GORDAK 863, 3-in-1 soldering station

I originally bought this station for someone else, but there's a good chance I'll end up keeping it or buying one for myself. Or I might build something similar, but tailored to my own preferences based on my experience using the one I'm reviewing.

As you can probably tell from the photos, the key feature of this station is its PCB preheater. Of course, it's a long way from professional equipment, but even as it is, it's turned out to be quite convenient. More on that in a moment.

When the courier delivered the box, my first thought was, “Wow, this is big.” I was looking for something that wasn't too large.
But it turned out that everything inside was simply packed very carefully, which is why the box is so big.


The foam packaging contains the station, soldering iron, hot air gun, and power cable, each in its own bag.


The remaining parts are in a separate cardboard box. It's big enough to store the soldering iron and hot air gun in there as well.


The separate package contains:
1. Manual and warranty card
2. Fixing screws
3. Hot air nozzles
4. Hot air gun holder
5. Soldering iron stand
They also included an adapter for connecting it to a European-style outlet, but I don't recommend using it, since it won't provide a ground connection (if your outlet has one).


The manual is entirely in Chinese, though it could have been useful. It describes the types of soldering tips that can be used with the iron, as well as the available hot air nozzles. It also includes the technical specifications.


Specifications listed on the store page:
Hot air gun
Power supply: AC 220 V, 50 Hz
Maximum power: 450 W
Air pump: brushless fan, soft wind
Airflow: 120 L/min (max)
Temperature range: 100–500 °C
Cable length: 120 cm
Noise level: no more than 45 dB

Soldering iron:
Supply voltage: AC 24 V
Maximum power: 50 W
Temperature range: 100–500 °C
Ground potential: no more than 2 mV
Ground circuit resistance: no more than 2 Ω
Heating element: ceramic

Preheater
Maximum power: 605 W
Heater type: infrared element
Temperature range: 100–500 °C

Features: automatic shutoff, microprocessor control, antistatic design

Station dimensions: 221 x 251 x 112 mm
Weight: 3.6 kg; shipping weight: 4.7 kg.

Three hot air nozzles are included, but I'm used to using the smallest one. One nice touch is that it attaches without screws: slide it on, turn it, and it locks in place.
Four wing screws secure the rails that hold the PCB in place.
Hot air gun holder and mounting hardware.


As far as I'm concerned, the soldering iron stand could use a way to attach a spool of solder. Otherwise, it's a pretty good stand.


As I mentioned above, the package also included a hot air gun, power cable, and soldering iron.


The power cable is completely pointless, since it has the same connector as standard cables for computers and office equipment. The cable itself looks decent, though, so I might find another use for it.


I've already reviewed a hot air gun that I bought to replace the one I'm currently using. I wasn't impressed with it then. It’s worth noting that I compared it with a compressor-type unit, which has noticeably better specs.
This one comes with a different type of hot-air gun. The fan is also inside the housing, but the design is noticeably different.


There are air intake holes at the back of the handle for the built-in fan.
The front has an airflow deflector, if I understand its purpose correctly.
Part of the heating element is covered by a plastic nozzle, which also holds the two halves of the housing together.
The connector has a nut and eight pins.


To take the hot-air gun apart, just unscrew the front section and remove a couple of screws at the back.
Since all the controls and power supply are in the station’s “base” unit, there isn’t much inside the gun.


A small turbine is used to blow the air. The airflow is quite powerful and steady, and the hot-air gun is also very quiet.
There’s also a position sensor glued inside, which automatically switches the hot-air gun off and on. Before taking it apart, I’d heard a slight rattling inside that was a bit annoying, so I’m thinking of replacing this sensor with a silent mercury switch.


I really like the hot-air gun, but the soldering iron is a different story.


For safe transport, the manufacturer supplied a protective tube for the tip and left the nut that holds it in place loose.


The specs list a ceramic heating element. I won’t argue with that—it certainly looks like ceramic.
The soldering iron takes 900-series tips. They look very small; the ones on my Solomon are noticeably larger. The kit includes a needle tip.
But that’s not the problem. I don’t know why the manufacturer didn’t use the more modern T12 tips. Sure, they cost more, but not that much more, especially considering the price of the whole kit.
Maybe I’m spoiled by better-quality tools, like the TS100 soldering iron or the Aoyue 2738. But after trying the included soldering iron, I can say it’s only suitable for three things:
1. Working with small components that don’t have much thermal mass
2. Working on circuit boards without large copper pours.
3. Working with large components, provided there’s preheating.

When I first switched the station on, I was surprised by how quickly it heated up. But I celebrated too soon: I had to wait just as long again before the iron could melt solder. In other words, heat transfer between the heating element and the tip isn’t very good. Otherwise, it’s comfortable to work with.


The soldering iron and hot-air gun both feel great in the hand. The distance from the grip to the tip of the soldering iron is about 90 mm, which is average: longer than on the Aoyue or Bakon, but shorter than on the Solomon, and about the same as on the TS100.
I have just one minor complaint about the hot-air gun: the automatic shutoff takes some getting used to, although it heats up very quickly, which makes up for the inconvenience.


That covers the individual components. Now we’ve finally reached the reason for all this fuss :)
Let’s just say it looks quite neat—somewhat like a Lukey, but more substantial :)


When I first started unpacking the whole kit, I noticed a couple of cable ties on the rails. At first I couldn’t figure out what they were for, but then I realized they were meant to keep the mechanism from moving freely. They’d simply shifted during shipping.


The preheater is on top, protected by a metal mesh. It’s a shame there’s no cover included, because dust will settle on it over time and stink when it’s switched on. There was no smell at all initially, since the heating element was clean. Now I’ll have to figure out how to cover it when it’s not in use.


Now for the size.
The maximum width of a board that can be clamped is 165 mm; the rails are 220 mm long.
The heating element itself measures about 115 × 115 mm.


The front panel has a lot going on, and at first glance you might wonder what you’re even supposed to press.
In fact, it’s all very straightforward.
You can roughly divide everything into three groups:
1. The power switch, which is a different color.
2. The connectors. They’re labeled, and they have different numbers of pins, so it’s hard to plug something in incorrectly.
3. The four switches at the bottom: soldering iron on/off, preheater temperature setting, preheater on/off, and hot-air gun on/off.
4. The three controls and indicators at the top: soldering iron, preheater, and hot-air gun.

One big plus is that the station automatically remembers the last settings. That is, Turn it on, set it up, and get to work. When you're done, switch it off. Turn it on again, and the settings are the same as the ones you used last time.


The hot air gun holder can be installed on either the right or the left. Personally, I'd find it more convenient on the left, since I use the hot air gun less often. But then the wires and controls would cross over, which isn't very convenient.
There are quite a lot of ventilation holes in the case: on the sides, top, and bottom.
The power inlet, combined with a fuse, is on the back. The maximum power consumption is also listed there as 1100 W.


There are four feet on the bottom. Unfortunately, they're plastic, and only stay put because the unit is so heavy.


Once I put the whole thing together, I found that:
1. It's not all that compact.
2. The soldering iron really is more convenient on the right.
3. The hot air gun sits too low, but that's a design limitation.


After checking that the station actually worked, I broke the warranty seal and opened it up. Apart from a few screws that were screwed in extremely tight, it was very easy to take apart: four screws on each side, then lift off the top cover.


I understand that this is a Chinese product in the broadest sense of the word, but when I opened it up, I was actually surprised by how neatly it was assembled. All the wires are bundled together, and the heater wires have an extra layer of insulation.


The heater is rated at 600 W (where the 605 in the description came from is a mystery).
You can see the temperature sensor glued in the center. There are fine cracks all over the heater. I don't know how serious that is or where they came from, but I've been using it for a while and haven't had any problems.
The heater isn't secured inside at all. It rests freely on the ends of four screws and is held down from above by the case grille.
It occurred to me later that you could probably even cook pelmeni on a hot plate like this at work somewhere :))))


As I mentioned above, the assembly is neat. The ground wire is screwed down in three places (the third is near the transformer), and the connections to the sockets and switches are insulated.


The power transformer supplies the control board, the hot air gun motor, and the soldering iron heater.


The rectifier board, hot air gun fan speed controller, and heater switching circuit.
All the connectors are additionally secured with glue.


What's noteworthy is that the switching circuit is identical not only for the hot air gun and preheater elements, which are rated for 220 V, but also for the soldering iron, whose heater runs on 24 V. On top of that, all the triacs are connected through optocouplers. The only downside is that the snubbers, which should be connected in parallel with the triacs, haven't been fitted.


A pair of rectifiers, the electronics power supply regulator, and the transistor that controls the hot air gun fan speed.


The control board. The mounting is very awkward. To remove it, you have to undo five screws. The fifth is near the center of the board, and getting it out is quite a struggle because the heater is in the way.


But curiosity got the better of me, so I took that screw out too.
The board's Chinese origins are obvious here: it's made of phenolic paper laminate rather than fiberglass, and the overall look is rather budget-oriented.


All the electronics are on the other side. Three almost identical sections are clearly visible, each consisting of a microcontroller and a pair of ICs. The trimmer resistors used for calibration are also visible.
By the way, I accidentally turned the station on without the heater and saw the familiar S-E symbols, just like on the Bakon station.


Besides the microcontroller, each control section contains an HA17358 op-amp and a 24C02 EEPROM.


A couple of more detailed photos. The soldering was disappointing: budget-grade, very budget-grade.



I started by measuring the power. I was genuinely curious, since specs are often overstated.
In order:
1. The station is on, but the heaters are off.
2. The soldering iron is heating up.
3. Heating in preheat mode.
4. Hot air gun in preheat mode.
5. I waited for everything to cool down and tried to catch the maximum power draw: over 1200 W.
6. Since many heaters reach their operating temperature quickly, the station soon reduced its power draw. After that, the average power fluctuated around 300–500 W.

Based on these tests, the soldering iron isn't rated at 50 W, but closer to 45 W; the preheater isn't 600 W, but 680 W; and the hot air gun came closest to its stated rating, at around 500 W.


A few notes on the design.
The support rails have notches, but in practice they're not very convenient. The notches help keep the board from sliding, but they can't hold it in place if you try to lift it.


I think a C-shaped clamp would work better than an L-shaped one.


You simply place a large board on top of the rails, adjusting its position so the section you need to work on is above the heater.
The first board I tried is shown in the photo: some motherboard with an Athlon 64. I tried to desolder the power transistors, but I had little experience using a preheater, so I didn't get anywhere. I later realized I should have set the temperature higher. At first, I was worried about the capacitors exploding. There's also a metal plate on the underside of the board that may have interfered with heating.


The next board I tried was an old video card. I had no use for it anyway, and there was no guarantee it even worked.


While securing one of the boards, I noticed a minor issue. In some positions, the hot part of the hot air gun ends up too close to the clamp's thumb screw.


I wouldn't say it's a serious problem, but the clearance is pretty small, and it depends on how the hot air gun is positioned in its holder.


I originally planned to desolder a few components for the review, but I got carried away and ended up removing almost everything :) Except the really tiny parts, of course.
Most of the time, the preheater was set to 150 degrees; later I raised it to 200.
The biggest problem was the SMD electrolytic capacitors. I had to pick up the soldering iron, add some regular solder to the pads, and then desolder them with the iron.
The other components came off without much trouble using the hot air gun and preheater. Even the paper labels on the underside of the board survived the whole process, so I think the temperature could easily be raised further.


The board after the components were removed.


The preheater temperature was clearly too low for removing the processor; my lack of experience with preheating showed. In the photo, you can see that the tops of most of the solder balls are still flat. I suspect that because the temperature was too low, I was pulling the chip off rather than desoldering it.


But I also spotted another weak point. There are SMD capacitors at the top, and you can see the ventilation holes at the bottom. I think you can see where this is going :)
As I was removing another component from the tweezers, the previous one accidentally fell into a hole. I'll have to come up with some kind of fine mesh, since the station's rails are quite handy for setting down desoldered components.


Before buying it, I saw a video online where someone harshly criticized this station for its excessively high preheater temperature. I won't link to that “test,” but I will say that the person made one major mistake in their measurement: they measured the temperature of the heater, which is obviously completely wrong.
During my test, I measured the temperature of the circuit board above the preheater, and I think that's the temperature the feedback loop is set to regulate. Obviously, the station can't track this temperature precisely, since that would require a sensor measuring the board's temperature directly. Most likely, the designers used some kind of “standard board,” measured its temperature, and calibrated the station to that value.

Here are the heating stages. To assess them, we'll look at the maximum temperature and how long it takes to reach it.
1. Set the temperature to 160 degrees and turn on the preheater. Naturally, it overshoots the setpoint by about 100 degrees. That's bad; I'd rather put a scrap board on first and only then place the board I need to work on.
2. Just a minute later, the board temperature drops to 242 degrees (an overshoot of 80 degrees).
3. Three minutes later, the temperature is 166 degrees and then fluctuates between 150 and 170.


1. This photo shows the board's maximum temperature and the setpoint at the same time: 162 and 160.
2. We raise the temperature to 200 degrees. This time there's no overshoot; the temperature rises almost smoothly, reaching 180 first
3. And after a while, 194 degrees. As it warms up, it settles at around this value and then fluctuates between 185 and 205 degrees.


I made a short video for this review. Since I only have two hands, I couldn't film and remove the parts at the same time, so I just filmed the soldering iron heating up, the preheater warming up, and the hot air gun in operation.
I completely forgot to mention that the hot air gun has an auto-off function and blows cool air before shutting down. However, there's a design flaw: you can switch it off immediately using the hot air gun's power button.
On my Aoyue 2738, pressing the button on the panel to turn off the hot air gun switches it to cool-air purge mode, and it only shuts down once it has cooled. Here, though, the button turns it off immediately. That's not right.
The top readings on the multimeter are for the soldering iron, the bottom ones for the hot air gun.


At the end of the video, you can see that the soldering iron test wasn't entirely accurate because the sensor wasn't making good thermal contact. The second video shows the process done correctly. Measuring the hot air gun's temperature is trickier, since it depends on how close the sensor is to the nozzle, but overall it roughly matches the set value.


I happened to come across an interesting video online that's directly related to soldering stations. It's about a high-end model, but it's well worth watching—it's quite a spectacle.


I'm also often asked what a microwave is and “what you do with it.” Here's a short video showing how it works.


That's about it. I'll try to sum up the pros and cons.
Pros.
Very good build quality
Specifications almost entirely match the claims.
The preheater works well
The hot air gun works excellently.
Settings are saved automatically
Good packaging

Cons.
The soldering iron is very “slow”
The board-holding system is poorly designed
The hot air gun stand is awkward
The preheater temperature can briefly overshoot by a significant amount
A top cover would be useful.

My opinion. First, the soldering iron: I don't know why the manufacturer chose this one instead of a better design with a T12 tip, but I already want to replace it with a T12.
You can certainly solder with the included iron, but keep in mind that it's not suitable for any large components.
On the other hand, I have to thank them for the excellent hot air gun. I'd read about it in other reviews, but after trying it, I can say it doesn't fall far behind a compressor-type gun in performance. It does have the advantage of being quiet and having a relatively flexible cable instead of a hose. Overall, so far, so good.
The preheater is very useful; in fact, it's the main reason I bought this station. I haven't quite got the hang of it yet and need more practice, but I can already feel the difference it makes.
The overall build quality was a pleasant surprise, although there's room for improvement. For example, the control board (and the power board, for that matter) are made rather crudely, but they work, no question about that.
I do have concerns about the board-clamping design, though. I'm already thinking about widening the slots so the board can actually be secured rather than simply pressed against.

Otherwise, the station left a pretty good impression. Temperature regulation is decent, power is sufficient. The soldering iron is a letdown, admittedly, but the rest is good.

I didn't look for any coupons, but I came across the TENOFF coupon just recently. It gives 10% off the entire tools section, so I think it'll come in handy.