Used to solder every wire on a bench in the hangar, now I'm all about the portable station

Back in 2019 at the Denver FBO, I would drag every harness to the back bench with a big Weller station. Now I carry a TS100 iron in my tool bag and solder right on the wing of a Cessna 172. It saves me 20 minutes per job with no walk time. Anyone else made the switch to a portable iron for their daily work?

3 comments

3 Comments

wood.faith22d agoTop Commenter

Honestly, the TS100 changed my whole approach to avionics work. I used to haul a big Hakko station everywhere and hated every second of setting it up on the ramp. Making the switch cut my time by a solid 15-20 minutes per job too, since I can just walk out with the iron and handle everything right where the plane is parked. The tip selection is decent enough for most harness repairs, and the power delivery is consistent even on smaller battery packs. Ngl, I still keep the old station for heavy gauge wire or when I need a fume extractor in the shop. But for routine work on singles and twins, the portable iron is honestly a game changer.

gibson.avery22d ago

That "15-20 minutes per job" bit really hit home, once you add that up over a week it's basically a whole extra slot in your schedule. One thing I'll add is to keep a spare DC cable in your flight bag, those little barrel connectors can get crushed if you accidentally step on the pack. For singles it really is hard to beat, I've done whole annual panel refreshes off a single Ryobi battery without ever having to plug in.

miles_hall22d ago

Yeah that tip about the spare DC cable is solid advice. I've killed two of those connectors myself by just having them twist around in my bag. The barrel plugs are way too fragile for how much we move around on the ramp. Honestly the whole setup works best when you treat it like consumable gear and just replace parts as they break. Not exactly cheap long term with the batteries either but the time savings make up for it. Some guys complain about the tip cost but I'd rather buy a new tip every few months than haul a corded station around.