Weller WES51 vs Hakko 936-12

Nov 17, 2003 1 Replies
J

Looking for some advice/experience (from folks who have actually used these particular items! :-) on choosing between the Weller WES51 and Hakko 936-12 (both ESD safe) soldering stations. I'm upgrading from my Radio Shack iron for occasional home/hobby use (DIP and SMT PCB prototyping/construction mostly.) These look to be largely equivalent units in terms of features (though the auto-shutoff feature of the Weller is a plus that the Hakko doesn't seem to have...) I've heard that the Hakko 907 iron is pretty darned nice though!(Unfortunately I live in the boonies and have no way to physically check these out prior to purchase.)



Thanks for any (constructive!) advice!!



Jim


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W

I use two WES-51 stations. (Or maybe they're WES-50's, don't remember; same thing, only the handle connector changed.) One is about five years old, one is one or two years old. Each has served flawlessly and does a great job.

They don't have quite enough power to do things like solder mounting tabs onto steel chassis (e.g., the electrolytic caps in old tube amps) but for every other application they have excelled. Never had a problem with either one. We use them both for "one blob every 15 minutes" type soldering, when doing a repair job, and for "continuous duty" soldering, when assembling PCB's. Tips have held up extremely well.

The auto shutoff is a really nice feature. Not infrequently, I get called away from the bench in the middle of something and come back a few hours later or the next day.

I've not used the Hakko, can't comment on it.

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