Lukey 868 Hot Air Soldering Station Review
At ToolBoom supermarket for engineers you can find a wide range of hot air soldering stations from various manufacturers, such as goot, SUNKKO, Pro'sKit, Lukey, BOKAR, Atten, and AOYUE. In this article I would like to tell you about Lukey 868 hot air soldering station and how it differs from other Lukey models, namely 702 and 898. These stations look alike and have similar technical specifications.
Lukey 702 and 898 hot air soldering stations are popular as they have technical specifications suitable for minor repairs of SMD boards and are quite cheap. Consequently, this is an investment with quick payback period. Of course such equipment is not perfect. Operating parameters of these soldering stations, especially of hot air guns, may often differ from the set ones.
In fact, the situation is not that bad. In case you have limited budget and want to buy more reliable soldering station, check Lukey 868. It has advantages over 702 and 898 soldering stations. Lukey 868 hot air soldering station has more reliable soldering iron heating element and better system for monitoring air temperature of the heat gun.
This hot air soldering station has standard Lukey package content: three cylindrical nozzles, soldering iron stand with magnetic part, hot air gun stand with cellulose sponge for cleaning soldering tips.
Lukey 868, 702 and 898 soldering stations have reed switch, which turns on when you place the hot air gun on the stand. Hot air gun is cooled to 50 º C and after that it shuts down. The station goes into standby mode. When you take the hot air gun off the stand, it turns on and resumes working with the last saved settings.
A special tool is required to torque collar of hot air gun nozzle as it is hard to do it using hands. One interesting fact you should know about this soldering station is that the difference between set and operating heat gun air temperatures changes depending on settings and nozzle. The table below shows difference between set and displayed value, and air temperature at the nozzle measured using UNI-T UT325 digital thermometer.
Set Temperature, ºC | Displayed Temperature, ºC | Temperature at Nozzle, ºC | ||
Minimal Flow | Maximum Flow | Minimal Flow | Maximum Flow | |
Without nozzle | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
180 | 180 | 160 | 190 | 170 |
250 | 250 | 210 | 270 | 245 |
360 | 360 | 320 | 400 | 387 |
With thin nozzle | ||||
100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 110 |
180 | 180 | 180 | 180 | 208 |
250 | 250 | 250 | 230 | 285 |
360 | 360 | 360 | 340 | 410 |
With thick nozzle | ||||
100 | 100 | 100 | 95 | 100 |
180 | 180 | 166 | 170 | 160 |
250 | 250 | 210 | 220 | 220 |
360 | 360 | 320 | 300 | 326 |
As you can see, values taken from an internal temperature sensor and a control thermocouple in some cases differ. Many soldering stations face the same problem. You can make your own table of real air temperature at the nozzle and use it.
Lukey 868 soldering iron looks the same as other Lukey models. Japanese HAKKO heating element 1321, which ensures reliable performance and durability, is the main difference and advantage. This soldering iron has the same thermocouple unsoldering scheme as Lukey 852D +, therefore, they are interchangeable.
The soldering iron is easy to use, disassemble and maintain. You can use long nose pliers to remove a contact card. Of course, soldering iron has ESD safe construction.
Lukey soldering iron has a slight construction defect. During factory assembly the soldering iron tip and the heating element are mounted with space. Therefore, it quickly loses its heat when touching a solder. Due to the construction defect the real tip temperature does not match the displayed ones. This problem can be easily resolved. You can either solder heating element contacts, and thus move the element closer to the end of the iron tip, or shorten the length of the bounding part.
The control board of Lukey 868 has been modified with planar chips. That's why the reliability of this soldering station has enhanced considerably.
Lukey 868 Hot Air Soldering Station Technical Specifications
Power Input, V | 220 |
Power Consumption, W | 750 (max) |
Soldering Iron Power Consumption, W | 35 |
Hot Air Gun Power Consumption, W | 400 |
Soldering Iron Temperature Range, ºC | 200 to 480 |
Hot Air Gun Temperature Range, ºC | 100 to 480 |
Soldering Iron Heating Element | Ceramic Heater |
Hot Air Gun Heating Element | Metal Heating Core |
Pump Type Diaphragm Pump | turbine |
Station Dimensions, mm | 160 × 190 × 116 |
Conclusion
Lukey 868 soldering station is an improved version of Lukey 898 and 702 equipment. It is as ergonomic as these mentioned stations but it's hardware component has been modified.
Reliability of Lukey 868 soldering station is proved by the low number of returns during warranty period. In fact, it's almost equal to zero.
Lukey 868 soldering iron is equipped with a Japanese HAKKO 1321 heating element which ensures reliable performance, durability and temperature stability. The set and real temperature value of the heat gun air flow don't differ greatly if you use nozzles.
Thus, if you buy this hot air soldering station, paying a little more than for Lukey 702 and 898, you will get equipment of higher quality and with stable technical specifications.
You can buy Lukey 868 hot air soldering station at ToolBoom online store.
Sergiy Safonyuk
Technical specialist of ToolBoom online store