deskthority

Anyone have recommendations on desoldering stations? Still in production/being sold would be better.

Jbc with pneumatic pump.

Do you have a price range?

Well I do quite a bit of de soldering so 100-200USD wouldn't be unreasonable.

If you have an air compressor, I'd say Metcal MX-5250/MX-5251. Otherwise, Pace ST-75, Weller WR2000X, JBC DIS, or if on a budget, Hakko FR-300 (beware of clones/fakes/scams).

Edit: Fixed up a model number.

Oh, I'm not sure If I can give any advice for stuff cheaper than a hakko. :/
That jbc is nice, but it's 1500€ )

I've seen this in a video by mike565656566565665:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DeSoldering-Iro ... Swal5YIP4O

It works great for switch desoldering, is by far the cheapest tool for the job I have ever seen. That's my best recommendation in 110v land. Wouldn't use that for anything more sophisticated than switch desoldering though

If you are looking for a "station" the best bet is the ZD-915. That's not compatible with 110v afaik but there are similair models in the US.

Generally, for switch soldering ... don't bother with super high end soldering equipment since you're not working with fragile parts like iCs and SMD parts.

Wodan wrote: Generally, for switch soldering ... don't bother with super high end soldering equipment since you're not working with fragile parts like iCs and SMD parts.

True, the exception being zealios which melt like crazy in normal production environments.

pomk wrote: True, the exception being zealios which melt like crazy in normal production environments.

If someone asks me for advice and then comes back to complain he had issues with Zealios ... he didn't listen.

I think I found a 110v 60hz ZD-915, it is only 115USD does anyone know how it compares to the Hakko FD-300? Also the use case isn't just key switches, I do capacitor repairs quite often for friends consoles.

I used the ZD-915 for quite a while before I passed it on to Goguslr ...

The only thing that bothered me about it was the time consuming way to remove the waste solder. I had times where I desoldered 3-5 full boards a night, several nights a week ...

Personally I think 115US$ is still a great price for these machines, over here in Europe you can get them for 85€ though which is pretty much amazing.

You can also get all kinds of spare parts and consumables for these things! It's ridiculous...

Late to the party, but I'm happy with the one I ordered:
220V AOYUE474A Vacuum Gun Desoldering Gun Suction, Aoyue 474A soldering station
http://s.aliexpress.com/vAbA7zuq
(from AliExpress Android)

The only downside is that cleaning. You need to clean it after like a 80% keyboard.

Wodan wrote:I used the ZD-915 for quite a while before I passed it on to Goguslr ...

The only thing that bothered me about it was the time consuming way to remove the waste solder. I had times where I desoldered 3-5 full boards a night, several nights a week ...

Personally I think 115US$ is still a great price for these machines, over here in Europe you can get them for 85€ though which is pretty much amazing.

You can also get all kinds of spare parts and consumables for these things! It's ridiculous...

And which station are you usng nowadays?
I am interested in one, which should ideally also be able to do SMD as well.

I prefer buying used over new..

Phenix wrote: And which station are you usng nowadays?
I am interested in one, which should ideally also be able to do SMD as well.

I prefer buying used over new..

Weller WXD2010

Recommend that one only if you are desoldering thousands of switches...

how much did you spent?
Was thinking about an old Weller or Ersa desoldering station, as I am very impressed by the quality of the station of my father (an 15 year old Ersa soldering station which runs still well).