From couple of months my hotair station start loosing suction power (and hotair airflow) and yesterday it stop working what was very dangerous because hotair heating element got red hot.
I started repair from checking “pump” module, but after checking outtake hose i found good airflow. – most expensive part is working fine.
I found clog in airflow-meter showed on pictures caused by “flux”.
I fill airflow-meter with isopropyl alcohol overnight and next day all flux was dissolved, just rinse with more isopropyl alcohol and station working like charm 🙂
Very simple but useful fix, recommend check Your station and clean before it clog.
Thanks for sharing. This is your second repair for the station. Would you recommend buying this model? I know it is quite cheap. So is it good value for the money?
Or better buy the Aoyue or Hakko?
Hello,
This is second repair of this station (this is my only station i use for every repair), first was replacement of heating element – but it’s hard to say it was repair, more like maintenance 🙂
This model working very well and i can’t say anything bad about it. When i was buy it it was the best value for money (right now i can’t tell) – it’s working great so i can’t see any point if buying something else.
Please go like me, for a model with fume suction – it will help Your lungs. Right now i can’t imagine working again without it in flux smoke!
Hakko is a “original one” / Aoyue and others are more like chines clone. If You are looking for something for hobby use I recommend chines clone – just because of cheap replacement and maintenance parts 🙂
Here’s repair of my other backup station, for 2 USD i got myself whole pcb replaced – it was cheaper that checking every element:)
http://electronicnoobblog.com/?p=703