Looking for SMD rework station, suggestions?

[billt]

i still don't get how you solder/desolder with what is to all intents and purposes a super hot mini hair dryer?

Super hot air heats up solder, solder melts, remove part. What's not to understand?

I've even used an el-cheapo hot air paint stripper gun to do this before. Consider this, how are you going to get a desoldering iron onto all those BGA pads? You can't, you need a hot air flow to heat up the entire chip until it comes loose. Same for applying a new BGA. Just watch out for temperature sensitive items. I've exploded capacitors and batteries before with the hot air, and the insides of a coin battery do not taste good.  :crazy:

[billt]

Anyone have suggestions of what is good for ROHS solder rework with the airflow tools? I'm not up to date on temps required for that kind of thing. The 857A++ sounds nice but the temps dont' go as high as the 850A++. (from the buyaoyue.com mentioned) Not sure if the different style air pump or adjustable airflow control makes any meaningful difference.

[billt]

BTW -- Anyone try ChipQuick for removing SMD components?

I've used it for PQFP parts. Works pretty good for things that you have access to the pins for. You slather it on to reduce the melting temp of solder holding a chip to a board to make it wasier to remove, and clean it off before applying the new chip. Also handy for some through pin things when the power or ground pins are stubbornly attached and harder to desolder/suck than the signal pins are. Not useful for BGAs as you can't access the balls of course.