I thought it might be fun to have a discussion on cyber week deals of interest.
My first contribution:
Howard Electronics (whom I purchased the Hive’s solder/desolder station from 11 years ago) is having 15% of this week. If you need any soldering irons, desoldering, hot air, etc. Check it out. They have amazing customer service and have been around for a long time.
Use the code CYBER2013 in the Discount Code section of the shopping cart 12/2 - 12/8
I’ve been thinking about getting a soldering station. Recommendations? Should I save up for one with a desoldering station as well?
Digital Ocean was (not sure if it’s still going on) giving a $50 credit for new customers using promo code BLACK50. You can get 11 month’s of VPS hosting for $5 if you use the promo code
https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=ce13b2461fc5 ← Shameless affiliate link
Get the hakko fx-888d. Solid brand, amazing iron, and it isn’t super expensive. It is probably the most popular iron there is. Get a few extra tips with it as well when you buy your iron.
Or you could go for the http://www.howardelectronics.com/xytronic/988d.html Xytronic 988D for $299 minus 15% discount = ~$250. It’s a slightly updated version of what we have at the hive. I’m a big fan. The unit at the hive was purchased in 2002 and has had 2 vacuum pump rebuilds and a handful of tip changes since then. Hakko is a decent brand but they’re both made in China at this point.
-Dave
$250 for a full rework station is nice. It comes with a B01 tip. I want to start doing more surface mount soldering…what tip size should I get for that?
http://www.howardelectronics.com/xytronic/Images/solderingtips3.jpg
B01 is decent start. 1/32 tip. May actually be a little small for drag soldering, B04 (1/16") might be better there.
-D
The discount code CYBER2013 does not seem to have any affect on the shopping cart for howwardelectronics 
Oh yeah it does have an affect it just doesn’t show it like a normal shopping cart. All the prices (all the entire website) have been secretly reduced after entering that code. That’s an odd way to handle a discount code.
