I was expecting to grouch all over this, but I really like it. A lot of thought went into this, and the choices are mostly very good. A few notes from someone who's been doing this 30+ years and 10 of those years as a volunteer in a community makerspace:
* 10" shelves aren't nearly deep enough for vintage test equipment. If all you need is a DS1054Z, that's fine, but as you move up and your needs expand, you'll find that more advanced test equipment is astonishingly expensive new. Some older stuff is obsolete junk, but some is still relevant and performant, and wonderfully affordable, albeit bulky. A cart can be a good way to accommodate the larger infrequent-use items without corrupting the elegance of the shallow shelves.
* The FX888D was indeed an inflection point in hobbyist-priced soldering stations, but the UI/UX is so terrible it's easier to blow away the calibration than to adjust the active temperature, and more than half the ones I've found in the wild have suffered exactly that. (I carry a calibrator.) The result is that someone either doesn't know why their solder behaves terribly when they set "the right temperature", or they've found a setting that works and the display is just showing a completely insane number that has nothing to do with anything. Either way it completely negates the benefit of a display in the first place! The old analog FX888 is a gem, but the D is so terrible I'd love to just yeet them all into the sun. As soon as the TS100 and Pinecil came out, it no longer made sense to buy any other soldering station, full stop. I keep one of each on my bench, with my two most commonly used tips in them, so I rarely find myself swapping tips, and I can dual-wield if the need arises. And all that is still cheaper than one FX888D.
* The digital microscope is a pale shadow of the experience with a proper binocular view with true depth perception and zero lag and stuff. Worth having for portability alone, and ultra affordable, but recognize that it's a crutch and you should upgrade to genuine glass if you find yourself using it a lot. This is the only thing on the list that really made me cringe.
* The Knipex side cutter is indeed great, if you don't need a true-flush end. I really like true flush, especially on zipties, because it doesn't leave a burr. (Ask anyone with ziptie scars down their forearms about sharp burrs!) The Fastcap Micro Flush Trimmer is the best I've found, and ridiculously durable. My first one is now 15+ years old, the edges have picked up a few dents and the jaw is slightly skew, but I keep it around because it still does better work than the Xcelite cheapies. New ones put in 5+ years of hard service before they start to show any age at all, and that's frankly incredible. It's roughly twice the price of the cheapies and does 100x the work.
* For tweezers, look no further than the Electron Microscopy Sciences economy tweezers kit K5-ECO.SA, $26: https://www.emsdiasum.com/economy-tweezers-kit-00-2a-3c-5-7 These are an order of magnitude nicer than the Amazon cheapies, and within spitting distance of the same price. I've got hundreds of hours on mine at this point and I give sets as gifts to anyone getting into SMD. Friends don't let friends suffer with bad tweezers.
Interesting you say that about the pinecil, I'm a little embarrassed to say I haven't touched mine since the day it arrived after impulse buying it. I guess I assumed it wasn't as capable as my Metcal. I'll have to give it an honest try.
Pinecil is a great soldering iron, especially the 88W v2, but it definitely doesn't compare with a fixed temperature inductive Metcal. I haven't found any soldering iron with a PID loop that does, simply because there is zero delay in the Metcal between the time the tip makes contact and the RF reheating it.
I'v looked up TS100 and Pinecil and by default looks like they come with long tips?
I'm in the market of soon buying new soldering iron, so paying some attention, but I can't/won't order from US, so would be excellent if someone can point out where to buy quality tip that is short and holds solder like new after many uses.
The unified cartridge, where the heater and tip are one assembly (as seen in the TS100/Pinecil, T12, etc) tends to have much tighter thermal regulation than the separate tip style (T18 / 900M / etc). I've found it more than adequate on all but the skinniest tips.
Mechanically, eh, the grip-to-tip distance is already pretty long, another 3mm isn't going to change anything there.
* 10" shelves aren't nearly deep enough for vintage test equipment. If all you need is a DS1054Z, that's fine, but as you move up and your needs expand, you'll find that more advanced test equipment is astonishingly expensive new. Some older stuff is obsolete junk, but some is still relevant and performant, and wonderfully affordable, albeit bulky. A cart can be a good way to accommodate the larger infrequent-use items without corrupting the elegance of the shallow shelves.
* The FX888D was indeed an inflection point in hobbyist-priced soldering stations, but the UI/UX is so terrible it's easier to blow away the calibration than to adjust the active temperature, and more than half the ones I've found in the wild have suffered exactly that. (I carry a calibrator.) The result is that someone either doesn't know why their solder behaves terribly when they set "the right temperature", or they've found a setting that works and the display is just showing a completely insane number that has nothing to do with anything. Either way it completely negates the benefit of a display in the first place! The old analog FX888 is a gem, but the D is so terrible I'd love to just yeet them all into the sun. As soon as the TS100 and Pinecil came out, it no longer made sense to buy any other soldering station, full stop. I keep one of each on my bench, with my two most commonly used tips in them, so I rarely find myself swapping tips, and I can dual-wield if the need arises. And all that is still cheaper than one FX888D.
* The digital microscope is a pale shadow of the experience with a proper binocular view with true depth perception and zero lag and stuff. Worth having for portability alone, and ultra affordable, but recognize that it's a crutch and you should upgrade to genuine glass if you find yourself using it a lot. This is the only thing on the list that really made me cringe.
* The Knipex side cutter is indeed great, if you don't need a true-flush end. I really like true flush, especially on zipties, because it doesn't leave a burr. (Ask anyone with ziptie scars down their forearms about sharp burrs!) The Fastcap Micro Flush Trimmer is the best I've found, and ridiculously durable. My first one is now 15+ years old, the edges have picked up a few dents and the jaw is slightly skew, but I keep it around because it still does better work than the Xcelite cheapies. New ones put in 5+ years of hard service before they start to show any age at all, and that's frankly incredible. It's roughly twice the price of the cheapies and does 100x the work.
* For tweezers, look no further than the Electron Microscopy Sciences economy tweezers kit K5-ECO.SA, $26: https://www.emsdiasum.com/economy-tweezers-kit-00-2a-3c-5-7 These are an order of magnitude nicer than the Amazon cheapies, and within spitting distance of the same price. I've got hundreds of hours on mine at this point and I give sets as gifts to anyone getting into SMD. Friends don't let friends suffer with bad tweezers.