[Elecraft] Soldering Stations??

[Tom Hammond]

Hi Deni:

>I'm hoping to get a Hakko 936 (or it's clone) very soon and 
>wondering what would be the best tip to order for SMT work? I'll be 
>building the SoftRock Lite kit for use with my K3 so have decided 
>it's time to upgrade the soldering tools. I've  managed a small SMT 
>project for my K2 using my old and trusty Weller but now want 
>something better. I know quite a few in this group use the Hakko so 
>I would appreciate some advice on iron tip sizes for SMT as well as 
>the normal sizes.

For what (little) it may be wroth, here is a bit of 'boilerplate' 
reply which I send to folks who write me asking about tips for their 
Hakko 936-x... Hope this helps.

   If you have the HAKKO 936-12 (ESD) or the -09 (non-ESD), the
   tips you're probably looking for are the 900M & 900L series.
   The "L" series is generally a longer tip.

   900M-T-LB     Long, round, .008" tip, really skinny,
                 helpful when cleaning out PCB holes

   All of the following tips are of the chisel (screwdriver) tip
   type:

   900M-T-I    .008" (0.2mm) tip  -   For SMD PC boards

   900M-T-1.2D .047" (1.2mm) tip --
                                  |   For PCB work. The HAKKO 936-12
   900M-T-1.6D .063" (1.6mm) tip  |-- and -9 models ship with the
                                  |   900M-T-1.6D tip included
   900M-T-2.4D .095" (2.4mm) tip --

   900M-T-3.2D .126" (3.2mm) tip - For non-PCB work

   900M-T-S3   .205" (5.2mm) tip - For heavy-duty work,
                                   including Coax Conns.

   900L-T-S1   .221" (5.6mm) tip - For heavy-duty work,
                                   especially coax conns.

   Try to select a tip which isn't longer than needed... the
   longer the tip, the more heat is lost getting it to the tip.
   Shorter tips generally are higher-mass and convey more heat TO
   the tip.. as long as they're long enough to reach into spots
   where you need to solder.

I have found the 900M-T-I (above) to work quite nicely for the 
relatively small amount of SMD work I have undertaken. Nice fine 
point, and easy to get in/out of the work... so far anyway.

73,

Tom Hammond   N0SS