Sort of OT: Hakko Solder equipment

From: Richard Schauer <rws_at_ripco.com>
Date: Fri Jan 30 08:38:46 2004

On Fri, 30 Jan 2004, Doc Shipley wrote:
> A surplus barn here is getting a huge lot of factory refurb Hakko 939
> solder stations. He says he'll be getting $150 for them, with a 90-day
> warranty from Hakko. He has one as a sample from his supplier, and it
> looks NIB.
> Back to the point, has anyone on-list used Hakko gear? Like it, or
> not?

I am the Service Dept. Manager for a medium-sized radio remote control
company, and I purchase all the tools and equipment. I use only Hakko
desoldering stations, and only Edsyn soldering irons. I do have a Hakko
703 station with a soldering iron (same as the one on the 939 you're
considering), a 950 hot tweezers for SMT work, and a 807 solder sucker.
I'm very happy with all the equipment on that unit. I only use that iron
for fine work; usually I use my Edsyn 951SX ($160) for general soldering.

Tips are not expensive for the Hakko iron. They last a long time; the
only tips that last longer in my experience, are the ones for the Edsyn.
I got 5 years, 40 hrs/week out of my last general purpose tip for the
Edsyn.

It does have a temperature-changing punched card, if you hadn't seen. You
do need the card, but fortunately it's a punch card (not magnetic or
anything) and I made one out of cardboard when we had some contract
employees who were re-working some SMT capacitors on one of our boards,
and their irons were "permanently" set to 900 degrees. I didn't let
*that* go on for long. If you need a card, I can probably find my
cardboard one, or give you the number of a Hakko distributor.

Let me know if you have any more questions,

Richard Schauer
Received on Fri Jan 30 2004 - 08:38:46 GMT