Equipment

[efi_student]

If your objective is casual use, go for the cheaper stuff, but the more
you intend to do, the more you need decent equipment.  One of the most
important features for any soldering device is a grounded tip, not all
come that way, and you can ESD devices to death without even realizing
it.  Once the tip is grounded, the next nice feature is adjustable
temperature.  Those pretty little runs with the nice pads will stay
attached to the board much better when they don't get overheated.  I've
never worked on a board that needed more than a 735F tip temperature
when using eutectic solder, and you don't need more than 35w for board
work if you want the runs to stay put.

Then if you really want to get professional, get a desoldering tool that
uses a vacuum pump.  The spring loaded suckers are marginal, I prefer
wicking wire to them.

Finally, if money is no object, get a PACE Station.  It has everything
you could possibly want.  I used to use one when I did electronic
overhaul, and they are very hard to beat for ease and reliability.  If
there is a military base with a DRMO office, check with them, you might
be able to pick one up pretty cheaply.

Oh, be very careful with a soldering gun.  The smallest I've seen is
75W, and many of them are two stage, with a high power of 140W or more.
You can melt insulation pretty rapidly with them, even Teflon insulated
wire won't take that for long.  BTDT.

The most important thing to remember, there are three critical rules to
soldering (I learned this in Communications Electronics High Reliability
Soldering School almost 20 years ago, and it hasn't changed):

1.  Everything to be soldered MUST be clean.

2.  Everything to be soldered MUST be clean.

And most importantly, 

3.  Everything to be soldered MUST be clean.

Use alcohol and a pencil eraser to get everything clean and don't touch
anything clean with bare fingers.  It will make the whole job easy, and
20 years from now your soldering will still be intact, not all corroded
away.

Lance

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-diy_efi at diy-efi.org [mailto:owner-diy_efi at diy-efi.org] On
Behalf Of Bruce
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2001 8:08 PM
To: diy_efi at diy-efi.org
Subject: Re: Equipment



A soldering station is nice. especially if your going to be doing PCB as
a routine.  $90 is what I have in mine, and when doing several hours of
work the handle is much cooler then that of a soldering iron.
   Desoldering, argh, there is a devise that looks somewhat like a
turkey baster the has a lever you cock, which looks easy to use.  Saw
one in operation looked like a $20 well spent.
   Harness work get a regular soldering gun, trigger type. Bruce




From: <LOW4SHOW at aol.com>
Subject: Equipment
> What do people out there recommend for soldering and desoldering 
> units? In terms of desoldering how well does using a basic soldering 
> gun and a
suction
> bulb work?  What about having temperature control on the desoldering 
> or soldering guns, how important is this feature?  Thanks everybody 
> Brian


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