Excellent SMD Rework Station

Steve Wilson snipped-for-privacy@not.com wrote in news:XnsAD422335CC11idtokenpost@144.76.35.252:

I liked the one I used once that heated the pcb from the underside as well, offsetting the jump to reflow on the target device.

You can also preheat the entire assembly to 60 or 80 C and that also offsets the jump required. Such steps reduce the thermal failures such events can (and do) cause.

Confirm, they're good. I have the same thing cheaper from Aliexpress

CH

Does the front panel switch actually switch the mains?

RL

I would spend a little more and get the station that has the soldering iron with it. While I doubt they would hold up under lots of work, for ocasonial use they work fine. I have had one for a good number of years and it is fine for my hobby work. All of them seem to use the same hot air wand and soldring pencil.

I think so. The display dims and shuts off, and the fan stops. There seems to be a constant stream of air from the heater after turning off, but this may be due to residual heat. The unit remembers the last temperature setting and restores it on power on. The temperature is adjustable in 1 degree F increments. It heats up really fast, within seconds.

It is worth noting the back panel has a label stating the power draw is 100 Watts, but this does not agree with the specification or the large amount of hot air available from the unit. There is a subminiature fuse on the rear panel that is labeled 5A 250V, which might mean it can supply 600 Watts before blowing.

The unit uses zero-voltage switching, which puts less strain on the fuse. This is unlike the random switching used on microwave ovens, which puts a large strain on the fuse so it eventually blows by itself.

I don't know what you would do if the fuse ever blew. It is very small and I have never seen one that small before. The holder has a small cup that the fuse fits into, so you can't simply bridge the fuse with a small piece of fine wire. It might be a useful precaution to order spare fuses from the manufacturer.

I should mention the automatic shutoff may have stopped working on my unit. I don't know if it has really failed, or I just didn't give it enough time to sense the air gun was in the holder. In any case, it does't matter. The unit heats up so rapidly it is a simple matter to turn the power off when I am finished using it. This may actually be the better method when you are working in time and temperature-critical applications.

I am very pleased with the unit. It is invaluable when you need a lot of heat fast in a small area.

Sounds like a soft turn-off, rather than in the line.

I've had such an arrangement melt its trandformer bobbin isolation before blowing any fuses.

It's normal for the fan to keep running after the gun is returned to its holder, but doing so after being turned off is sign of a live circuit.

RL

And... Appears to be a "made in china" item as well. :(

I don't know about that model but the China one I have cuts off the heater but lets the fan run for a while agter placing the wand in the holder. When it gets to about 100 deg C the fan cuts off. When you pick it up the fan and heater comes on and shortly it is back up to temperature. Mine has a switch on the front for the air wand and one for the soldering iron. There is one on the back that cuts off all the power to the unit.

Yup. We keep ours unplugged when not in use, and switch off all the power bars when there's nobody in the lab.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

the one I have and others I have seen the toggle switch is a hard off, removing the gun from the holder starts the heating, placing the gun back in the holder does a cool down and goes to "off" with ---- in the display when it gets below ~100'C

a master off for the whole workbench is a good idea anyways

That's what mine does. The fact it seems to have stopped working is a good excuse to take it apart and find out how it works.

Sounds like another fake product promo to me.

What's to find out? It's pretty simple. There's a magnet on the hook and a reed switch in the handle.

Like this one?

Phooey, I was looking for a simple hot air gun...

"Currently unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."

John :-#(#

amazon.de is borked. trying to open the link hangs. (Waiting for images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com) I've been trying for a few days now. I can also dimly remember from last time someone posted a covert ad for the thing it did not work either, so it's not a transient fault. (dillo and wget work, but ofcourse javascript...)

Try

Or even: