# what soldering iron do u use



## las3r (Jun 1, 2011)

hey guys im not sure if this is the righ section but im looking to buy a decent soldering station around $30+ besides the cheap hand held one's 

so any info on ur set up and how u like it will help me decide and no what im looking for

will be working with LED's of course and drivers ect.......


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## PeterH (Jun 1, 2011)

I use a Weller WP25. 25 watts, changeable tip. Comes with a 1/8 inch chisel tip. Hand held, minimal features, high quality. Suited for most hobby electronics soldering. Proper heat sinking of sensitive components is a good idea whatever iron you use.

The WLC100 is a nice model for a step up. Variable wattage, and a power supply base you can plug an alternate hand held iron into.

I used to work in a shop that catered to electronics people, sold a fair variety of soldering irons. The models with true temperature control cost a lot more that $30.


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## las3r (Jun 1, 2011)

i no ill be spending more than 30 for a nice one...but just wanted to see what people recommended 

kinda looking at this one ?
http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/10369


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## calipsoii (Jun 1, 2011)

Weller WLC100 here. The only complaint I have about it is I wish the variable knob had some kind of indication of wattage/heat/something - a bunch of ticks doesn't tell me much.


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## MWClint (Jun 2, 2011)

i use the radio shack mini butane soldering iron. have been using it for 12+ years and they still sell the replaceable tips for it.
the tip is small enough to do work inside AAA heads.


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## PhotonAddict (Jun 2, 2011)

I upgraded from a cheap radio shack soldering iron to a Hakko 936 a few years ago. I was unsure about spending that much at the time (~$100) but I'm glad I did. I don't only use it for my flashlight modding so it was well worth it. The Weller WLC100 also seems like a nice one as well - I almost bought it but at the last minute I decided to go with the Hakko.


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## DonShock (Jun 2, 2011)

Another Weller WLC100 user here. It's about the cheapest you can go and get the minimum features needed to do a good soldering job for a variety of tasks. To do a quality solder job, you need to match the tip size and the heat to the job so interchangable tips and variable power controls are almost required. IIRC, a couple years back when I bought mine it was around $75 for the station and a full range of tips.

FYI: You might want to check out this thread on soldering from a few years ago. It's got a lot of discussion on equipment and techniques.


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## bbawkon (Jun 2, 2011)

You want a good one, spend the money and buy a Metcal. At my disposal, I have PACE, I have Ersa, I have OKI and Weller. When the going gets tough, and I have something tough to solder, I ALWAYS end up with a Metcal in my hand. For simple stuff, any soldering station will do fine - but when you want to solder something that isn't so simple, you'll hate having an inferior iron. With a midrange+ metcal, you'll never worry about having an inferior iron.

For the record, we have quite a few Ersa i-Con 1 stations, and they are pretty good. For 90% of what we do, they work great. The difference is that for 100% of what we do, the Metcals work great.


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## CKOD (Jun 2, 2011)

The CSI linked one is probably the cheapest regulated iron Ive seen, if it doesnt use standard tips, it could be a pain finding replacements, but ive had good luck with CSI brand stuff, I have their 400W hot air pencil for $80 or so it performs very well. 

If you upped the amount you wanted to spend, $150 would get you a weller 50W regulated iron, $300+ gets into the nice 80W higher quality irons. (I use a WD2 base station with 2 80W irons at work) and you start getting into Oki and metcal for higher end stuff. Ive not ran into anything I couldnt do with the WP-80 irons, upto 10 AWG wire with a typical sized chisel tip, and if I put the fat chisel tip on, even larger wire, or for soldering 10AWG wire into oversized pins without overheating the whole thing. 

I have used OKI stations, but not for anything demanding enough to say anything one way or the other, just though hole PCB work with standard pads, nothing demanding like tiny SMD stuff on big power planes where tight regulation and power delivery are important. Their tip change is just using a silicone pad to pull the tip out and push in another, nice and easy. I havent use metcal at all, but always hear great stuff about them.

All the prices I listed above are all new, keep and eye out, and you might find something very nice for a not so bad price.


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## las3r (Jun 2, 2011)

is the Metcal adjustable for different heat settings


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## wquiles (Jun 2, 2011)

The Metcal is what myself and George (TaskLED.com) uses for our soldering work:
Metcal MX 500P 11 2-Port SMT Soldering Rework Station

They regulate right at the tip, and by changing the tip's series you can vary the temperature, shape, angle, etc..


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## bbawkon (Jun 2, 2011)

The MX500P Is an excellent station. I actually like it more than some of Metcal's newer/fancier stations. Very rapid heat delivery. I solder 4ga wire into lugs all the time with that iron and a chisel tip. The Pace that sits in my lab right next to it couldn't do that on a bet.


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## datiLED (Jun 2, 2011)

I use a Circuit Specialists station that is a Hakko 936 clone. I have been using the same station for about 6 or 7 years, and have only had to replace the wand twice. Buy some Hakko tips on e-Bay, and you are set for a long time.


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## VegasF6 (Jun 2, 2011)

I dunno if it is common knowledge or not, but Hakko discontinued the 936 for a new model, the FX-888. Looks like a neat little unit. 
There is a thread floating around somewhere about the various Hakko clones that are out there including the circuit specialist model, Komec, and others about the heating element. It showed in that thread the genuine Hakko used a nice ceramic element, something was inferior about the clones. Don't recall exactly what.

FYI, I use a weller wesd51. Weller has a $20 rebate right now, and there is an ebay seller that claims you can get that rebate through him bringing the total to $109. Though, if he isn't an authorized dealer, I am not sure Weller would honor it.


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## Samy (Jun 2, 2011)

I have a Dremel butane soldering iron. I won't get an electric one again as the butane one is so portable to use. It's fully heat adjustable and takes seconds to refill.

Cheers


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## recycler (Jun 3, 2011)

I use an old antex iron given to me about 20 years ago, its got a bakelite handle and has never missed a beat ever, I have a collection of various tips which still sell today, it must be at least 30 years old, I think meybe more, you can tell the age by the scars to the cable, I realy should retire it but have no reason to


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## Microa (Jun 4, 2011)

I use the Hakko 981 20W/130W dual wattage soldering iron which I bought 26 years ago. Last year, I bought another Goot CXR-31 22W fine tip iron for soldering SMD parts.
I feel that I like the pistol handle of the Hakko than the goot's pancil style handle.


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## VegasF6 (Jun 4, 2011)

I just got a new MCM catalog and they are advertising this soldering station as a new item.
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/21-10115
Wow, that looks really nice for $60 bucks!!


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## las3r (Jun 4, 2011)

yea it does look nice and has memory mode, i posted a link on the first post i can get it for $60 shipped


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## VegasF6 (Jun 4, 2011)

Oh yah. But it's obviously not the same thing, the one you posted says circuit specialist and the one I posted is branded Tenma. Gotta be better, right? 
If you pop on that one give us a review, I like the looks of it. Would like to see inside.


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## Packhorse (Jun 6, 2011)

I have several,
A cheap soldering station with adjustable temp.
A "Dremel" brand butane iron that I brought as a back up.
3 Wella Pyro pens. http://www.cooperhandtools.com/brands/CF_Files/model_detail.cfm?upc=037103590435 
1 I brought about 18 years ago and used several hours a day since, one for my staff ( no longer gets used) and a new one thats about 3 months old.


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## ljw2k (Jun 10, 2011)

*The following errors occurred with your submission*


las3r has exceeded their stored private messages quota and cannot accept further messages until they clear some space.


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## rudy (Jun 16, 2011)

I've got a Weller WES51. I received it as a gift. I bought one for my buddy a couple of years ago. He liked it so much that he ended up giving some of his friends and I our own.


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## cdrake261 (Jun 28, 2011)

I use a radioshack 40 watt iron for my larger projects like installing radios


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## spencer (Mar 9, 2012)

What did you end up getting?

And if you didn't get one yet or for anybody who wants to reference this later, GET A DECENT TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED STATION!
Spend the money and you will not regret it. I bough the Hakko 936 a few years ago and for the various hobby things I do it is leaps and bounds better than a cheap fixed wattage iron. 

Buy once cry once. Also, you can't do a job properly if you don't have the right tools.


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## moderator007 (Mar 9, 2012)

I use 2 kinds. One of those cheap harbor frieght 30 watts for the small stuff. And a weller D550 200/240 watt gun for heavy duty soldering.


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## jasonck08 (Mar 9, 2012)

I use a Hakko FX888


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## 49thdiver (Mar 19, 2012)

I have been soldering most of my life, eversince my dad told me the twisted wires were not going to last long.
I have not had much need for a variable temperature controlled iron.
I have three irons : A weller gun, yup the big black hand gun.
A big straight iron for battery terminals and a small 25 watt weller with a few tips, a chisel, standard point and a fine point.
I suggest soldering is all about technique, everything needs to be clean, just enough heat and the right amount of solder.
You will want to get some drywick for de-soldering and clean up if you make a mess (practice first on stuff that's not critical)
As well as a number of different size tips for the small iron, get different gauges of solder, really thin for those surface mount devices, medium for general use and heavy for that heavy wire, crimp connectors or working with copper for antenna work.
Alligator clips, min vices, tweezers and pliers are real good for holding things while your soldering them and also to use as a heat sink for sensitive parts. That said in my whole carrier I don't think I ever overheated a part, damaged some circuit boards, but was always able to fix that.
Use a tip and a solder gauge relative to the size of the parts or circuit board pads you are working with.
Make sure it's clean, you have lots of light, and make sure the iron is good and hot before you start.
If the irons not hot you will be damaging the part before the solder melts.

Get some old un-populated circuit boards and just practice soldering stuff, working your way up to a real project.
You can even unsolder stuff off an old junk board and put it back on again for practice.
Watch how the solder changes colour as it melts, learning to unsolder is almost as important as soldering as you do not wan to damage the circuit board or adjacent parts when you are fixing something. PS have something handy for burns. &@*^ does happen.

Good luck, watch out for the lead fumes !!


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## 127.0.0.1 (Mar 19, 2012)

I use a butane powered iron (difficult to regulate) 
and an IR thermometer/sinks when soldering sensitive stuff. 

otherwise I just crank it way up and it will solder anything


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## hellokitty[hk] (Mar 19, 2012)

Hakko FX888


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## archer6817j (Apr 1, 2012)

Just a simple Weller [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]WES[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]D51[/FONT] for me


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## Jim3222 (Apr 2, 2012)

I just have a cheap radio shack 40W one here at college but I have a hakko at home


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