Soldering iron vs station

Feek said:
Proper solder for real men
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inhaling proper flux too - dipping wires, or even bit itself, although it is supposed to be very acidic eating the bit iron cladding.

thought it was ironic thery were even doing soldering on Eastenders the other day - didn't rewind for model.

Personally antex for life, with heavyweight mug to clip it onto, genuine wire holder always seems to act like a heat sink.
 
Rroff said:
Kid at school finally snapped at being bullied and in a D&T class held the bully down and pressed a soldering iron to his face - I just remember the teacher in total shock and not knowing what to do.
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Wow that's a pretty severe attack. The pain must have been unreal. It's bad enough just catching your finger.
 
I picked up a soldering iron with soldering wire from the rain forest for under 20 quid for repairs of house hold items and it's been great. Cheap but does the job just fine
 
jpaul said:
inhaling proper flux too - dipping wires, or even bit itself, although it is supposed to be very acidic eating the bit iron cladding.

thought it was ironic thery were even doing soldering on Eastenders the other day - didn't rewind for model.

Personally antex for life, with heavyweight mug to clip it onto, genuine wire holder always seems to act like a heat sink.
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I use a mug as well :cry: and antex iron :)

Got a thread going here: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/vinces-ebay-repair-thread-console-repairs-mods.18940033/

On recent repairs :D
 
azazl187 said:
I picked up a soldering iron with soldering wire from the rain forest for under 20 quid for repairs of house hold items and it's been great. Cheap but does the job just fine
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Definitely don't need anything fancy for occasional use. Use mine less and less at work, at one time it was used on every product to configure it such as drive resistance, balanced or unbalanced, drive offset. These days is just to repair old units, dry joints, blown fuses, worn relays.
Anything bigger like BGA repairs we just send back to our factory for them to repair it.
Still do a lot of soldering for things like wiring looms and potentiometers that sort of thing.
 
azazl187 said:
I picked up a soldering iron with soldering wire from the rain forest for under 20 quid for repairs of house hold items and it's been great. Cheap but does the job just fine
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Do you mean ‘solder from Amazon’ rather than ‘soldering wire from the rain forest’? :D
 
andy_mk3 said:
Wow that's a pretty severe attack. The pain must have been unreal. It's bad enough just catching your finger.
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V F said:
What happened while she stood in shock and after it?
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Burnt right through the top part of his lip and he had scars after - I don't really remember much other than the teacher's shock - I think some of the other kids ran and got another teacher.
 
I got a “Yihua 939D+ III Soldering Station” recently and have found it a good step up from the cheap irons I’ve used before. If I recall correctly there is a version with a hot air tool on the side too.
 
andy_mk3 said:
Can't find a link to it now, but I have one of these below. Does me fine for the occasional use it gets. Calibrated it and it does everything I can ask of it.

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Bought the same after seeing Clive's vid. Use is mainly for RC and the odd single board project, can't fault it.

Anyone link to some decent 60/40 flux core as bought some right crap in the past.
 
hyperseven said:
Bought the same after seeing Clive's vid. Use is mainly for RC and the odd single board project, can't fault it.

Anyone link to some decent 60/40 flux core as bought some right crap in the past.
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I've just been using MULTICORE/LOCTITE 0.7mm 60/40 stuff from Farnell for most stuff - though probably not the best person to advise.
 
The main issue with lead solder isn’t in use, less so manufacture but in disposal.
Landfill with PCBs with lead solder leach the PCB chemicals over time. That flows out into the ecosystem and accumulates in plants and animals, then up through the food chain.
 
NickK said:
The main issue with lead solder isn’t in use, less so manufacture but in disposal.
Landfill with PCBs with lead solder leach the PCB chemicals over time. That flows out into the ecosystem and accumulates in plants and animals, then up through the food chain.
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Be nice if they made some actually useful lead-free solder to replace it though - I've got one, no name brand from Amazon, which is OK though not great which I have a sneaky suspicion might not be actually lead free. The rest I've tried are literally trash and worthless using.
 
Stannol and MG Chemicals are two I’ve seen described as reasonable. Probably others but I have decent sized spool so happy at the moment :)
 
I'm in the market for the first time in years for an iron and a separate heat station.

All I can say, is unless you're spending serious money and going branded with Weller etc. it's near impossible to make a decision. I'm allowing myself got around £80-120 to play with at the moment, and even at that price point there are way too many options :eek:
 
I got a Maplin branded iron ages ago and it takes cheap, readily available tips. It's a rebrand of another make but the name escapes me. Do long for a hot air gun sometimes but I only dabble in electronics when needs must
 
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