Electronics workbench talk (was "Hakko 888D")

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pbj:
Sometimes, just for the hell of it, I'll solder with a cigarette lighter. Works pretty well for junk like tinning wire.

menace:
Ok so I had the morning off and decided to put the Aoyue 701A++ (plus plus) through some paces...

Overall the base station is heavy with rubber feet to keep it in place and the digital read out on both sides seems fairly accurate. The stands for the soldering and de-soldering side are also fairly heavy duty and keep things in place--I love the little spool attachment for the solder wire. I didn't use the sponge but instead use an aoyue brass coil cleaner--works way better in my opinion.

The soldering side heats up in under a minute (0-350) and the vacuum system works well to keep the fumes away--my old soldering stick was absolute shite compared to this thing so I'm happy--if you are coming from a weller or Hakko, it may not be as impressive to you. But its got a ceramic heater and seems solid enough.

The de-soldering side is a bit less awesome (but still waaaayyyy better than my old radio shack solder sucker bulb thingy) The parts don't quite line up on the gun, leaving seams--It doesn't seem to hurt performance but it does look cheap. The filter pads that come in the kit are garbage--they basically cut sponges to the right dia. and stuck them in the gun. Fortunately Hakko part A1033 seems to be a proper replacement.

Performance wise, I pulled 3 chips off a missile command board and it had no trouble at all (set to 420) with most of them. The solder attached to ground planes didn't get all sucked out--even after adding new solder to make it liquid so i had to keep the heat on a squeak out the part.

My only complaint so far is that the vacuum system can either be hooked up to the solder side OR the desolder side--which makes removing and installing the little tube a pain--I'm sure I'll come up with a Y-fitting and a quick selector valve soon enough.

Overall I'm happy with it and since its soo much faster than my old stuff, I feel like I got good value for my money. It would be interesting to compare the Hakko version on a side by side but I don't have thousands to spend for that sort of thing...

chopperthedog:
Got an amazon gift card from work about a month ago and ordered the same unit as above. Very happy with it. @menace I have the same complaint and have been meaning to stop at a pet store to pick up an air splitter valve of some sort.

good day.

menace:
My next beef is that I want the vacuum on the solder side to only work when I solder. I'm debating wiring up a trigger like on the desolder side. I get annoyed with it buzzing away. Although I much appreciate not having to blow solder fumes out of my face (that can't be good for you..lead-free or otherwise...)

pbj:
Got handed this thing. I guess it's for having a pool of melted solder handy:

My undying respect and admiration for anyone that comes up with a use for it.

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