[Elecraft] De soldering station option in G Land

[G3VVT at aol.com]

If money is no object, the Weller and Pace desoldering stations are  
available in the UK at silly prices new. Occasionally a surplus Weller  desoldering 
station may appear at a junk sale at around the £50 mark if you  search long and 
hard enough. The ideal tool for our use, the Hakko 808  desoldering gun is no 
longer approved for sale in Europe as it does  not have the CE approval mark 
unlike other items in the Hakko range.
 
The only realistic option on the horizon when I approached this problem was  
to personally import a Hakko 808, 120VAC 60Hz version from the USA and run  it 
from a 230 to 120 VAC 100W capacity or greater step down transformer.  There 
may be 230VAC 50Hz versions available from other countries outside Europe,  
though I have not located such a source. Possibly a contributor to the list from 
 Hong Kong could comment on availability and price as Hakko do market through 
 there.
 
Full spares support is still available for the Hakko 808 from the  Hakko UK 
sales agents. You can even buy all the bits to build your own 808  from them, 
though I would doubt that you would like the final price!
 
It is really the best thing since sliced bread for doing rework on the  K2.
 
Bob, G3VVT
K2 #4168