Electronics workbench talk (was "Hakko 888D")

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yotsuya:
Desoldering gun or GTFO.

BadMouth:
Other small recommendations:

A flux pen. Sometimes I was too lazy to brush on flux.
(half the time ended up costing more time than it saved)
Since getting a pen, I use flux every time.

A radioshack micro test lead set, the older cheaper looking version. I use these more often then I thought I ever would; connecting to header pins, clamping onto parts in place. There is a long skinny spring loaded lead that is amazing for cleaning pocket lint from the headphone jack on cell phones.

BadMouth:
These

MonMotha:

--- Quote from: BadMouth on August 09, 2015, 12:40:58 pm ---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.

--- End quote ---

There is the Panavise 333 which is basically the setup linked earlier in this thread without the extraneous attachments.

I'm a bit mixed on solder dispensers. They're nice to have, but I've never had too much trouble just setting the spool on end on the bench and pulling on it, manually rotating when necessary. Then again, I'm normally doing super small SMT work, not bulk through-hole, so I don't use that much solder.

I don't know how people can solder without a sponge. The metal brush tip cleaners can damage high-end tips that have alloy coatings designed to easily take solder and not require complex tinning procedures like the crappy Radio Shack tips. You usually need something ot remove excess solder and flux that accumulates on the tip. It does depend somewhat on what you're doing. Again, small SMT rework is very different than bulk through-hole assembly.

For flux, I have liquid and paste rosin flux on the bench. I mostly use the liquid. I use a small paintbrush to put it where I want and dispense out of a small travel make-up container that you can easily get in a "TSA approved" kit. I use a similar container with anhydrous isopropyl alcohol for cleaning the brush and removing flux residue from the PCB. Q-tips are handy but can leave lint. Kimwipes don't do that but are less convenient and much more expensive.

I have a couple of dedicated vacuum desoldering stations. They both pretty much suck or rather don't. I mostly just use braid and a "soldapult" manual vacuum tool.

I have a standard vinyl ESD mat as my work surface. It is definitely getting torn up over the years, but that's expected. I would love to get a laminate top with ESD foil underneath. You can build this yourself if you want to.

For parts dishes/trays, I just use stainless steel pet bowls. They're readily available and cheap. If you get ones without rubber rims and have a static free worktop, the dish itself should also remain pretty much static free.

jennifer:
While soldering my dresses (polyester) would melt to my legs, quite painfull, so now I keep them under the table...The manual sucker actually does work? Been messing around off and on for years with mine with no luck, about just ready to throw it away. Mostly use just wick .... The sponge seems cheesy to me, so Jennifer keeps a wet rag on the table. And OMG, stainless pet bowls how awesome would that be, baby"s going shopping. 8)

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