NEWACALOX Hot Air Rework Station 500°C Soldering Station with Hot Air Gun, Airflow Adjustable, Desoldering Station for BGA IC, SOIC CHIP, QFP, PLCC, etc.

Review Part 1. Unit was received in good order. The package was clearly marked for 110V. I confirmed the PC style plug in power cord is wired correctly for US 110V AC and that the case was well grounded. Fan vents were well formed and clear of any obstruction. A useful readable manual with specs included. Also include, a spare replacement heating unit, a plus. First power up was normal. Tested heat and blower on a printed circuit board and initially seemed OK. Confirmed SMD and through hole components desoldering worked as expected, but after a few minutes, the fan speed control stopped working and the fan was stuck "on" all the time. The Vendor Newacalox was responsive on the same day by email, immediately acknowledged a problem, and offered to resolve with seller (Amazon). Resolution: The unit was out of stock. Amazon refunded my cost and via the RMA authorization I sent the defective unit back to Amazon.Review Part 2. Despite refunding my money and RMA return, Newacalox/maixi contacted me through their Amazon support email and to my surprise, offered to send me a NEW UNIT to re-evaluate at their expense. A few days later, it is now on my bench. After a number of separate test trials through the day, this unit does what I got it for: allow removing and reworking SMD parts and also reworking hot glue bonds. As far as the initial fan problem is concerned, the fan speed control performs as designed and has survived the initial burn in trial on my workbench. Fan blower speed is set by the dial control. Heater and fan power when the heat gun wand is lifted from the cradle. When the wand is replaced on the cradle, the fan stays on at the preset level, the heating unit powers off. The fan stays on while the temperature drops to 100C - the display shows "---" at this point indicating the start of the last phase of the standby process. From this point, the fan stays on a bit longer which facilitates further cooling below 100C then the fan turns off, completing the standby process. In the standby state, fan off, the display shows "---". In summary, the tool works as designed and does what I got for. I am glad to have it. Newacalox, maixi the storefront, and Ivy who worked with me, demonstrated they mean business when it comes to delivering a good product and customer satisfaction; very cool and the reason for a part 2 to this review.

We've moved from through-hole assembly into the SMT assembly world. This heat gun (pencil) is great for soldering SMT part (using solder paste). We now use two of these is our company for assembly as well as re-work of surface-mount parts. It has been very effective - and we also use this for heat shrink tubing.The heat control is good and the air velocity is exceptional. (It works for BGA removal/rework as well as down to 01005 size surface mount resistors!)I highly recommended this for anyone planning on doing SMT assembly or just needing a controllable heat source.

Even though I used this station to successfully solder a bunch of SMD components over the past several days, I only just now measured the temperature accuracy with a thermocouple. Turns out the hot air station's temp display is fairly inaccurate--when set to 275, my meter measured only 230-235 immediately next to the nozzle. It was consistent, though, so just be aware that if precise temperature matters, probably get an external measuring device (assuming "turn the temperature up until your solder melts" isn't good enough for your use).Other criticisms: the case is not grounded, but you could fix that yourself if you wanted. The Hall sensor which turns the heater off when the hand unit is placed in the holder is kinda finicky and you may need to rotate it a bit before it actually triggers properly. The handle holder is fairly flimsy and it doesn't take too much downward force to bend it out of square (of course it bends back just as easily so that's not a huge deal). Also it seems like when heating up or cooling down, the temperature briefly fluctuates wildly. Not sure if that's a sensor issue or a heating element issue, just be aware you need to give it a few seconds to stabilize.Otherwise though, I'm quite satisfied. If I had to choose whether to purchase it again, I would. It works just fine for some occasional SMD work/reflow soldering, and it's hard to beat the price. I went with this model specifically (of the many, many 858D clones) because the hand unit was removable, which is a nice feature that does not seem to be as common.

I don't do a lot of reflow work, maybe once a month or so. This unit was purchased with that in mind. I needed an inexpensive rework station for occasional hobbyist use. This includes reflow work, heat shrink use, and loosening adhesives on some electronics. I have another hot air gun/solder station combo but it's bulky and the iron doesn't heat quickly.Setup was easy and included attaching the holder to the power unit. The screw holes were a bit tight, and needed a fair amount of effort to attach. I thought that I had misthreaded at first, but the holes were just really tight.No issues with usage. It heated up quickly enough and I was able to reflow a couple SMD caps.I do miss having a disengage switch in the holder as my other hot air gun has.Other than that, no other concerns. It does the job and was inexpensive. If you are a professional, this probably won't serve but it meets my needs perfectly.