Show me your Solder Stations/Workspace

[gahrajmahal]

So last summer I finally purchased a real soldering iron. I bought a Weller WESD51.


I just put in a clear plastic bin and whenever I wanted to use it I noticed it was a pain to get it out, find a place to set it up, and solder my few items only to put it away again. Additional tools, strippers, crimpers, solder and paste are in other locations, so I was gathering then replacing. Not my style of specialized tool usage. Typically I keep a specialized tool in its plastic tool box then add all the tools, wrenches, cutting blades, sandpaper etc all together, even going as far as having a small drill index and tips assortment with my variable speed drills. What I am hoping from you all is to see some different versions of your soldering setups, work holding plus tools and all consumables you typically use. If your setup is portable, all the better. A Google search has offered this one example, but I know you all can do much better. Thanks in advance for your contribution (and photos!)

 

[penright]

Had this for about a year. Don't use it very much, but has come in handy. Pleased so far.
X-Tronic 5000

 

[Falcon67]

My good weller station for PCB work died a few years ago. I now just use a Weller gun for auto type work. Not into PCB work any more anyway.

 

[timgr]

Rework station is cool. I presume you work on stuff with SMDs.

 

[Movover]

I have had this metcal for about 23 years now and it still works great

 

[Hohn]

I wish I had a station to show. Making do with "premium" (yeah, right) radio shack iron, appears to be a re-badged Hakko.

Looking at a Hakko FX-888d-- I don't do enough soldering to justify the budget for a really nice Ersa or Metcal.

 

[DFB]

Hexacon Therm-O-Trac 1002 from a long past electronics manufacturing career

 

[sberry]

I got a tech for the bench too.

 

[gahrajmahal]

So, I appreciate the replys so far but I am not attempting a discussion about the soldering unit itself, more a much more scaled down version of sberry's bench. So, sberry, what items would you take out to the job site for soldering?

 

[sberry]

He took a bunch of stuff off wen we had a humid spike, I suspect it was stuff he didn't use a lot anyway and moved to another room. I really cant say,,,, I don't know the first thing about it.

 

[timgr]

So, I appreciate the replys so far but I am not attempting a discussion about the soldering unit itself, more a much more scaled down version of sberry's bench. So, sberry, what items would you take out to the job site for soldering?

Here's my bench.

You're going to solder on the job site? The Weller soldering guns work fine for automotive wiring. For circuit board work, you need a temperature controlled station like the Weller on my bench (the Haako stations are popular too), or those pictured above. You need a good quality solder with a fairly small wire size like 30 thou (ie Kester), some water to wet the cleaning sponge, maybe a magnifying glass, solder sucker and/or solder wick, and for car wiring, I'd add a tin of paste flux. Automotive wiring has a list of consumables too, including uninsulated **** connectors, crimper, adhesive heat shrink, and an assortment of other connectors.

Is that the kind of list you are asking for?

 

[matt_i]

I don't have a soldering station, I do have one of these Master Appliance butane thingys that's come in handy a lot when doing vehicle work.

On my wish list is one of those "double alligator claw" setups that McMaster Carr has for holding the stuff that needs to be soldered so you can concentrate on the heat and filler. Its 5162A76 and made by Glendo.

 

[Brian_WK]

I just have my stuff sitting in a plastic tote that is under my bench when I need it I set it on the bench. But your picture above is awesome and I think I may attempt something like it. It will be pretty big as my solder station has a smoke sucker and rework on it. Time to hunt for a big carry tool or tackle box.

Brian

 

[gahrajmahal]

Timgr, on the job site is the type of soldering I do, I just don't go anywhere, ha. In my two car gahraj that usually has two cars in it, there isn't any room to have a dedicated setup like you have. When I rewired my 68 Chrysler and 70 MGB I did set up a table to work off of and appreciated that when I did up the dash panels or dedicated relay boards.

The work I am currently doing involves LED lighting and am modifying existing circuit boards and adding wires and connectors. The solder part is usually 10 minutes out of a week long project of messin around, so the idea is to put all the stuff in one workspace type container, plug in one plug then easily put it back away.

I like building stuff, and I know all of you come up with awesome creative solutions that I can incorporate. I like the list of stuff for certain tasks. That is very helpful for figuring out how big, compartment wise etc.

Matt_i, I just purchased a set of "helping hands" with a 4x magnifying lense from MCM electronics for $3

Thanks for the photos!

 

[Outlander]

Watching this, I have stuff set aside in semi-organized fashion but would LOVE a dedicated electronics workbench and the knowledge to use all the cool measurement equipment!

 

[R.Anderson]

Google "portable electronics workshop" you will find more bench in a box setups. If you are looking for dedicated bench setups goggle " electronics workshop home" you will find a lot of serious hobbiest setups. I would post photos of my electronics work bench and shop but all of it is in storage whine my new house and shop are being built.

Far as electronics I recommend two site so:

EEV blog http://www.eevblog.com/
and
All About Circuits http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/

 

[Outlander]

This search on Pinterest was fun

https://www.pinterest.com/briedhauer/electronics-workshop/

 

[66HertzClone]

I have a Weller WES51 which works well for my purposes, I felt the need to keep myself from inhaling the fumes and smoke while soldering away. Below is what I patched together using a cooling fan from an old PC that I had disassembled.

 

[gahrajmahal]

So, you all have gotten me off to a good start. Some photos of what I wish to build coming from Google searches are these;



Probably my favorite

 

[gahrajmahal]

Remember, I only wish to house my soldering iron, stand and Helping hands in my Soldering Work-box. No scopes for testing or other electronic stuff where I trouble shoot the boards (which I completely can't do). I like the design with the two fold-out-tool holding doors. I will have screwdrivers, mini pliers, cutters, strippers, crimpers etc. The thing I wish to incorporate will be a small fan, probably of the muffin fan design, and a LED light. It seems the easiest method of construction is a plywood box with a variety of hinged doors and sliding drawers. I do see the advantage of wiring the box with outlets for the soldering iron and other items and I like a long cord, probably 12ft. on some sort of cord winder on back.

What additions would you suggest for the box?
Stick on measuring tape?
Handy electrical math equations and rules of thumb?
Storage for???
Multimeter?
Jumper wires?
Test Light?

Design variations are currently running through my brain, and I would love to put in your two cents...

Thanks!