Weller 70 Watt Digital Soldering Station | WE1010NA

SUMMARY I love my WE1010NA and would heartedly recommend it to friends and family. It is very well built, easy to use, and has precise temperature control while soldering components. DETAILS As a recently retired engineer specializing in electronic manufacturing for many years, I’ve often borrowed time on different types of soldering stations. Generally, the soldering specialists on the manufacturing floor had Weller-brand stations that were larger (more powerful) and more sophisticated. Still, the WE1010NA gives essentially the same performance, but with a lot more bang for your buck. 👍 The first thing I noticed upon unboxing the WE1010NA was its quality. Though Weller was originally an American company, it is now German. The WE1010NA was designed in Germany and is made in Mexico. 👍 Even the cradle for the soldering iron is made of what appears to be solid die-cast zinc with a durable black powder coating (paint). And that’s good because you want a heavy cradle that doesn’t easily move around and tip over as you use it. 👎 The only thing I didn’t like about the WE1010NA is a small detail on that nice heavy soldering cradle: It had only three holes for spare soldering tips; the remaining five (three in a column to the right and two on top) were smaller ones for accessories of some other sort… I don’t know what. Since I had also purchased the five-piece Weller soldering tip assortment, I wanted a proper home for them, so I merely enlarged three of the smaller holes with a #2 drill bit (Ø 0.221″). 👍 The second thing I did upon unpacking my WE1010NA was check that it truly pushes 70 watts of heating power to the soldering tip; I measured a total soldering station power consumption of 66 watts. Assuming the heating circuitry is 90 percent efficient, that’s 60 watts at the soldering tip, which is close to the claimed 70 and good enough for electronic soldering. BACKGROUND INFO: What you want with any soldering iron is a quick response to boosting heating power to the soldering tip after you wipe it on the wet sponge and begin soldering. You also want the same quick reaction time when you start soldering something with appreciable thermal mass, like a 16-gauge (1.3 mm²) wire to a contact terminal. And, of course, you want accurate temperatures. 👍 See the accompanying video showing how precisely the WE1010NA controls tip temperature. The first thing I did after unboxing my Weller WE1010NA was calibrate it using its “OFFSET” adjustment feature. In my case, I calibrated it to 183 °C by wrapping the tip with a 63/37 tin/lead eutectic solder, which has a sharp melting point of 183 °C; that is to say, it has no melting *range* throughout which it is partially molten, or plastic. As you can see in the video, my WE1010NA was off by only 2 °C. The eutectic solder wouldn’t melt at an indicated 180 °C and immediately melted and fell off the tip at an indicated 181 °C instead of the proper 183 °C. A simple –2 °C offset, and I had my WE1010NA dialed in perfectly. HINT: Unless you are building for-sale equipment certified as being compliant with strict IPC specifications, the primary objective when setting the temperature of soldering irons is to keep the tip temperature as low as possible without suffering any tedious delay in getting your components up to temperature; this increases tip life and avoids excessive time dwell and overheating of electronic components. Usually, I keep my iron set to 100 °C beyond the melting point of my solder (283 °C setpoint for 63/37 Sn/Pb eutectic) for low-mass soldering like SMT components and ¼ W resistor leads. And I’ll go as high as +130 or 140 °C beyond the melting point (313–323 °C setpoint for 63/37 Sn/Pb eutectic) when soldering objects with significant thermal mass like larger-diameter wires.

***** UPDATE Feb 2021 ***** So about a year and a half ago, the handle on the original iron basically came fell apart due to excessive lateral pressure applied by me which added stress to the center point on the iron causing it to eventually come apart and it was no longer useful. Since I was far outside the warranty period, the cheapest replacement I could find was $55 plus shipping so I bought one. However, after about a year with that one, it started doing the same thing, so I thought, maybe I should just try and email Weller and talk to them about it ... maybe they have an idea of what the issue is ... I had ZERO expectations but it's their design so who better to talk to about it than them? I emailed support and explained the issue ... told them that I already bought one replacement and now it's going to fall apart very soon and could they recommend something to help me avoid the problem or perhaps they sell an iron for this station that is more industrial quality? The email response I got was COMPLETELY unexpected. They told me straight out that the first design of the iron had a flaw in it and it expressed the exact problem I was having. They asked for my address and within a week, they didn't just send me one replacement, they sent me TWO brand new irons. One for the original that broke and one for the replacement I purchased that was about to break. And they didn't ask me for proof of purchase, or any evidence that I bought a replacement last year ... they just said, "give us your address, we'll take care of it!" I don't even have words to describe customer service like that. I didn't think it even existed anymore on this planet. But man this company totally has their customers back ... whether you're buying a $125 station or a $10,000 industrial work horse, they simply have your back and it's been THREE years now and I still love this station. There isn't another station out there that I would remotely consider using. It works as good today as it did the first day I got it, and I use it at least 3 to 5 times a week consistently. ***** End update ***** The only thing I don’t like about this unit that I consider inconsequential to its performance is that I would love a backlit display. I recently tried two units before this one. The ERSA RDS 80 and an Aoyue 9378 Pro. There is no comparison, the Weller is by far a higher quality product. It heats faster than the other units I tried, and it maintains steady heat with seemingly no loss/recovery time. The wand chord has a very "silky" smooth feel to it, is VERY light, and very flexible... when using the iron, I noticed that I couldn't even tell I was attached to a wire ... where with the other units, I found myself always fighting for freedom because the chords were almost like a chain on the wand... the Weller isn't like that at all ... a very nice touch! I was initially concerned about the wand holder. In the picture, it looks like a typical cheap stand, but I was very surprised when I held the base of the stand. It is very heavy and very solid. The spring is made of a VERY rigid metal that once installed in the base, it transforms into a TANK. At the wand end of the spring, there is heat resistant plastic that is molded to the shape of the wand so that the wand fits perfectly and STABLELY in the stand. The sponge is vary large (wide in both directions) which allows for more travel distance when wiping the tip across the sponge. So if you’re thinking that they did not put much thought into the wand holder, trust me, they obviously put A LOT of consideration into it’s design and although I don’t like the aesthetics of it, I could not be happier with its functionality. The stand will outlive the entire unit I have no doubts about it. I bought the ERSA RDS 80 two weeks ago, which is arguably an equivalent station in this class. Then I saw this unit and it is the only Weller brand in this class at this price and is obviously the first time Weller has broken into this market ... it was a no-brainer for me to send back the ERSA and buy the Weller... my main reason for doing so, is because the ERSA tips are hard to find and extremely expensive. Weller tips can be found easily and for less than $10 (ersa tips are over $30 normally). Also, the ERSA unit did not have a sensor in the wand and did not have a timer for automatic cooldown like this unit does. With the ERSA, you have to manually put the unit into standby mode, which doesn’t work for me because I forget... having the unit automatically cool down is a must for me. The Weller does automatic cool down. This unit also shows you simultaneously your chosen temp and the actual temp in the same display at all times... a nice touch! As far as all the complaints about the instructions ... The first few pages explain all of the menus and settings ... and if you find yourself struggling with operating simple electronics, perhaps you shouldn't be buying one of these in the first place... just sayin ... Let’s face it, it’s a Weller ... marginally more expensive than its competitor but the extra cost is well worth it. ******* UPDATE ******** I've been using this unit for over six months now and I go through spurts where some weeks I'll have it on every day for a few hours and other weeks I wont use it at all ... but I would say that I have several hundred hours on this station by now, and it continues to perform like the day I bought it. I still get giddy when I flip the switch and its ready to go long before I am ... In fact, I'm starting to get into the habit of turning it off when I know I will be setting up my next weld and its going to take me a few minutes... since it heats up so quickly, I don't need to leave it on all the time. You can tell when a piece of equipment has been designed by people who actually use the equipment ... like an Apple product ... the whole experience of using this soldering station .... it's like .... having a tool that totally has your back ... it's a tank! Without question this is the best iron I've ever owned. ***** 2 years and 4 months into ownership ***** AND THIS IS WHY WE BUY Weller! The very first soldering station I ever owned was a Chinese knock off of some kind that was $80 and it literally broke after only four months. Not only have I had this Weller for over two years, but I also designed and installed a custom auto-shutoff circuit that uses a small Arduino and a relay to completely cut power to the unit after a length of time because I've left it on for several days more than once. It does do its own temperature drop based on the timeout that I set in the unit, but still, 4 days at 120 degrees is still a lot of electricity so I needed a more foolproof way to make sure that I'm covered if I forget again. But throughout the process of designing the circuit, I had this thing apart several times. I blew the fuse once but found a pack of replacements for like $6 on Amazon, and next, I'm going to see about installing a backlight behind the display to make this the most functional unit it can possibly be. The construction of the unit is absolutely solid. I did break the wand because I was pulling too tightly on the cord and it stretched and got disconnected from the element inside and there's no possible way to fix that. But I found a replacement wand for about $40. Amazon did not have them at the time. The beauty in Weller products is that they are designed for longevity. Their circuits are engineered - I'm guessing - beyond the standard 10% margin rule, and the construction of the circuit and the components they use along with the button types and connector types ... are simply high quality. The Transformer is solid... this thing will probably outlive me... lol. I'll post info on the timing circuit I installed when I get some time ... no pun intended :-) *** Final Update September 20, 2021 I graduated to a Weller WT-1 Workstation complete with auto shutoff, backlit display, and it's up to temp in less than 13 seconds. I found one on eBay for $155 brand new and could not pass it up. I was, however, willing to pay over $300 for it and I would today if I still needed one because the WT-1 is in a completely different class in terms of performance and features. The WE1010 served me WELL and I would say that the German engineering that was invested into this unit was every bit what you would expect it to be. I modified the heck out of this station, adding my own Arduino circuit to cut power after 45 minutes, and even adding some LEDs to light the display which was not so successful ... but after having taken this thing apart more times than I can count, it remains in top working condition like nothing ever happened.

I did a review of the iron on a forum, so I figured I'd share it: It's a Weller WE1010 70W Solder Station. It comes with the WEP70 pencil iron and uses the rather common ETA type tips. Firstly, the unit is designed and engineering Germany. However, it was built in Mexico. I have to give Weller some credit, at least they didn't ship it from overseas. I did open it up, and the build quality is the same as my WES51. The unit is distributed in North America as the Apex Tool Group, in Apex, NC. Being that it uses the ETA tips, there are tons of custom aftermarket tips out there, especially for SMT and THT soldering rework. I've had a Weller WES51 for well over a decade, and wanted to upgrade to a digital interface. I could've went to the WESD51, but it's the same one I got, just digital. It was either Weller WE1010 or a Hakko FX888 or a FX951. I didn't like the Hakko, only because it seemed rather cheap. Even though it's got great reviews, something about it, I didn't like. Then the FX951's tips were stupid expensive. Then I had the problem: Oh my, I got a boat load of ETA tips. Hmm... well, the WE1010 it is. No brainer in my case. If I didn't have the WES51, I would have probably went to the FX951. Who knows... the tip availability is what curved me to stay with the Weller. I always had good luck finding a certain tip. Hence, why I got so many tips on hand. Anyhow, I've been using it almost every day. It heats up to 700F in less than 20 seconds, meaning I don't need to worry about running my iron excessively, has customization for auto power off, security password, and 3 presets. Which is awesome if you are working with different grades of solder (lead/no lead/silver bearing, etc). It is also ESD safe (when properly grounded). It also has a temperature calibration option as well. I tested the tip temperature, and it was only ~2F off. Which for me, is perfectly fine right out of the box. I am quite impressed with it. Since using it, I don't know how I did it with my old setup. It is very nice having the fine tuned control of the digital interface. It also has much better temperature control when doing large flow jobs or high speed repetitive tasks. Now mind you, after getting familiar with soldering for years and years, those numbers really don't mean much because you typically do it by feel and experience. However, it is very good to know what the temperature is. I know on my WES51, I always wanted to know about exactly what my tip temp was. I know the dial has it, but it was hard to tell. For example, I get a block of 100 THT LEDs on a PCB, and that is 200 solder joints. I can go from next to next to next, without worrying about a bad solder joint or needing to slow down for my iron to keep up. If I went too fast with my WES51, I'd have to wait 20-30 seconds for the tip temp to stabilize, between sets of 8-12 joints. Now mind you, the WES51 is only 50W, and the WE1010 is 70W. So it has the ability to keep a stable tip temperature. This sucker I can go as fast as my hands will allow and no messing around. It even shows when the heating element is active on the LCD, which is awesome! The WEP70 iron is very comfortable in the hands. The burn-resistant silicon cable is barely noticeable, and has good burn resistance (first thing I tried). One of the biggest complaints I had with the PES51 iron on the WES51, was the fact the grip wasn't comfortable after hours of use. The material they used (kind of like a foam) was irritating at best after a few hours. The WEP70 iron on the WE1010 is a somewhat squishy silicon. It feels very nice in the hand, and is almost like a writing instrument style. Has a curve to it and just has a much nicer feeling. Once picking it up, it feels like an extension to my body, giving me precise control. I really like the feeling of it, much more of a refined iron to the PES51. Removing the tips is the same as the PES51. However, the screw on the WEP70 is a larger plastic screw. It does make it easier to remove, but when I first saw it, I was kind of surprised. But it does make it a lot easier to swap tips, being it is bigger. One thing to note, like all pencil soldering stations, this isn't really meant for chassis work. I recommend a high powered soldering gun using some copper wire as the element and lots of flux. The Weller WE1010 is great at THT/SMT soldering. Now to the only things I don't like about it. For one, the fact the LCD isn't backlighted. It would've been a nice touch for it to be blue or white backlighted. Maybe I'll mod it. lol Second, I wish it had a sleep mode where it ramps the power down after a set amount of time. The Hakko FX951 has this feature. The last thing I don't like about it, is the fact that it doesn't have a rotary knob for temperature control. It has up/down buttons for temperature control. However, Weller did do a good job at controlling the way those up/down buttons work. If you press and hold, the increments goes fast. If you stop and press the button one at a time, it is fine-tuned control. The first time I did it, I got the iron all the way at it's max temp in like 3 seconds. After playing with it, I learned how sensitive it is. At least it isn't slow. Otherwise, it's a very neat unit, and if you are a serious EE major, enthusiast or do production grade PCB assembly or rework, I highly recommend the Weller WE1010. It is also a very professional looking unit too. Compared to the clown-colored Hakko. Not sure why Hakko went with that color scheme. I still have my WES51, and plan on keeping that as a backup unit, in case this one ever gives trouble, or I need to run 2 irons (never had the need to, but you never know!). I also have a Weller WLC100 out in my garage/shop, which is a great beginners/light duty iron. Some tech tips: I recommend using a brass type tip cleaner, versus a water-sponge. The tips will last a lot longer. The reason I don't recommend the water-sponge method is that the rapid temperature change can pit the tips, making them harder to properly wet with solder. Avoid using lead-free solder -- you will get much better joints with 60/40 or 63/37 with RMA. For SMT, use RMA solder with plenty of RA liquid or paste, and of course watch your dwell time. Lastly, keep your tip well-tinned after use. When you are done with your iron for the day, clean the tip well in your brass sponge, and then load the tip up with fresh solder then turn your iron off. This will seal the tip and help keep it from oxidizing while sitting on the bench. Overall, the Weller WE1010 is a phenomenal unit and would highly recommend it.

I have been building circuits and soldering as a hobby for almost 25 years now. Put the hobby in the back burner for the past couple of years until this lockdown that has forced me start getting creative again. Tinkered around with cheap makeovers ($10-$20) and always ending up getting super frustrated with their lack of quality and precision of getting the job done. Decided to explore buying a Weller vs Hakko. Quality wise they are both good but I liked Weller because of the solid build quality, the precise temperature control on the LCD (can see both the actual and set temp), ability to switch seamlessly between farheneiht and celsius and fast response times. I have read feedback on Hakko reaching the temperature faster but honestly my Weller was equally fast especially on startup. Additional tips are cost effective too. Contrary to what the guy on the EEvblog says I prefer the open spring holder because it dissipates heat in the environment faster and likely saves tip life. I have already used this for couple of projects and oh my ..... It has left me thinking about what have I been missing !!!! This thing is an absolute charm. Precise temperature control allows you to work with lead vs. leadless solders, SMD components, variety of PCBs (glass-epoxy vs composites). The pencil is very light weight and ergonomic to use over extended periods without tiring out . Has a customizable sleep mode timer. Made in Mexico and Designed and Engineered in Germany speaks for its quality. If you do some serious amount of electronic tinkering then you will not regret buying it. Make sure that you use a good Rosin flux (recommend MG Chemicals liquid or paste) and good quality solder wire. Also when keeping the iron on standby or in storage do not forget to tin the tip. This will make your tip last forever. Two places where this product can improve: 1. Observed that it takes some small time to come out of sleep mode. Unsure if this is by design but initially I thought that the iron was not detecting my motion 2. The LCD display is large and fantastic except that it lacks backlit display. Somethings Weller needs to look into improving.

I recently got back into electronics as a hobby, after a lifetime as an electronic engineer. So I bought some cheap soldering irons and stands, Big mistake, I would have saved some money if I had initially gone for a decent soldering station like this Weller. Yes, they're expensive. But it also won't fry the tiny circuits you're trying to solder, or set your house on fire from a cheesy iron stand that tips over at the slightest provocation, or warp and oxidize the tips during half an hour of idling. And a good station like this one also knows to automatically turn itself off after a programmable interval on non-use, which will save you many $ replacing warped, useless tips that you forgot to turn off. It's a great pleasure to use an iron with just the right amount of heat. Solder flows smoothly into joints, and then cools down quickly into strong, shiny joints you can be proud of. Yet this iron has enough oomph to quickly recover heat between connections, even if you practice slovenly speed-soldering techniques. The ubiquitous cheap 30+ watt, unregulated irons get so hot that the solder will boil, the solder mask on the board will burn, your components will overheat, and the solder will remain molten at the connection for so long that a poor connection is likely from components or wire shifting during long cool-downs. You won't have to make too many solder joints with a crummy, unregulated, too-hot iron to know that I mean. For those who have suffered, moving to a soldering station like this is a revelation. And it's really nice that this Weller has a stand heavy enough to stay where it is placed, and not tip over each time the iron is withdrawn or replaced. The budget iron holders I bought need to be clamped or screwed to the work surface to simply not tip over from the weight on the iron alone. Spend the money. If you're a true electro-geek, you will use your iron every day, so make life easy. Feel confident your solder joints will survive vibrations from your contraptions, and the mechanical jolts of everyday use. PS don't forget a nice, felt-tipped rosin pen. Rosin rules, 'nuff said.

Build quality excellent. Design could be better which is why it only got 4 stars. It’s difficult to tell when the unit is on, as no ‘On’ led light and the screen is not illuminated. Easily to leave it turned on when not in use. The actual ‘wand/iron’ is extremely lightweight, easy to hold and comfortable. Flex protection excellent, so should not break with use. The ability to ‘lock’ the flex to the main unit is also excellent. Simple twist and it’s not going to pull out. However it would have had 5 Stars if you the wand/iron could be stowed to the side/top of the main unit. I installed a small green led on the front of the unit, works perfectly but will invalidate your warranty. I also put a little white paint on the wand/iron plug it indicate the upright position marker. Again something Weller should have done. Another tip, I also purchased the Weller storage bag, but the ‘point’ of the wand/iron could damage the material. Simple solution, use a cork and drill a hole in it. Works perfectly 👍. Having a separate ‘stand’ is annoying, and something else to forget!

Completely controllable! Great solder station. Heats up quickly. Have used many of these stations, so I bought one

Im a old school mechanic, doing this stuff for 40 years. I started out years ago with a old wooden handle soldering iron about a foot long. That thing would solder anything, good old fashion quality iron. It finally had its last days around a year ago. I purchased a cheap Chinese crap soldering iron almost identical to this one, used it the first time and worked fantastic. A weak later i used it again and it didn’t seem to work as well. 3rd time didn’t even heat up . Threw it in trash after 3 months 80$ wasted. Then I purchased this weller soldering set up, first use fantastic, 2nd fantastic 3rd fantastic and to this day about 40 uses it’s still fantastic. Cant go wrong with a name brand, time tested , American company. Enough said!

Excelente cautín, sin problema saca cualquier trabajo

The unit is excellent. Solidly made, works exactly as it should. Very good value. This is a pro-level workstation, not some toy. It’s marked as designed and engineered in Germany and made in Mexico, which means only friendly nations are involved. Its use is pretty much self-explanatory, which is a good thing because the documentation, both delivered and online, is comically absent of information. You get a printed book which is 117 pages long because it’s in 27 languages. The United Nations General Assembly manages to function in six. But the Weller manual still has an aversion to communication so it starts with a few pages of cryptic drawings, symbols, curved arrows and images of human fingers pressing buttons. If you study them you may or may not discern clues about how to set the readout to Farenheit or Celsius, adjust the temperature and so forth but despite its commitment to every language except for Aramaic and Klingon they refuse to just tell you. You go online and you can download files labelled ‘manual’ which turn out to be jpeg pictures of what’s sitting right there in front of you and which you can presumably see. So it’s a good thing this was designed in Germany, with an intuitive interface. You figure it out by looking at it. The book is for entertainment.

Did not realise that this item was manufactured for the American market therefore it is no good for the British households. I only realised this when I was putting it together and the plug is totally different to British plugs. I am looking for a refund of this item and hopefully I can find a replacement which is made for British use. ☹️

GOOD PRODUCT

I bought this for my husband in April, kept it safe and hidden and gave it to him the other day for his June birthday at which point he discovered that it was 120v and not 240v - so unusable in UK. This is sold on the Amazon UK site and as someone who was given a name of a thing to buy, I would need to have read and understood the small print at the bottom of the page to have caught on to the fact that it was not for UK use - this is such an important fact that surely it should have been stated somewhere more obviously. Anyway, I unwittingly bought it and now we have spent days trying to find a part online that we can use to change the transformer to 240 v. It wasn't even until I'd bought it that I realised it was being shipped from USA but even at that point it didn't occur to me that it couldn't be used here. So ultimately, I am sure it is a great item, but at the moment, we can't use it and by the time we find, and pay for a part... it will have cost a lot more than I bargained for... if it works at all. Really, why is it on the Amazon UK website at all? It was indeed my fault, but I think a little more help and clarity on the sellers page would have been useful.