Voltlog #256 – Best BST-863 Hot Air Rework Station (Alternative to Quick 861DW)

Inside the box of the BST-863 we have the station, a really nice and heavy stand for the tool piece, a total of 3 nozzles, a grounding strap and a power cord. The first thing I notice is the hose which pretty thick, certainly thicker than what I had on my old Gordak station but seems to be softer material. The way it’s designed with the tool standing vertically in the stand makes the air hose forms this loop which depending on your bench setup might or might not bother you but it’s something to consider. But I like the quality of the stand, it’s heavy and feels very sturdy, you get this accessory here which allows you to remove the nozzles while hot and the station has a sensor to detect when the handle is in the stand.

Adjustment of temperature and air level is made through this touch screen control. I’m a bit anti touch screen control on test gear so I would’ve preferred some switches on the front panel but don’t get me wrong, the touch screen works well on this unit, it has nice big touch keys and after setting up your presets you are likely  not going to need to adjust the temperature you will just be using the presets like leaded, lead free and another one for heatshrink maybe.

Is this cheaper station a good alternative to the Quick 861DW? This video review should provide you with enough info to decide which one to buy.

Here are some high resolution images from the teardown:

Voltlog #223 – Is The Paron JX-D5 Crimping Tool Any Good?

If you are a frequent viewer of the channel you’ve probably heard me say that I need a crimping tool and people recommended I should get the good stuff, Engineer being a recommended brand, those being more expensive but having precision machined jaws that produce perfect crimping every time. Other people recommended some cheaper alternatives but I went with none of those options, I got this Paron branded crimping tool, from banggood which sent the product for free for this review.

This particular crimping tool is model number JX-D5 and has a total of 5 crimping dies in the kit, allowing you to crimp a good majority of the crimps you will encounter and this was the thing that really made me wanna order this tool because I don’t want to keep 5 different crimping tools, it’s more convenient to have one of these with interchangeable heads.

Voltlog #101 – S-993A 90W Desoldering Gun

This is a short review of the S-993A 90W Desoldering Gun which was sent to me for free by banggood.com. I was planning on getting one of these for a long time and I’m happy that I finally got it, it’s very useful in repair jobs as I’m showing in the review video below.

Links for buying this desoldering gun:

Voltlog #97 – FT012 Brushless Racing Boat

This is a review of the Fei Lun FT012 RC brushless racing boat. The FT012 is actually an upgrade of the FT009. This new version has a brushless motor which makes it very fast at max speed of 45km/h

Checkout the FT012 on Banggood and here is a list of spare parts you can buy for this boat.