What soldering station should I buy?

A soldering station is an advanced version of the basic soldering iron. If you are going to be doing a lot of soldering, we recommend you use one. They offer more flexibility and make soldering easier and safer.

The main feature of a soldering station is temperature regulation. This will allow you to adapt the settings of the iron to your working needs. Soldering stations provide a safe stand to put your hot iron, a sponge, and other accessories. Some include alert settings and even password protection for safety.

Main accessories of soldering stations

A soldering station should include the following:

• Soldering iron: The main tool. A soldering iron heats up in order to melt solder and create joints. It can come in several variations, such as pen or gun form.  Soldering stations will provide a wattage ranging from 40 to 80 W. Most soldering irons have interchangeable tips that can be used for different applications.
• Soldering iron stand: A basic but very useful accessory. A stand helps prevent the hot iron tip from coming in contact with flammable materials or your skin.
• Cleaning sponge: A small sponge to wipe your soldering iron on. It will keep the iron tip clean by removing solder and flux residue. This will prevent oxidation. Oxidised tips will not solder properly. A brass sponge is preferable to a conventional wet sponge.

Other useful accessories can include a hot air gun for warming up components and a bracket for solder wire on the side.

Analog and digital temperature control

Temperature control is the key feature of any soldering station. The control system can be either analog or digital. Analog units use knobs to regulate heat. They don’t show the temperature on a display.

Digital units have settings to adjust the temperature digitally. They also have a display showing the current set temperature. These units offer better accuracy. Some will even allow you to choose a temperature and lock your settings with a password. They are, however, more expensive than analog stations.

How do I choose a soldering station?

As usual, the best tool is the one most suited to your needs. Having said that, a good soldering station should provide accurate temperature control. It should also be ESD-safe. ESD stands for electrostatic discharge. An ESD-safe station will allow no static charge to build on the soldering iron. Static can damage certain electronic components.

The design of the iron should be ergonomic, to avoid hand fatigue. It would also be useful to choose a station that includes a wide selection of soldering tips. Depending on your needs, you might want a station with desoldering tools included. Desoldering and disassembling components is necessary in the process of repairing PCBs.

Metcal soldering stations have recently mentioned as the One of the best stations in the UK.

Conro Electronics, as an electronic manufacturing and soldering systems distributor, offers a wide choice of soldering systems and accessories, from major manufacturers such as Metcal and Indium.

We’ll show you how to improve product reliability while increasing performance and lowering costs. Our team of technical support specialists will provide your company with dependable global supply, unrivalled efficiency, and superior technical support.

Feel free to contact us on 0208 953 1211 or send us an email to info@conro.com