Weller WES51 vs Hakko 936-12

[Jim Stoll]

Looking for some advice/experience (from folks who have actually used
these particular items! on choosing between the Weller WES51 and
Hakko 936-12 (both ESD safe) soldering stations. I'm upgrading from
my Radio Shack iron for occasional home/hobby use (DIP and SMT PCB
prototyping/construction mostly.) These look to be largely equivalent
units in terms of features (though the auto-shutoff feature of the
Weller is a plus that the Hakko doesn't seem to have...) I've heard
that the Hakko 907 iron is pretty darned nice though!(Unfortunately I
live in the boonies and have no way to physically check these out
prior to purchase.)

Thanks for any (constructive!) advice!!

Jim

 

[Walter Harley]

"Jim Stoll" <jim_stoll@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ca4f8610.0311170729.628e8195@posting.google.com...

Looking for some advice/experience (from folks who have actually used
these particular items! on choosing between the Weller WES51 and
Hakko 936-12 (both ESD safe) soldering stations.

I use two WES-51 stations. (Or maybe they're WES-50's, don't remember; same
thing, only the handle connector changed.) One is about five years old, one
is one or two years old. Each has served flawlessly and does a great job.

They don't have quite enough power to do things like solder mounting tabs
onto steel chassis (e.g., the electrolytic caps in old tube amps) but for
every other application they have excelled. Never had a problem with either
one. We use them both for "one blob every 15 minutes" type soldering, when
doing a repair job, and for "continuous duty" soldering, when assembling
PCB's. Tips have held up extremely well.

The auto shutoff is a really nice feature. Not infrequently, I get called
away from the bench in the middle of something and come back a few hours
later or the next day.

I've not used the Hakko, can't comment on it.