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I read that as "pencil" both times….
Hot air rework stations are really nice to have if you ever need to remove a soldered part or if you want to shrink some heat shrink tubing.
I agree with others that the traditional Hakko or Weller stations or the newer Pinecil, ts-100 etc irons are also great options and almost certainly better than this.
So, decent deal for the air gun. Probably not a good iron.
I'm unsure of the longevity of my penicil, due to the connection and weight of the cable on usbc port, i wish the dc barrel had some threads for a more permanent station setup. I haven't used it enough to know if it will be a problem.
I don't really have big concerns with the iron on this (haven't used it yet), skill and the correct tip generally dictates how good the work is, and the iron difference is generally how fast it heats up, which is a non issue once it has reached temp, the Metcals just heat instantly which is nice.
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Of course, if 2 for $30 - cheap "quality", no miracles.
Thanks in advance
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I prefer the pinecil mainly because I like pine64 mission and want to support that. It s fun little soldering iron and you can fork the OS it comes with off github and add your own improvements if you want.
I know the pinecil has long and short tips that you can get and works with the ts100 tips. I am not sure how the short tips would fair on a ts-100 though with the different resistance in the tip. (pretty sure the OS on the pinecil senses the tip and heats it accordingly based on if it is a short or long tip. )
The TS-100 could run IronOS (default OS for the pinecil) but some of the manufacturers are using cloned STM32 chips that have a hard time loading IronOS so it is no longer recommended. If you want to run IronOS with all its features Pinecil is the way to go.
I have been using mine for over a year now and highly recommend. It works great with my 60W+ USB C chargers and I even bought a powerbank that does upto a 100W out (so I can use it with my laptop) and it works great on that. I have not tired the barrel jack which is supposed to squeeze a little more power out but I have never had an issue with the usb C not getting hot enough.
There are also poeple that have made mods for the pinecil. my favorite is a little light ring that goes on by the tip and you can solder it onto the pinecil's pcb to light up your project.
TL;DR; similar but, in my opinion the pinecil is cheaper and better.
Thanks in advance
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