soldering iron recommendations

[durango dude]

My son originally started with the Weller wood burning pen-style iron ---- I would not recommend it for fine work, at all.

He's upgraded a little to the 100W soldering gun kit ---- and it does a better job for the basic stuff he does.

[gnal41]

I purchased an adjustable temperature solder station from Hobbyking.com and use it for RC electronics assembly and repair. I believe it is a Hakko knock-off. The quality is not the best but with a price of under twenty dollars I thought I would give it a try. It has be use to assembly several RC airborne electronics and is still working. I have read that seveal have had problems with this unit.


Soldering Station with Adjustable Heat Range
Specs Power Supply:
Power Consumption: 60W
Input Voltage: 110v
Output Voltage: 24v AC
Dimensions: 170mmx93mmx20mm
Temperature Range: 200c~480c/392F~896F
Specs Soldering Iron:
Power Consumption: 24v Ac-50w
Heating Element: Ceramic
Cord Length: 1.2m

[tfischer]

The temperature controlled solder stations are the way to go, and you don't need to spend a fortune... $50 will buy you a decent one (see my link above for example).

More heat isn't always best when soldering - you can mess up electronic components or even circuit board traces. That's why using a soldering gun for circuit board work is generally a bad thing. The temp-controlled stations are like electronic speed control on your power tools - they sense the temp, and as you start soldering, it senses the temp going down, and immediately kicks the temp back up to whatever you have it set on. Mine has a digital display and keeps it within +/- 2 degrees of my set temp. The cheap <$10 irons just heat up to a set point, then cool off as you solder... so they're generally too hot at some points and too cold at others... and you can't set the temp at all.

[gnal41]

Jussi, did you make a selection on a solder station? I was assembling the electonics of a small plane this morning and your post came to mnd and I was curious as to your selection of a solder iron or station and the model you selected and how it performed.

[jussi]

The hakko was on sale at fry's so I ended up getting that. Unfortunately I've been so busy with other things I haven't even opened the box yet. I have another busy week coming up but the week after should be much better. I just got into rc multicopter as a hobby and most of the parts should be coming next week so I'm hoping to put it through its pace then.

Jussi, did you make a selection on a solder station? I was assembling the electonics of a small plane this morning and your post came to mnd and I was curious as to your selection of a solder iron or station and the model you selected and how it performed.