>You may also want to look at Thermaltronics http://www.thermaltronics.com/= who=20 >do their own similar products which are compatible with Metcal tips - I have some of their tips = and=20 they are as good as Metcal's ones. Do you have a link to get the price and place order? Funny N. Au Group Electronics, http://www.AuElectronics.com http://www.AuElectronics.com/products http://augroups.blogspot.com/ ________________________________ From: Mike Harrison To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. Sent: Sat, February 12, 2011 4:21:56 AM Subject: Re: [OT]Metcal / OKI solder stations: MX-5010 Vs. PS-900 Vs. MFR-2= 211. On Fri, 11 Feb 2011 18:49:55 -0800 (PST), you wrote: >It seemed the Metcal 500 family is about to obsolete, and the new 5000 fam= ily is=20 > >out. The MX-5010 looks very promise. >After some research I also found there are "PS-900" and "MFR-2211" are new= too=20 >and the PS-900 only cost half the price of MX-5010 (about US$650). >The major difference I can see is the price and RF frequency, the MX-5010 = is=20 >using 13MHz, while the other two uses 450K Hz. >I was wondering if anyone has tried any of those new machines and what do = you=20 >think? >There is even a dedicated PS-900 for solar panel manufacturing, isn't it=20 >interesting? I have an MX500, MX5000 and STSS-002 I've not used the low-frequency Metcal= s but=20 one significant difference is that the range of tips available is much wider for the MX ser= ies.=20 If you do much SMD rework then MX is definitely what you want. The 5000 has more output power than the 500, but in practice the main benef= it is=20 slightly quicker heat-up - about 5 secs for a small tip. You'd only see the benefit of highe= r=20 power on large tips and tricky multilayer boards. The built-in power display is nice if you like gadgets, and slightly usefu= l=20 when using large tips to indicate when they are up to temp.=20 A minor downside is you can't turn off the auto power-down - you can set th= e=20 timeout up to I think 1 hour. The tipsaver magnetiic workstand means there's little reason to power= down=20 when not in use (my 5000 is fairly early so they may have changed this)=20 The handpiece that comes with the 5000 is a bit nicer than the old ones, = but=20 the rubber grips, though more comfortable, wear out in a few months. You do get three though,= with=20 different types of ribbing for your soldering pleasure... You may also want to look at Thermaltronics http://www.thermaltronics.com/ = who=20 do their own similar products which are compatible with Metcal tips - I have some of their tips = and=20 they are as good as Metcal's ones. --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist =20 --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .