DIY

After a short break, here is the first part about the redesign of the Saike 858D rework station (Overview).

Let’s talk about a rough block diagram for the new design.

The next part in the series about reverse engineering the Saike 858D rework station (Overview) brings a few measurements, I did in my device. It presents me with the problem, that I am not sure anymore if I want to keep the transformer, currently used in the station.

Recently, I posted the teardown of my Saike 858D SMD rework station. Now it is time to really reverse engineer the main PCB. Some of the parts are similar to other “flavors” of the 858D, but some seem to be different.

Quite some time ago I bought an SMD Rework Station at AliExpress. The station I ordered was a Saike 858D, which is one of the numerous versions of the 858D line of rework stations. The “original” model is probably the Atten 858D+ which Dave Jones from the EEVBlog also did a tool review on. My station was really cheap and I am, in general, glad that I have it.

However, as usual with cheap equipment, there is also a bit room for improvement. That is what I am trying to do here.

At the time, there is quite some discussion regarding air quality and pollution going on in germany. Some cities, like Stuttgart, have to deal with high levels of fine particle emissions. That is why some people came up with a simple solution to build a sensor network for air quality. They provide detailed instruction on how to build your own air quality sensor for about 25 Euros. So, if you want to participate, just head over to luftdaten.info