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soldering iron

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pinky33

Member
Joined
May 6, 2008
I want a weller soldering station, but they cost near $100. I was hoping I could find something under $50 after tax/shipping.

A lot of the time my friend lets me barrow his very old 15 pound soldering station. It has a ceramic heating element that can heat up in 20 seconds. I would love to get something like this, but it is out of my current budget. I am open to suggestions. I can't seem to find any that are under 50$ and say they have a ceramic heating element.

I do have a lowes gift card and coupon so I am looking at this one. The thought of an LED is enticing, but I really just want it heat up in under 60 seconds and work!

http://www.lowes.com/pd_357336-273-...Trail=72.128.49.197&currentURL=?Ntt=soldering
 
Since I learned to solder when I was 6 I've been using Hakko irons. Adjustable temp ranges, iron holder, tip cleaner, all little things that make soldering much more enjoyable. I'm not saying buy a Hakko, or that Hakko is the only brand that does this, I'm just saying soldering is better with decent tools. A low budget soldering iron can cause headaches (uneven heating, poor tip quality, failures, etc).

I don't see many options at Lowes though. Maybe trade the gift card to someone with cash and save a little for a better station that you actually want? Radioshack has a decent 40w iron that comes with the basics already. May want to check that out.

**Edit, Amazon has the same iron for 40.
 
That Weller WPD18MP iron is not 60 watts as Lowe's and Weller say it is. It's actually an 18W iron with a funny power supply that sometimes feeds it more power than normal to make the tip heat up faster or recover from being cooled down, but it's not a temperature-controlled iron.

For all around electronics soldering, a conventional 25W - 35W iron is about right, but with tiny surface mount parts you may need just 10W, while desoldering leads of capacitors that connect to the power or ground plane may require 50W. The cheapest iron I know of that can handle about everything, including lead-free solder, is the Goot PX-201, about $60, delivered.

Goot, Denon, Weller, Hakko, and Pace are all very good, but tips are a lot cheaper for Weller and Hakko. And for the price of one of their temperature controlled irons, you can often buy a complete no-name soldering/desoldering rework station from Circuit Specialists, such as the Aoyue brand, and while they don't quite regulate temperature as well, many people seem able to do everything with them, once they understand their quirks.

Keeping the tip clean is extremely important, and the best cleaner is brass or copper curly hair, like the kind Hakko sells. 3M/Scotch sells stainless curly hair, but it might be rough on tips. Any crud on the tip can insulate heat so well that solder won't melt even when pressed right against the tip.

Try to avoid using lead-free solder because it requires about 100 degrees F higher temperatures to melt. Stick with 60% tin/40% lead or, even better, 63% tin/37% lead solder.
 
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