexacon is insanely priced, but it sure is old school.

Any suggestions?

NOTE: I kept getting the feeling that the Hexacon was actually
boosting the iron WHILE I was soldering that ground plane.

I don't think, even though termostatically controlled, that any
stations response time could be quick enough to boost power DURING a
2-3 second soldering.

wrote:
Do you know what model it was?

I don't remember the model and I don't work there anymore. It was
fairly 'cheap' looking. All black with a built in iron and sponge
holder. The temperature control was a sliding knob.


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On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 20:59:51 -0400, Shawn D'Alimonte
put finger to keyboard and composed:

In the engineering lab I used to work they had a Weller iron that
responded pretty quickly.

The power LED on the base was bi-colour. When the heat was on it was
red, green when off.

Damn, I hate that!

http://webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/2C.html

"Approximately 5% to 8% of the men and 0.5% of the women of the world
are born colorblind. That's as high as one out of twelve men and one
out of two hundred women. People who are protans (red weak) and
deutans (green weak) comprise 99% of this group."


- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email.

NEVER NEVER go past a hakko.

Best iron, ever.

wrote in message
...
I just had a chance to use an ancient Hexacon TOT1002 to do capacitor
replacement on a motherboard where I was soldering in the middle of
massive ground planes.

I have a whole bunch of other irons and none of them could come close
to getting that job done.

Unfortunately, the Hexacon was buzzing like crazy and finally went
dead. (I determined that the transformer and triac were good and then
gave up. It's a simple board but there is an IC and I don't know the
effect of a broken wire in the iron will cause. So I pretty much gave
up on it.)

I really liked it so was thinking find another one on eBay.

Of course, then I read about the Hakko 936, Edsyn 971HA, and some
Wellers.

The Hexacon is insanely priced, but it sure is old school.

Any suggestions?

NOTE: I kept getting the feeling that the Hexacon was actually
boosting the iron WHILE I was soldering that ground plane.

I don't think, even though termostatically controlled, that any
stations response time could be quick enough to boost power DURING a
2-3 second soldering.

Kibo informs me that stated that:

Of course, then I read about the Hakko 936, Edsyn 971HA, and some
Wellers.

Weller TCP. Reasonably priced, sufficient capacity to handle anything
you can throw at it, very reliable.

NOTE: I kept getting the feeling that the Hexacon was actually
boosting the iron WHILE I was soldering that ground plane.

I don't think, even though termostatically controlled, that any
stations response time could be quick enough to boost power DURING a
2-3 second soldering.

Of course it can - that's how you tell a good station from a bad one. ;)

--
W
. | ,. w , "Some people are alive only because
\|/ \|/ it is illegal to kill them." Perna condita delenda est
---^----^---------------------------------------------------------------

Any comments on Hexacon stuff?

The reason I ask is that I have a real sentimental/nostalgic link to
Hexacon: I spent many summers at my aunt & uncle's in Roselle Park
where they lived about 1 block from Hexacon and my uncle worked for
them for a number of years.

wrote:

I just had a chance to use an ancient Hexacon TOT1002 to do capacitor
replacement on a motherboard where I was soldering in the middle of
massive ground planes.

I have a whole bunch of other irons and none of them could come close
to getting that job done.

Unfortunately, the Hexacon was buzzing like crazy and finally went
dead. (I determined that the transformer and triac were good and then
gave up. It's a simple board but there is an IC and I don't know the
effect of a broken wire in the iron will cause. So I pretty much gave
up on it.)

I really liked it so was thinking find another one on eBay.

Of course, then I read about the Hakko 936, Edsyn 971HA, and some
Wellers.

The Hexacon is insanely priced, but it sure is old school.

Any suggestions?

NOTE: I kept getting the feeling that the Hexacon was actually
boosting the iron WHILE I was soldering that ground plane.

I don't think, even though termostatically controlled, that any
stations response time could be quick enough to boost power DURING a
2-3 second soldering.

wrote in message
...
I just had a chance to use an ancient Hexacon TOT1002 to do capacitor
replacement on a motherboard where I was soldering in the middle of
massive ground planes.

I have a whole bunch of other irons and none of them could come close
to getting that job done.

Unfortunately, the Hexacon was buzzing like crazy and finally went
dead. (I determined that the transformer and triac were good and then
gave up. It's a simple board but there is an IC and I don't know the
effect of a broken wire in the iron will cause. So I pretty much gave
up on it.)

I really liked it so was thinking find another one on eBay.

Of course, then I read about the Hakko 936, Edsyn 971HA, and some
Wellers.

The Hexacon is insanely priced, but it sure is old school.

Any suggestions?

NOTE: I kept getting the feeling that the Hexacon was actually
boosting the iron WHILE I was soldering that ground plane.

I don't think, even though termostatically controlled, that any
stations response time could be quick enough to boost power DURING a
2-3 second soldering.
Ive had an XYtronics thing thrown into my tool kits for years, its been good
to me, tho its giving me jip at the moment, the cable to the iron has gone
intermittent...
Anyone know where I can get 5core silicon heat resistant flex??...

Dave W.

"Craig Hart" wrote in message ...
NEVER NEVER go past a hakko.

Best iron, ever.

wrote in message
...
I just had a chance to use an ancient Hexacon TOT1002 to do capacitor
replacement on a motherboard where I was soldering in the middle of
massive ground planes.

I have a whole bunch of other irons and none of them could come close
to getting that job done.

Unfortunately, the Hexacon was buzzing like crazy and finally went
dead. (I determined that the transformer and triac were good and then
gave up. It's a simple board but there is an IC and I don't know the
effect of a broken wire in the iron will cause. So I pretty much gave
up on it.)

I really liked it so was thinking find another one on eBay.

Of course, then I read about the Hakko 936, Edsyn 971HA, and some
Wellers.

The Hexacon is insanely priced, but it sure is old school.

Any suggestions?

NOTE: I kept getting the feeling that the Hexacon was actually
boosting the iron WHILE I was soldering that ground plane.

I don't think, even though termostatically controlled, that any
stations response time could be quick enough to boost power DURING a
2-3 second soldering.

Have you tried a Metcal?. Metcal is melting solder in 7 seconds. Got
mine on Ebay for $125. Metcal is a 13 MHz transmitter working into a
soldering tip that only absorbs power when its below temp. After using
a Metcal, everything else seems like a 'tusk'.
GG

Solomon SL-20 here!
Amazing soldering station, better than most Wellers.

wrote in message
...
I just had a chance to use an ancient Hexacon TOT1002 to do capacitor
replacement on a motherboard where I was soldering in the middle of
massive ground planes.

I have a whole bunch of other irons and none of them could come close
to getting that job done.

Unfortunately, the Hexacon was buzzing like crazy and finally went
dead. (I determined that the transformer and triac were good and then
gave up. It's a simple board but there is an IC and I don't know the
effect of a broken wire in the iron will cause. So I pretty much gave
up on it.)

I really liked it so was thinking find another one on eBay.

Of course, then I read about the Hakko 936, Edsyn 971HA, and some
Wellers.

The Hexacon is insanely priced, but it sure is old school.

Any suggestions?

NOTE: I kept getting the feeling that the Hexacon was actually
boosting the iron WHILE I was soldering that ground plane.

I don't think, even though termostatically controlled, that any
stations response time could be quick enough to boost power DURING a
2-3 second soldering.