Hey, folks - I just wanted to pick your brains about something. I’ve decided to make the leap and upgrade to one of the last pieces of kit I need to be more efficient, a desoldering gun / station. I really only plan to do keyboards with it, and mostly just switches. Here’s my question:
Is there any reason for me to get anything else besides the Hakko FR-301?
Either way, are there any associated tools you’d recommend that don’t come with the kit? Cheers, and thanks.
ZD-915 would be my budget recommendation, but if you have the money to go straight to the FR-301, I’d recommend going to the Hakko.
For the Hakko FR-301; I’d recommend the 1.6mm nozzle for general switch pins:
1.6mm Nozzle
For through hole diodes or smaller through hole components, you might want to get the smaller 0.8mm.
Don’t forget to purchase at least 1 pack of these filters when you purchase your FR-301:
Filters
This the one I use.
Engineer SS-02 Solder Sucker https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002MJMXD4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_cqeQFb44D2F7N
It’s the best of many I’ve tried but I’ve never tried any of those phat electro numbers. Also curious if they’re worth it.
After ruining 2 pcb’s and finally jump on a desoldering station (zd-915 on sale, was like 100$) I must say a desoldering station is the best invention ever in terms of tools. Waaaaay more easy to desolder, and fast.
Edit: Once you go Brrrrrr you can never go Vuooopp
The hakko is amazing, you just have to make sure to clean it out once in a while and it’s like an iron where you have to make sure to tin the tip and replace it sometimes. I won’t use anything else anymore.
The FR-301 was on eight weeks back-order here. I needed something sooner, so I bought an, essentially, chinese knockoff 140w station from RS-Online. It turns out to work perfectly well, comes with a selection of tips, and was half the price of the Hakko.
Hi, I am a newbie here, I am planning to lube my CMStorm quickfire TK brown switches and stabs. I am planning to desolder using a soldering iron and a solder sucker, is using a desoldering iron as Hakko FR-301 recommended over desoldering using soldering iron?
Thanks for your thoughts
This tool is expensive for a reason: it works really well! I don’t have trouble simply using a cheap sucker and iron, though I’ve had a bit of practice at this point. I’d say the Hakko is only worth purchasing if you plan to desolder a lot in the future.
If you have to do a lot of desoldering, you probably would benefit from a purpose built tool for the job. Not that the ENGINEER SS-02 isn’t bad and even though I have a desoldering station, I still use the manual one for quick fixes.
The station I went with is the pro’skit SS-331. I went with one that didn’t have the pump in the handle itself on the recommendation that they were a little nicer to use. Having never used the Hakko FR-301, I can’t honestly say if this was a better choice or not, but it was considerably less expensive.
I was looking at desoldering equipment on Amazon recently and saw many options that were electric desoldering pumps. Has anyone used one of these before and can offer any insight on their effectiveness? They look like a manual solder sucker but with an electric heated tip.
I just use
With a normal iron. Seems more reliable considering it doesn’t rely on cheap electronics. I know once you get into bigger gun style suckers things get a lot easier.
I’ve used one; honestly not as good as a regular iron and a good pump like the one @M_er_sun recommended.
Thanks - good to know before wasting $ on one - I will have to pick up one of the Engineer pumps to try
I got one of these and I’m very happy with it.
However, the Engineer SS-02 is probably my most used. I typically reserve the bigger unit for large jobs as it speeds up the process a lot.
This is what I’ve been using for over 4yrs now. No real issue on the machine’s part, just me not paying attention to the filters. Uses Hakko spring and sponge filters, so it’s easy to find them to stock up. Main downsides I’ve found are it’s a little big, though at least it’s flat on top to set stuff on, and the cabling to the gun could be a bit longer for having it off to the side of my workspace.