beginning soldering iron

can anyone reccommend a decent soldering iron for me to start with? i suppose that like any other place, you can spend a ton on these types of things, and i dont know how much you need to pay for something useable, but it would be cool to keep it under 50 bucks or so if i could.

how big of a difference does a good iron make? it is just easier to use or will it have an actual effect on the quality of the product?

I use this one.
http://store.yahoo.com/webtronics/cispdeesdsas.html

Cheap, but good. Very light, and it's temperature controlled.

I did started on a Radio Shack soldering iron... built a couple of N72 preamps using that... but again, I'm not new at soldering. When I bought the above soldering station, the difference was like night and day.

cant go wrong with any of these

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=57012&item=3848371117&rd=1


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=48745&item=3848411890&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46413&item=4332894951&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1504&item=3847773259&rd=1

Time to start a Meta about soldering irons. This question has come up...what? Three times this month?

I usually use Weller soldering stations. But if you're on a budget, it's hard to go wrong with the Tenma stations sold by MCM. They work well and the initial cost (as well as the cost of replacement parts) is a hell of a lot less than Weller.

Once you use a real temperature-regulated soldering station, you'll never want to go back to the "plugs straight into the wall" type soldering iron again. The only time I ever use that type iron now is in the field, where it's not always practical to haul a station around.

Weller WP-series, basic top-quality no-frill solder iron.

Weller WP30 - picture - info - catalog page

The -30 is a compromise for DIP ICs and Octal sockets. For mostly big work, I actually use a 45 (from an older model, without grounded cord or cool finger-grip on the screw-in element), but this needs a light touch on ICs, and turns surface-mount parts into puddles. I own a 13 Watt Princess, but anything small enough to suit it is too darn small for my eyes (in fact I haven't seen my Princess in a few years).

I think you NEED a basic 30-45 Watt iron for power lugs and other big stuff. Soldering to the backs of pots (common in guitar work) needs an iron that big to get heated. You may also need a smaller iron for smaller stuff.

Some of the $8-$10 Radio Shack jobs may not be bad. The main problem is that some of them come with chrome-plated tips, which will NOT wet with solder.

For arty soldering, I still like plain bare copper tips, but you have to maintain them a LOT. The hot copper gets eaten by solder and air, and gets all gnarly. Every hour or so you have to re-shape it with a file and re-tin it. I used to buy copper tips by the handful.

I've been using mostly iron-plated tips: they will not wet as well as genuine copper, but they never get gnarly no matter how long you leave them idling. (In fact one seems to have out-lived the heating element it is on, and the cord isn't looking too fresh either....) There is no doubt the iron is cheaper than copper, if you use the iron more than a few dozen hours. I don't think copper tips are regular-stock any more.

Most of my irons use nylon grips at the business end; I see this Weller WP looks like some kinda foam. You youngsters will probably never know the pleasure of a cork-grip handle. I'm holding on to mine, but it isn't holding onto the handle so well (this one must be over 30 years old, and many-many hours of use).

> it is just easier to use or will it have an actual effect on the quality of the product?

If you can't make a hot joint quick and easy, you will have half-hot joints that don't really make a good connection. If you don't know what a good joint looks like (or if you must solder where you can't see), then the resulting bad joints will drive you insane (OK, a short walk for some of us).

> Once you use a real temperature-regulated soldering station, you'll never want to go back to the "plugs straight into the wall" type soldering iron again.

I know what you are saying, and I'd probably agree, if I weren't such an old stick-in-the-mud.

Personally, I wish there was a $15 iron I could recommend, because I know you can do very fine work with a straight plug-in iron (all the classic gear was made this way), and I think you should not spend all your money on this hobby, not at first, not until it grows into an obsession. You might decide that soldering is not as fascinating as fly-fishing or needlepoint, so don't spend ALL your money on it.

It's fun to use your old soldering irons to go fly-fishing with.

Joel

If you can learn how to make a good solder joint using a 'plug-in-the-wall' soldering iron, getting a more expensive soldering iron will just help make life easier and convenient.

Don't think that you can buy an expensive soldering station and automatically become a good solderer.

Practice practice practice.

i have one of those ECG irons made for NTE. $10-15. the tips stay loose when screwed all the way in(and they're chrome plated). i don't trust this. consistant, efficient heat is crucial to soldering, it seems to me. my roomate has a cheap orange handled weller SP23 with a long pencil-style iron tip. its unbelievably better. i'm going to pick up one of my own. i think it'll do me fine for a while. i'd rather wait untill i could really use a station and buy a good one.

david

Well, if you're a poor boy like me. I think this is a good start.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.a..._name=CTLG_011_009_007_003&product_id=64-2184

Works for me. I think? :green:

I have had all sorts and the Weller is the best. My everyday iron is 30yrs old and in that time I have changed the element twice. The bits dont sieze up and I keep a selection of sizes and swap them around. I also have a JBC 15w temp controlled iron for fine work which is good, but the Weller can do more things better.
BTW, sometimes you need to solder something very quickly with high heat. My trick is to have a lump of copper handy to wihich I apply the tip of the Weller, this fools the iron into going to max heat withou frying the job.
Steve

[quote author="MikoKensington"]Well, if you're a poor boy like me. [/quote]
If you're really a cheap-ass like me: 99 cent 30W iron at the 99 cent store, wire a diode in one leg of the power cord to pass only one polarity of the sine wave, cutting the power to 15W. Extra tips? Just buy a few more irons.

If a soldering META thread gets created, please include some info on solder too!

I remember reading years ago that there's a certain blend that's some percentage of lead / tin that makes good joints easier - but I can't remember what it's called!

Some advice would be good. I've discovered not all solders are created equally. (In fact I have one particular roll of solder that doesn't "stick" to the metal.) It's unnerving to try to solder with it. It's lead free - and from Radio Shack.

Kato

F*ck that lead-free shit.

:wink:

63/37 alloy flows a little more readily than the "standard" 60/40.

thanks, could you guys reccommend some solder as well? this kind of thread might be good to turn into a sticky...

also, should i be looking for 30 watts about? maybe less, maybe more? initially ill just be using it for pcb mounting type things.

Thanks NewYorkDave - I believe you're right - it's the 63%-tin/37%-lead alloy.

For anyone who cares - the 63/37 ratio is called a "eutectic" alloy - which means it goes immediately from solid form to molten liquid with no in-between gluey stage.

Here are the other eutectic ratios:

62.5% tin, 36.1% lead and 1.4% silver (354°F, 179°C)

96% tin and 4% silver (430°F, 221°C); 

97.5% lead and 2.5% silver (581°F, 305°C)

0.75% tin, 97.5 % lead and 1.75% silver (590°F, 310°C)

But I'm sure a standard 63/37 wire with a core of rosin flux will keep your balls sufficiently rocked.

Kato

Now does anyone have information on the ideal temperature to keep your soldering tip??

As a newb (mostly experience with simple stompboxes)
I've been known to burn out transistors using a chunky radio shack soldering iron with a crusty tip.

Before I do another project with transistors, I'm getting a temperature-controlled iron. Hopefully that will stop me from destroying them with heat.

> burn out transistors using a chunky radio shack soldering iron

That is VERY hard to do, with Silicon transistors and 60/40 solder. Silicon will survive and even work at solder temperatures.

You should be able to get a good joint in 10 seconds start to finish. The iron must be not just clean but "wet" with solder: a dry tip does not get enough contact area to heat the joint quickly. Parts must be clean so you don't have to boil a lot of flux to break through tarnish. If you can get in and out in 10 seconds, tip-temp isn't very important.

For reference: my tip glows in the dark. Very faint red. This is too hot unless you have a lot of practice, and know when to get-off if the joint isn't taking solder real quick.

I do most of my work with a big chisel tip on weller temp control FWIW I worked on Bluebirds rode with it. I have a small tip weller I don't use that much right next to it. I started to solder stuff together when I was a small human. I get looks from fellow techs when I solder I like a big tip on a temp control iron. I work fast the higher thermal mass can work well. I started with plug in the wall stuff most of that kind of irons makes you fight the connecton.

A funny story years ago when I moved in my house I was outside building a bass guitar speaker cab. two of the neighborhood kids stopped and asked what I was building. They told me about how they wre trying to build some small circuits and they could not get them to work. I told them to come by the next day. I had a weller outside on a table some good solder and some parts. It was very cool what happened I told them to use my weller after showing them one time how to solder. They got it right away! One of the kids built a solid state guitar amp with a little help from me and his dad.

I think more people get turned off to building stuff because of little things like not having a good tool. When I use my power tools like my drill press table saw lathe etc, I think of all the hand tools and alot of hard work it took to build stuff when I was young with little money.

Soldering is one of the things that can realy frustrate someone. I was lucky my dad and my uncle down the street would help me when I got stuck as a kid.

I think if there is no one around that can help, a good temp control iron for a beginer is important. The web can only help some much