Review on Station Soldering Airflow Adjustable Desoldering by Leonardo Sandoval

There are many videos on YouTube about these repair stations. They are commonly known as "858D" because there are many versions and brands (or unbranded), but they most often carry the model number 858D. Many videos describe certain safety deficiencies with these stations, including the neutral wire going through the fuse holder (separate on many devices) instead of the hot wire, no ground connection to the metal parts of the handle/nozzle etc. due to After these reports I opened the version of Newacalox, I received and checked them. Unlike some of the versions shown on YouTube, this one has a separate power cord that plugs into a standard IEC socket with built-in fuse holder on the back of the unit. So it seems difficult to get it wrong. The ground wire runs from the IEC connector to a terminal on the (plastic) back of the unit (presumably so it can be grounded to an external ground) and also to the transformer leg on the (metal) bottom. The (metal) sides and top are screwed to the bottom, so contact should be good enough. The front of the device is made of plastic, so no grounding is required. The hot air handle connects to the unit via a multi-pin connector on the plastic front panel and is not itself grounded (I don't think it's connected to anything). However, there is a ground pin in the plug (lowest pin) that connects to ground at the bottom of the transformer. I opened the handle and the ground wire is attached to the outer metal part of the heater assembly. Next, I checked the position of the reed switch, which turns off the heater when the handle is plugged into its socket. In some videos this reed switch was dangling from the handle, but here it was in a special pouch and its wire was attached with hot glue. The circuit board inside the block looks much more modern than what I've seen in various videos. I then turned the device on and it seems to be working as advertised. Overall, I can't think of any reason why I should give the Newacalox device less than 5 stars.