Electronics workbench talk (was "Hakko 888D")

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pbj:
Yeah, the Panavise is legit. Probably one of the nicest specialty tools that I own.

Vigo:
Did you buy it or save it from the trash?

pbj:

--- Quote from: Vigo on August 06, 2015, 03:41:42 pm ---Did you buy it or save it from the trash?

--- End quote ---

I got in on that Radio Shack deal for the Panavise. The Fluke multimeter was a trash save.

MonMotha:
Panavise also has the "Panavise Jr." which is basically a small traditional vise with plastic jaws. The jaws do have little slots in them for grabbing thin stuff kinda like the dedicated circuit board holder. Both are useful. I do still use my helping hands (99c on sale at Harbor Freight!) all the time, too, mostly for tinning wires. I'm not fond of the totally integrated Panavise or similar electronic workstations. I tend to have a separate sponge, iron holder, etc. I find having them right up at the workpiece like that just gets in the way both with the work and when trying to clean/store the iron.

I've not used the Hakko stations, but they seem well liked. I have a Weller WESD51 that's going on 10 years old and still works fine apart from a loose themocouple connection at the connector that goes from the base to the pencil which is probably my fault from catching the cable too many times. I keep it set to ~335C for leaded work and 350-360C for lead free.

I find having an assortment of tips (also available on e.g. the Hakko) to be essential unless you have multiple irons. Soldering down huge through-hole connectors, especially to multi-layer PCBs with planes, calls for a much larger tip than swapping out an 0402 surface mount passive.

Metcal are still the creme de la creme, but you'll pay for it. Weller hasn't really kept up. Their products are still decent, but other lines like Hakko and even the cheap direct-from-China brands now have similar features and even quality for a lot less.

BadMouth:

--- Quote from: MonMotha on August 09, 2015, 01:37:24 am ---I'm not fond of the totally integrated Panavise or similar electronic workstations. I tend to have a separate sponge, iron holder, etc. I find having them right up at the workpiece like that just gets in the way both with the work and when trying to clean/store the iron.

--- End quote ---

Yup. I tossed the soldering iron holder & have never used the sponges. I do use the solder dispenser because I have rolls of solder from my old workplace that closed.
I don't have it attached to the base though. I got in on the $30 deal, so it wasn't like I'd saved anything by not getting the whole setup.

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