I recently purchased an inexpensive hot-air station from=20 Aamazon.ca. My cost was Can $70 with free shipping. WEP 858D (110V) Hot Air Rework Soldering Station, Suitable For SMD,=20 SOIC, CHIP, QFP, PLCC, BGA Comes with only 3 nozzles but I ordered a set of 8 additional nozzles=20 from Banggood (ordered but not yet received). What's cool is that the hot-air nozzle size is almost a perfect fit=20 for a 3/4" copper pipe end cap (copper water pipe). It's easy to=20 make your own nozzles but you have to use something like high-temp=20 silver-solder or brass brazing to fasten your custom nozzle to the=20 copper end cap. Think something along the lines of air-conditioning=20 or refrigeration copper pipe connections - acetylene plumber's torch=20 with hard silver-solder or sil-phos rod and appropriate flux. Station heats up very quickly and goes to a maximum of 500C. It has=20 auto shut-off where the unit shuts down automatically as soon as the=20 hand-piece is placed in the holder. Very, very easy to use and an absolute bargain at that price. dwayne At 06:27 AM 2/28/2017, Neil Cherry wrote: >Along the lines of the 'Cheap soldering stations' thread. My maker space >is now looking for an inexpensive hot air station (or at least a pencil). >The idea being that we're seeing surface mount devices that need to be >replace (ATMEGA 128s for instance). > >While I could go out and get a cheap clone. I'm looking something that >will stand up to some abuse from folks who don't really know how to >use the equipment. The members of the make space do try to give assistance >but we also like to construct and deconstruct things. > >So what recommendations do you have? --=20 Dwayne Reid Trinity Electronics Systems Ltd Edmonton, AB, CANADA 780-489-3199 voice 780-487-6397 fax 888-489-3199 Toll Free www.trinity-electronics.com Custom Electronics Design and Manufacturing --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .