WTB: Hot Air/Rework SMD Station

Hey everyone,
Im looking to buy a Hot Air/Rework Station but i see the price tag is a little high.
I want to do professional installs for sega saturn region free bios's and direct region free bios replacements for dreamcast and this is safest method i know of with removing the original bios and dont like the risk of using methods that involves Side-Cutters/Hobby knife etc. If anyone could recommend me a good hot air/rework station for a good price (100-200$), please let me know :encouragement:.

Thank you,
Zer0

 

i have a bog standard chinese hakko clone from ebay, and all i can say about it is i'm very happy with it

 

I've used one of these for years.

http://www.harborfreight.com/professional-heat-gun-with-digital-temperature-settings-97114.html

 

x

 

That last bit has rendered a Saturn dead for me. Even after repairing the obvious traces being torn it still won't boot which leads me to believe there may be some that weren't obviously visible anymore.

Thankfully that particular revision is a rather uncommon model. The VA8 is the one I've seen the most.

 

Hot air works fine with glued chips. The heat loosens the glue and it comes off just fine. Just be gentle - when its ready to come off, it comes off easily.

 

If you're doing it professionally on other people's equipment and making money from it, don't skimp on the price.

The Chinese clones on eBay are cheap and cheerful, but you'd be better off with a decent brand, like Hakko. The cheap ones don't have the option for correct heating profiles.

Or maybe even an infra red solution.

 

I was looking for a hot air station from hakko but when i looked (If my memory serves me right) was about 400-600 dollars... dont get me wrong I have a Hakko FX-888 and it hasn't dissapointed me yet but it seems the price tag is a bit too high atm. i could possibly go up to 300$ but 400-600? thats gonna hurt my wallet a bit. i was looking at some Aoyue Hot air stations and hear that Aoyue is pretty good but still looking around.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Aoyue-860-Ho...868?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f00bcc12c

*Update* Maybe this station... seems worthy and around my maximum price range but worried about getting hit with customs fee's
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AOYUE-2703A...831?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c2eea6647

*Update 2* This is perfect... http://www.ebay.com/itm/AOYUE-852A-...838?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c170f4486