Soldering iron

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emjay

emjay

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In the market for a soldering iron to do some work with. I work with electronics/computer hardware a fair bit but have always avoided the soldering stuff. Can't (and don't want to) do that any more.

I remember I was looking at reviews on some units before, and some of the cheaper ones were widely criticized for not having some major feature (can't remember what), that were available in units even just $10 more.

So basically, I'm wondering if somebody can give me some tips on what features to look out for. I don't want to spend a fortune, but I don't believe in buying crap, either.
 
Temp control. Depending on what type of soldering you are doing, you could get away with a certain wattage iron. Really small stuff 12.5 watts. Standard electronics 25 watt. Go with a good brand on this one. Weller or Veldman are quality.
 
I just went through this looking for a decent iron for my control panel build. I highly highly recommend: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9672. This is the one I bought and I could not be happier. You will not find an iron with similar features (especially the fact you can dial in the temperature) for anywhere close to this cost elsewhere. Spark Fun makes good products.
 
I solder at work, all the time. I highly recommend the Hakko irons. I have the 936 station (which has apparently been discontinued and is now replaced with a newer model, the fx-888).

If you will be using it often, the main thing to look out for is temperature regulation (not control, but regulation). A good iron will monitor the temp of the tip and adjust the the power sent to the tip accordingly (most use PWM). IE if you put the tip against a cold object with a large thermal mass, the iron will pump more power to the tip to maintain the proper temp.

edit: the spark iron listed above looks identical to the Hakko 936 station I have. If it is a rebranded Hakko, that is an excellent price. They did retail for around 100
 
+1 to Tonyswank. Nice find. Weller is a name brand and I believe has a warranty also
 
TonySwank said:
This should be a good entry level soldering iron. Can't go wrong with Weller.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000AS28UC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Click to expand...

Weller makes some good soldering irons, but this is not one of those. I have this Weller iron and have discontinued it's use. I now use a Hakko 936. The Weller is nowhere near being in the same category as the Hako.

If the Sparkfun iron has all the same features as the Hakko, then it is a very good deal. Keep in mind the Sparkfun guys are hardware junkies. I don't think they would be offering this iron if it did not perform well. For the same money as the Weller, get the Sparkfun unit.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Nearly pulled the trigger on that Sparkfun one, but the cheapest shipping they offered to Canada was like $55, for a total of $95. For that price, I might as well just get a better one either from a B&M store, or an online retailer with more reasonable shipping.

Checked out the Weller one as well, but I think I'd like one with temperature regulation. Being able to manually adjust the power isn't a bad compromise, but as a relative newb I'd rather just have the thing do it for me.

The feature I was talking about in the OP was either that temperature regulation, or replaceable soldering tips, I don't quite recall. Either way, both are features I'd ideally like to have.
 
Hakko's are amazing, but for most of us it's like buying a Ferrari to go get the groceries.
I picked up a gently used Weller WTCPT off of ebay a few years ago for around $40.
A great station, and I didn't have to get the monthly financing option!
If you look around you can get a good deal. The crazy cross-border charges may spoil most deals for the OP, however...
 
wolfman_48442 said:
Hakko's are amazing, but for most of us it's like buying a Ferrari to go get the groceries.
I picked up a gently used Weller WTCPT off of ebay a few years ago for around $40.
A great station, and I didn't have to get the monthly financing option!
If you look around you can get a good deal. The crazy cross-border charges may spoil most deals for the OP, however...
Click to expand...

Only reason shipping was that much from sparkfun is because they only offered Express shipping :/
 
That's really too bad about the Sparkfun iron because that thing is the bee's knee's for the price... it's got some heft to it so I assume that's why it's not cheap to ship.
 
 
Thanks for all the help guys. I actually ended up finding a HiFi DIY store that was located in my province and was selling the Hakko936 for $100 reg, plus 20% off. So I figured I couldn't go wrong spending $80 on the 936... beats waiting for a $20 rebate just to spend $5 less on the "equivalent" Weller WES51.

I also picked up some lead-free tri-eutectic solder, but good solder apparently ain't cheap! So instead of getting a whole spool, I just got the smaller 100g (~¼lb). Anybody have any idea how long this "small" amount should last? I don't plan on doing a ton of soldering to start, but just looking at the pictures of entire spools, I have no idea how any hobbyist could use that much, *especially* if they're using different solders for different applications...

So, in addition to the 936 and some lead-free tri-eutectic solder, I'll be picking up a "third hand", which I'm sure is something absolutely essential for someone with my coordination :drunk:. But is there anything else that's worth picking up? I don't exactly plan on doing any SMD work within the foreseeable future.
 
beninan said:
I prefer butane ones myself. I've got these two:
http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=yes&tool=all&item_ID=87696&group_ID=12178&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

http://www.lowes.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&cId=SEARCH&productId=3133275&cm_mmc=SCE_pricegrabber-_-PriceGrabber-_-PriceGrabber-_-BernzOmatic%20Soldering%20Torch%20Head%2019132

I haven't used the BernzOmatic one yet, but it seems pretty inexpensive for what it is. The snap-on one isn't really wallet friendly, but it's an awesome soldering iron.
Click to expand...

I have the BernzOmatic and I can't say I'm a big fan. It runs out of butane pretty quick and is a pain to refill, IMO. If I needed to use it more than once every 6 months or so, I'd get something better.
 
I used to do a lot of soldering for work. My vote is a 25 watt Weller soldering station. You might be able to find one at your local RadioShack.
 

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