Recommend me a good Soldering Iron for less than ~$40

[jivetrky]

I need to solder some stuff and need a new soldering iron. The one I have is just a cheap POS (cheap as in like $4)

I tried soldering tonight and I could hold the solder up to the tip and it wouldn't even hardly melt the solder! I had a cheap radioshack 25W iron also, and that was pretty much the same

So I need some experienced ppl here to recommend me a good one to buy, and where to buy it. I really need it to be as inexpensive as possible. But I don't want to buy another POS.

I assume most wand type irons have interchangable tips, but if not, that would probably have to be a requirement. I need a really fine tip for VERY fine soldering.

[Malpine Walis]

The problem with the cheapies is that the heating element eventually wears out, at which point it is cheaper to get a whole new iron than the find and add the replacement part. Sounds to me as if you already know that much.

You could try a nice Weller iron with replacable heating elements in your price range.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=372-110

[Super Nade]

Hakko's are good as well, a bit cheaper than Weller.

This should be in Voltmodding, so I'm moving it. :)

[Nebulous]

I got this one (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062730&cp=&origkw=soldering+iron&kw=soldering+iron&parentPage=search) from Ratshack. The tip is interchangeable ( screw on/off type) and it werks great for my needs. I think I paid like 15 bux for it.

[Super Nade]

How many Watts is it rated for? Make sure you are getting an Iron that is hot enough, or your project would be full of cold solder joints.

[jivetrky]

hmmm...things to ponder.


How much would I have to pay to get a decent solder station (that has variable temps and stuff)?

[Super Nade]

$70 for a decent one would be a fair estimate.

[jivetrky]

I found the WLC100, which is a 40W station by Weller, and it is only $40...but the problem I have with it is that the tips is uses don't get real small...and I have some almost micro work to do. :sigh:

[jonspd]

I just use the 25 watter from radioshack and I havn't had any problems yet.


Jonspd

[myndlessdayz]

radio shack :beer:

[jivetrky]

I wonder if just buying a new tip might help my situation? The tip is really discolored and the very tip of it has gone from pointy to slightly flat.

I really need a new one, a GOOD one. But I just can't afford it right now. I think even $20 would break us.

[Malpine Walis]

Nah, from the way that you describe it, it is the heating element that went bad on you. But the thing about replacable tips is that you can get others if you need them. Or if you have the tools, you can take the smallest one that you can find and you can grind it even smaller.

[TempliNocturnus]

I also got a $10 radio**** iron and it's served well so far. When junk started to build up on the tip, I just used the filing tool in my leatherman to scrap it all off. Also make sure the tip is on there all they way; again, I used my leatherman to tighten the tip on when it came loose.

[NiTrO bOiE]

I too have the 15w RS iron. It serves me well, and I just use my RTX to grind down the tip when it gets too bad. With this iron, I don't worry about burning pcb when I do mods.

[jivetrky]

http://www.mpja.com/listitemsdirect.asp?dept=480&main=79&item1=15860+TL&item2=15845+TL&item3=15140+TL&item4=15141+TL
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/7632/15845tf0.jpg

Welp I took a gamble (Both on the soldering station, and on spending that much money and hoping not to be murdered by the wife.)

I ordered the station above (The one at the top of the page on that link), I can only hope it's not a POS. I spent SOO many hours looking and looking for the perfect iron/station for me, and almost went with a Weller model that was cheaper (the WLC100) but it didn't have ESD protection. Also it didn't come with super fine tips like this one has available to it.

I also looked at several other brands and still found that the ones that I would want to have were too expensive (almost went for a Hakko for almost $90...but that is too close to $100 and would have sounded even worse to the wife :)) I also reeeally wanted a digital station, to have the temperature readout. It regulates to +- 10 degrees. So it's not super efficient as some are (some do like +-2 degrees), but still more than enough for my needs.

So I came across that one. I also ordered some micro tipped ones for some fine stuff I have to do. Altogether with 3 extra tips: 2 "normal" pencil tips, 1/32 of an inch, and 2 micro, 1/64 of an inch, it was ~$65 shipped via Fedex.

I'll post back with feedback after I get it on Thursday. I'll be building a small project, so I'll get a couple hours of use with it. If it ends up decent, maybe it'll be a good inexpensive station for others to think about. :shrug:

[Albaholic]

I bought that exact soldering station that you posted above. I got mine about 2 weeks ago. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with it.

[jivetrky]

Welp, I just used that soldering station for about 3 hours tonight and...... I LOVE IT!

Never having used a Soldering station it's a bit of a shock for me. If you are going to solder something that is a little thicker, you can quickly and easily increase the heat to make the job easier. (The rise and fall of the heat is VERY fast, and it does a great job keeping within +-10 degrees of what you have set it.)

The tips change out real easy...and much nicer than the radioshack POS that i had before (Those screw in and then use a set screw, for those who don't know). This one has a partially hollow tip, the heater element goes down in that, and it right at the end maybe an inch from the tip of the....tip. :)

I have used both the standard tip with which it comes and the fine tip 1/64 of an inch...and both were great. having the ultra small tip was awesome! I didn't have to worry about burning the PCB because the tip was too big.


I honestly cannot think of anything negative to say about it. Of course I'll have to see with time if it holds up.

You even get a fun time when you take it out of the box (at least it amused me and my 5 year old daughter, my g/f didn't seem to care too much:)) The sponge that comes in the sponge tray is literally almost as flat as a sheet of paper. But when you add water (I dripped it on to prolong the show!) it bubbles up and increases to maybe a 1/4 of an inch or so. eh, it was fun to watch :) My daughter was like "Hey it's Spongebob coming to life!" :)



So far I'd definitely recommend this as an inexpensive solder station!

[MadMan007]

Sweet, glad I found this thread. I ordered that station you got jive, plus a few extra tips.

I've also been looking for a DMM, I'd gotten a fairly basic one at Lowes but returned it. Then I saw this: http://www.mpja.com/productview.asp?product=16374+TE I didn't spend much time shopping around because I had to leave soon when I placed the order but it looks pretty good and has PC interface via serial port :) Any electronic gurus want to give a thumbs up/down on it based on the specs?

[jivetrky]

I use mine pretty regularly and it's still as good as it was when I got it. So far it's passed the 2 month test :)

DMM looks kinda cool, PC interface could be neat for benching and stuff. Two things I would look for in a DMM if I was shopping for one would be Autoranging and True RMS (Root-Mean-Square). You'll have to google/wikipedia True RMS. I fairly kinda sort understand what it does, but I couldn't really explain it. :) But I've experienced at least one situation where I would have wanted it.

[MadMan007]

I will post back when I get it. Looking in more detail at the specs some of the ranges don't make sense, like .4V min for DC? Maybe those are the range settings though and the actual readout goes down to mV. I found there is an Extech RMS 411 non-autoranging model within $10 but the price shoots up from there and not many have an RS232 interface. I personally don't like auto-ranging ;)

[kayson]

I will post back when I get it. Looking in more detail at the specs some of the ranges don't make sense, like .4V min for DC? Maybe those are the range settings though and the actual readout goes down to mV. I found there is an Extech RMS 411 non-autoranging model within $10 but the price shoots up from there and not many have an RS232 interface. I personally don't like auto-ranging ;)
If you're just gonna be checking PSU voltages and stuff like that, you'll be fine with a $10 radioshack dmm. That's what I have and it works fine for me.

[MadMan007]

Nah I'm probably going to get in to circuit building and some electronic projects. Nothing crazy but more than just checking voltages.

[kayson]

Nah I'm probably going to get in to circuit building and some electronic projects. Nothing crazy but more than just checking voltages.
I've done that too, all with a radioshack dmm. I'll be honest its not the best thing in the world, but I'm sure its accurate enough. I guess if you're really serious about it, why the hell not. Just offering other viewpoints.

[MadMan007]

Yea I know what you're saying, I've used RS DMMs in the past (not ones I owned) and they seemed good but this was back in the day before RS brands went downhill imo. I tend to buy things with a long-term perspective when possible so I don't mind spending more on something I'll be happy using for 10-20+ years. And the data-logging might be cool even if just for fun :D