ZD-915 Desoldering Station Improvements

[daveejhitchins]

I purchased my ZD-915 Desoldering Station due to this issue.

Having used it for a while now, I thought I'd share my thoughts . . .

Unboxing: nothing interesting here - First use: Great. Did the job. - First filter change: . . . what a pile of do-do!

I've never seen such an appalling design before! First you have to take-out the glass that contains the filter 'aparatas' which consists of a large spring pressing against an aluminium disc holding the actual finter in-place.

1) To release the glass tube - easy enough. Then you have to remove the glass by pulling it back and lifting the front edge. Fist problem (at least with mine?) is the solder tube sticks out too far so the silicon 'seal' catches resulting in a struggle!
2) You can now remove the spring assembly - which is covered in solder and takes an age to clean properly!
3) Then you find the small aluminium disc that holds the actual filter in-place. This is also covered in solder and difficult to clean!
4) Finally you get to the filter! This is where you think that the whole assembly is cr#p because there's only about 10% of the filter exposed due to the shape of the small aluminium disc that holds it in-place.

I used it for a while until the second time I needed to replace the filter

My old desolder station had a similar set-up for collecting the solder e.g. a removable glass tube containing a filter. This is where the similarity ends as the filter was just a piece of 'cotton' wool. The original filter material may not have been actual cotton, however, I ran out of that about 5 years ago so ended-up using standard cotton-wool - worked just the same.

So I thought: Why not ditch the spring, aluminium disc and filter and just use cotton wool? - Works a treat - Gives a stronger vacuum and I can change it in seconds before every use. I also have a bottle cleaning brush that I use to clean the inside of the glass tube.

Last problem: getting the silicon seal and glass tube out. I cut 1mm off the end of the solder tube!

NOW my new desoldering station is a thing of joy to use.

Dave H.

[ctorwy31]

I always keep a spare spring to hand. To clean the removed one, I hold it in a pair of pliers then heat with a hot air gun until a lump of solder falls out.

[tricky]

I think I have the same stain but rebranded.
I agree with what you say, but I just compress the spring a few times between thumb and finger, near enough I scrape the lump of the aluminium with my thumb nail, good enough!
Putting the filter back is an unpleasant game of half tapping it to the side of the aluminium. I ended up putting a tiny fan of hot glue to stick the keep it centred.
I never thought of actual cotton wool!
I did see a yt video where someone added a tank with quick release valve to give a better instant suck, but you solution seems much simpler
The problem that I had with mine was that the rubber washer got pressed a little sideways when cleaning and melted/stretched the hole sideways allowing air to suck in without coming from the nozzle.

[danielj]

So I thought: Why not ditch the spring, aluminium disc and filter and just use cotton wool? - Works a treat - Gives a stronger vacuum and I can change it in seconds before every use. I also have a bottle cleaning brush that I use to clean the inside of the glass tube.

Can you pop up a picture of this so I can see how you've arranged things?

[daveejhitchins]

Dave H.

[danielj]

Ahhh- that makes sense!

[Andre]

I use the cheaper zd8915

The dutch shop which sells him advises to place a 2 eurocent in th middle of the spring/glass chambre. In this way it catches all the solder in the middle.

I will also give the the cotton wool tip a try in future.

[tricky]

That first picture is the rubber that I have an elongated hole in. I did a bodge with a piece of foil off a commercial coffee tin although I think the repair kit has a tube and a washer.
I was also wondering about placing a few of the cotton filters at the other end. I liked the idea of the 2 cent piece, I wonder if a sixpence will work