Soldering equipment advice!

[Sajjadkhan]

its been 1+ year i have passed my university and 2 years, i have started my through hole components soldering. up till now now i make my own PCB's and i use direct mains connection soldering iron. never used a soldering station.

From now on i want to do SMD PCB's because thay are neat and sleek looking, so need suggestion about a mid range offordable soldering station, soldering wire, and soldering paste.

for soldering station 3 brand i know.
weller (no model in my point of view yet )
hakko (fx-888)
proskit (**broken link removed**)

for soldering wire for smd, people say use 0.3 to 0.5 mm wire, which would be best? and waht is lead and lead free soldering wire?

for soldering paste/flux there is a gel type and a liquid one, and i have no idea about them.

kindly help.

 

[yura717]

I like this one.
https://www.metcal.com/
Metcal can make anyone a rework expert - in less time than you'd think. Even a novice can be reworking difficult boards with just a morning of basic training from one of our expert distributors or representatives. That's because Metcal's patented technology and precision-engineered design assure consistent results. Tip cartridges like the SMTC-x147 (hoof) multi-lead speed soldering cartridge make attaching QFP-208's easier than you've ever imagined. Removal is just as quick and easy.

No calibration makes ISO 9000 compliance easy. Because the interchangeable SmartHeat cartridges contain the heater and temperature self-regulating alloy, SmartHeat Systems require no calibration. By specifying the tip cartridge, you've specified most of your process. Operators choose the correct tip cartridge, insert it into the handpiece, and flip one switch. Compare that to the myriad of dials, readouts, buttons, and calibration tools and procedures of other systems. This makes compliance with ISO 9000 simple. A "no-calibration" letter is available on request.

 

[sky_123]

Just personal experience, I didn't really buy anything different to be honest when migrating from through-hole to SMD.
I don't know what are good irons so maybe others have better advice, but I was just too attached to my existing iron, so I kept using it, it suits me well.
As long as you've got a small tip on the iron, and a clean tip you will probably be fine. Mine is a very low cost temp-controlled soldering iron (Antex TCS 50W) and it works well for me for 0603-sized resistors/caps and 0.5mm-pitch ICs, and basically everything except QFN and BGA, so I avoid buying those components. I use the desoldering-braid method which I'm sure is very popular.
I'm going to use a reflow oven for boards in the future, but I've done lots (hundreds?) of SMD boards over the years, using just a normal soldering iron, nothing special at all.
Use very thin solder (1mm, not lead-free), and keep a tip cleaner, and a few spools of thin desoldering braid.
Anyway, heres some more stuff that you may need (and just as important as the iron, if not more):
Very good pairs of tweezers - ones that have a good contact surface and won't twist or send your tiny resistor flying - some German brand should be very nice, and will cost as much as the iron
PCB cleaner - I just use a large can of IPA (Isopropanol, it is cheap and lasts for years)
A stiff brush to clean off the flux - something like this
A magnifying glass with light - doesn't have to be very expensive
A scalpel and blades - ideal for 'nudging' IC legs gently, to see if they really are soldered
I've probably missed a lot of ancillary stuff..

EDIT: @yura717 sorry, I didn't see your post, but now I come to think of it, I did see a metcal demo once. Very nice..