[Elecraft] soldering station info, from a guy who

[david feldman]

> > As you'd expect, for professional use, the Pace and
> > the Metcal are the most costly - and the "best" at
> > what they do.
>
>I'm curious what makes one unit better than another other than the obvious
>differences between a temperature-controlled iron and a $10 radio shack
>unit. Are you thinking of technical issues like recovery time and 
>supporting
>multiple irons/accessories or is it subjective issues like size, weight,
>feel, cord length, etc?
>
>I've got a Hakko 936 that does a fine job, and I'm having a hard time
>imagining what else it could do that would make it "better".
>

I thought I'd chime in here about Metcal - I bought a Metcal SP200 on advice 
from a friend some years ago (late 90s); the SP200 was at the time probably 
their cheapest and most basic model, and I hadn't heard of hakko, etc. It 
was not terribly expensive, but at the high end of pricing for some other 
types I looked at (I don't recall how much.)

Anyway, the Metcal (at least this one) has no controls at all - just on/off 
- temperature is controlled by interaction of the power supply and 
composition of materials in the body of the tip, but as I began using it, I 
discovered it could handle very tiny soldering without overheating (or 
underheating) the joint then quickly handle a very large, thermally massive 
object (such as tinning or soldering a large metal object such as a PL259), 
and then be able to go back to some small solder joint, all without waiting 
but a few seconds at most between applications or from a cold start (I can 
hear the power supply unit hum slightly when it's  heating the solder tip, 
and the hum would persist a bit more while soldering a large object.)

>From what I've read recently about soldering with the new types of non-lead 
solder involved (I've not tried), I'm not sure if it would be satisfactory 
(perhaps it's got an upgrade - I haven't checked) as the temperature is set 
by the tip itself and seemed calibrated to garden-variety solder of the 
time.

Anyway, just posting this to help satisfy curiosity about Metcal...

73 Dave WB0GAZ wb0gaz at hotmail.com