Soldering Irons, Whats The Best For Electronics?

Hi,

I've been doing most my mods with a crappy iron I got of ebay.co.uk about a year ago, but I'm interested In getting some think a bit more professional.

Could you guys give me a nod Into what to look for In a good Iron?

 

I hope this makes sense, I'm not a native English speaker :>

What you want is some kind of temperature regulated soldering station. Here are the most important aspects to consider in my opinion:

* Possibility to control the temperature. You really need to be able to set the tip temperature with at least some accuracy. Some components are sensitive to overheating.

* Grounded iron. A non grounded iron might do when soldering non ESD sensitive stuff, but if you're working with consoles, there's a lot of sensitive components. Remember that even though the specific component you're soldering isn't ESD sensitive, it might be electrically connected to stuff that is by the PCB.

* Spare parts availability (especially tips and heater elements). Probably you won't break anything soon, but if/when you do, it really sucks to have to buy a new soldering station. Also, you'll want a small (?) assortment of tips in different dimensions and shapes.

* Quick heating. This of course goes hand in hand with the heater wattage. If your soldering iron got a too weak heater, it won't be able to keep the temperature when you're doing many solders in a sequence, for instance when soldering a multi legged IC, or heavier desoldering. Also, this is important when soldering temperature sensitive components, if the iron isn't hot enough, you'll have to heat the soldering point longer, and in the end you will have heated up the component more than if the iron kept the correct temperature.

* Flexible and light cable between iron and station. You don't want to have to fight the cable when soldering small stuff.




And some less important aspects, that still are worth considering:

* Easy changing of tips. You'll find your favorite tip, but now and then you'll need to use another one. Optimally you want to be able to swap tips without having to wait for the iron to cool down.

* Easy disassembly of the iron. It's a very good idea to clean the iron from accumulated dirt now and then. If it's easy to do, chances are you'll actually do it


Since you don't state a budget, I can't really give you anything specific, but if you want a cheap, yet good station, you could look into the Solomon SR-976ESD if it's still being made. Perhaps the cable is a bit on the stiff and heavy side, but at that price, it's really a great soldering station for beginners.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WLC100-40-Watt-Soldering-Station/dp/B000AS28UC

I use this for a great deal of work. The more specialized the application the more specialized the tool; as such I wouldn't want to use this without a wide range of tips and experience with them all. Though you can get away with the finest conical tip if you're on a budge.

 

I dont recommend conical tips. They do not work as well.

You need a bevel and chisel tip, this will allow SMD and through hole with no issue.

Personally, I use:

http://www.circuitspecialists.eu/bl...ering-station-digital-displ-bk2000-p-208.html

But there are many many clones that use the exact same irons and tips on ebay for around £20-30. Personally, I dislike weller - but I guess thats personal preference.


Bottom line, once you have a temp controlled iron - its mostly an issue of using the correct tip for the job

 

AFAIK the WLC100 has no compatible bevel tips. The ST7 is what I use for fine work as it is the closest match. I've been tempted to sand one down to a finer point for kicks but I'd imagine there would be consequences.

Wouldn't mind upgrading to something with a digital readout for finer temperature control but for $45 several years ago it was one of the better upgrades I have made. Previously I used a soldering iron a teacher of mine gave me in high school that was a static 25w. Used it until part of the heating element gave out.

Also wouldn't mind dropping $5k on hot air rework hardware as well as BGA equipment.

 

Thanks for your input guys really appreciate it

 

There was post here by Hexigon. I can't find it. I added useful links to it.
Can someone please find it and reference it here for him?

 

I used a 15 watt radioshack iron for a long time til it finally went kaput, ideally you do want temp control, I switched to a cheap 30 watt and personally found it harder to work with since it seems to overheat and become a completely disaster to work with, will probably just buy another 15 watter

 

http://www.maplin.co.uk/50w-solder-station-35016

£19.99 i just got one yestoday and much better.

 

That iron is only good for basic soldering. Surface mount will be much harder than it needs to be and good luck doing tsops or QFP

 

Wow, that's a really great price considering the features, at least I don't expect to find a calibration UART or be able to get SMD tweezers for a soldering station in that price range. That's more like the kind of stuff you find on professional soldering stations at 10 times the price or more. Oh, and that free spare heater element is really a nice touch

What's your general impression of the quality? It certainly looks very professional and durable at least. If you got more than one iron and have swapped them a lot, is the connector still tight? That is one of the things that normally breaks first on cheap soldering stations with non hard wired irons in my experience. Also, maybe it's hard for you to test, but do you have any idea about how accurate the temperature setting/display is?

If it's as impressive as it looks on the paper, that station is a really nice deal.


Weller's hobby stations aren't on my favourites list either. Their pro stuff is however good, even though you can get a lot more value for the money from other manufacturers. Personally I think Weller is all about brand nowadays, in my highly subjective opinion the Magnastat stations was their last great product that really distanced itself from the competition, but since then they haven't came up with anything all that innovative. The competition caught up long ago.


Besides choosing the right tip for the job, high quality solder and flux makes everything a lot easier aswell

 

I have been using that iron for around 3 years. I do change the iron for the SMD tweezers now and again, also I have had 3 full replacement irons - mostly because the price different between the whole iron and just the heating element makes it not worth the time changing the element.

Connector is fine and still tight. Temp can be calibrated using a thermocouple and a screw driver in the calibration screw.

 

I'm going to go for that one yourecommended Bad_Ad84 When I get my next pay at the end of the month

I Need to install some bios chips to saturn and dreamcast PCB, what tips would be best for the job?

 

I use a 0.8mm bevel tip for doing that.

 

Once again, thanks to everyone who posted. Really helped me out alot

 

Choosing a soldering iron for electronics application is tricky because you are dealing with delicate components. I suggest you read this guide which talks about how to choose a best soldering iron for electronics and circuit board applications

 

I use a Hakko ESD936 have been for a long time, it's been replaced with the upgraded and more colorful FX-888.

Heats quickly, ESD safe, light and easy to use.

 

I would suggest any Hakko 936 clone. Spare parts are plenty and cheap and the soldering handle feels very nice.

 

I use both the ESD936 and the FX888 quite a lot and I prefer the 888, good all-around solder gun with access to tips smaller than most others. Though for very very small stuff there's better yet pricier options, but there's few real needs for that when repairing electronics.

 

I swear by a Hakko 888 but mine is not one of the newer digital ones,