Re: Equipment selection

Good to see there is at least one other metcal lover on the list. :)

I agree that their equipment new is pretty pricey. There don't seem to be
a lot of pricebreaks across the various stores (at least that I've found).
For purchasing new stuff (tips I have to have right away, etc) I like to
go through www.midwesttech.com .. They seem reasonable to deal with.

But I buy most of my metcal stuff on ebay. Especially tips. Luckily
"metcal" is a wonderful search term that doesn't drag in lots of non-
soldering related stuff. It is worth doing some research and figuring
out what you want (there are a million tips -- all lovingly described
on the www.metcal.com website). I've bought lots of brand new tips for
a fraction of their retail price using ebay.

Once you get a base set of equipment and tips then you gradually expand
them as you find them/need them.

Also the metcal site has a lot of well written tech notes explaining
exactly how their equipment should be used to get the best results. So
if you want to lay down .5mm smt chips get the right tip (a hook or knife),
read the technotes, practice on old boards (I picked up dead motherboards
from the local computer repair shop), and then be a pro.

If you DO want to do SMT the other purchase you should make is good
microscope. Get a wide field one if you can. I have a Nikon SMZ-1B
which I picked up on ebay pretty cheap. It has a narrow field so you
have to hold your head steady while working with it. But it makes
everything easier. I use it on gameboards to do a lot of inspections
of traces/soldering/etc... Makes seeing those hairline cracks a lot easier.

Kurt
kmahan@xmission.com

> I'm with kurt on this one..
>
> Once I used Metcal I didn't want to use anything else.. They heat up in less
> than 5 seconds and can pour the heat on instantly.. they work great for heavy
> stuff like boards with large ground planes and pinball coils.
>
> The older soldering pencil systems are available cheap.. I think I paid $75
> for mine.. I think you have to drop around $500 to get one new. The shop-air
> desoldering guns (DS-1) are very inexpensive as well, and uses the same power
> supply. I have a ds-1 but don't have air handy any longer.. I'm gonna try to
> pick up one of the self-contained desoldering units (the SP440). The only
> downside to metcal is the tips are expensive (around $35 I think).. but they
> seem to last longer than weller anyway. I probably use it every day and I
> havn't replaced the tip in 3 years.. it still looks good.
>
> Jeff
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Received on Fri Mar 14 10:40:43 2003