Any suggestions on hot airgun and iron, models and places?

I strongly don't recommend using an airgun for soldering / desoldering work on hard drives. Get a proper hot air or infrared station, and leave the airguns to the painters and the shrink wrap folks.

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http://www.datasaversllc.com

I'm quite happy with my Aoyue 968 hot air SMD rework station. The soldering iron on it is so-so, but the hot air works well, easy to set the right temp so as not to burn.

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Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

My personal opinion, stay away from tools made in China.

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Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

I use this one at work. Very nice and pricey...

JBC



As for soldering iron - Weller is decent choice - that 81 model with start/stop holder is very usable.


But it all depends on budget. I have 936 Hakko clone for 5 years now and I didn't have to change heating element yet....


Those Metcal inductional soldering irons could be good, but there is none of them in Eu.


China GORDAK products are best bang for buck imho. If 24/7 soldering is not your primary job.


Haltec

Just about any hot air tool and soldering iron will work well enough for removing small components like diodes and ROM ICs. By hot air tool, I mean with a hot air wand, not a heat gun used for stripping paint. No need for a Hakko; a Gordak or clone will do nicely. If just using a soldering iron, use low temp melt solder (Bismuth) to make removal easier. If using hot air wand, use a small (5-7mm) nozzle to heat the circuit board (rather than the component) before lifting it with tweezers once the solder is liquid. Flux helps a lot.

For removing MCU, SMOOTH and NAND chips, it would be better (but not imperative) to use a BGA hot air/infrared rework station and get lots of practice before working on a customer's drive. A cheap hot air/infrared rework station like a Scotle HR6000 or IR6000 will cost around $700-$800 USD.

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Sabo Computer Repairs & Data Recovery

I use a Hart hot air station and mask off areas with thermal reflective tape. It's quick and dirty.

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http://www.datasaversllc.com

Metcal and Weller user here with an older Philips equipment still in use. Of course money should not be an issue but it will pay itself in terms of job done and avoided troubles.
NEVER had troubles for spares and servicing.