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Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2011 11:14:08 -0800
From: Colin D Bennett <colin AT gibibit DOT com>
To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: [geda-user] soldering equiment
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On Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:39:27 -0500
John Hudak <jjhudak AT gmail DOT com> wrote:

> Not sure what your requirements are, but I got both the Weller
> WESD51D and the Metcal MX-500S.
> The weller seems to work well for 85-90% of the work I do and is
> very cost effective.  Wide tip assortment makes working with SMT
> devices reasonable.
> 
> The Metcal MX-500S is great for very fine pitch work but it may
> be hard to justify the 4X cost over the weller.
> Techni-Tool has a special, buy 3, get one free, so if you have
> three other ppl interested, that makes the cost more within reach.

Has anyone use Xytronic products? [1]  They are not high-end
like Metcal, but seem to provide a decent performance/cost ratio.

I have one of the now-discontinued Xytronic 169D stations [2] and
it has worked fairly well for me the past couple of years.

I am thinking of getting a second station and was looking at the
Xytronic LF-3000 for US$145 [3].  Does this sound like a reasonable
choice?  I wouldn't want to spend more than $150 at this point.

I don't have a lot of experience with high end soldering stations,
so I don't know how to compare it, except that here at work we have
all PACE soldering stations and wow! the little PACE tips somehow
conduct heat a lot faster to the joints than my Xytronic 169D or the
iron on my Aoyue soldering+hot air station from SparkFun.

The LF-3000 has a temperature sensor embedded close to the tip, so
I wonder if that would provide better performance than my current
iron by the heater responding faster and keeping the tip temperature
higher (closer to the set point).

References

[1] Xytronic products sold by HEI.
    <http://www.howardelectronics.com/xytronic/products.html>.

[2] Xytronic 169D soldering station (discontinued).
    <http://www.howardelectronics.com/discontinued/xytronic/169D.html>.

[3] Xytronic LF-3000 soldering station (US$145).
    <http://www.howardelectronics.com/xytronic/lf3000.html>.

Regards,
Colin