I recently bought a HAKKO FR-301 this year. This de-soldering iron was very expensive at $269 but it worked flawlessly to remove over 100 through hole relays - so it paid for itself quickly. I only bought this DS iron for a one-time project, but I can see why people love these things- they work great as long as you use the cleaning procedure after EVERY use. All of my work nowadays is SMD so I use hot air station ST-862, which was about $200 new and works great too.
You mentioned the need to work in tight places - not really sure what 'tight' means in terms of physical dimensions (mm / inches). I do recommend paying careful attention to nozzle dimensions when buying any kind of de-soldering equipment. The FR-301 comes with a standard sized nozzle (N61-08 1.0mm) which works great for most generic work. I suspect you might need a different nozzle, perhaps a very long and thin nozzle such as N61-12, which costs about $18. Nozzle outer diameter is 2.3mm with length of 11mm, more info in link below: https://hakkousa.com/products/desoldering/n61-12-desoldering-nozzle-1-0-mm-extra-long.html As far as low-temp Rosin core solder, I have never found a need for it. My go-to choice for solder that works great every time is Kester "48", which has a melting point of 217°C. The flux residue is minimal, almost non-existent. I rarely clean away the RA rosin afterwards unless the solder joint is mission critical electrically. Kester "48" RA Activated Rosin Wire Diameter: 0.031” (0.8 mm) Alloy: 96.5% Tin / 3% Silver / .5% Copper Kester Part #: 83-7068-1402 ($5 USD for 0.4 oz pocket pack, or $50 USD for 1 pound spool) Charles - AC1FC ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
