soldering irons

[AdamR]

Im hoping I dont need to use it a lot. LOL I have a cheap radio shack iron and it just takes for every to get hot and never seems to be hot enough.

[Handyman]

Originally Posted by AdamR

Im hoping I dont need to use it a lot. LOL I have a cheap radio shack iron and it just takes for every to get hot and never seems to be hot enough.

Those things are the absolute worst. That Radio Shack abomination and the Weller you found will be night and day.

[JFOC]

I got a Weller for xmass from my brother in law. Really looking forward to trying to make the byoc opto comp & divided octave.

[marcinski]

As far as soldering iron goes, you can get this one and never buy one again.
I use it in industrial electronics plenty of times and you can barely see any signs of use.

http://www.alliedelec.com/search/pro...FYZaMgoddm8AAA

good luck choosing

[AdamR]

Originally Posted by marcinski

As far as soldering iron goes, you can get this one and never buy one again.
I use it in industrial electronics plenty of times and you can barely see any signs of use.

http://www.alliedelec.com/search/pro...FYZaMgoddm8AAA

good luck choosing

I was looking at that one but Im not sure I can get myself to drop that much on an iron I may use 2 or 3 times a year if that.

[hennessybass]

That's a nice iron. I have the same one, and all the AV techs at work use that model as well.

Look for rosin core solder, and try not to breath in too many fumes.

[spacebassed]

Originally Posted by AdamR

I was looking at that one but Im not sure I can get myself to drop that much on an iron I may use 2 or 3 times a year if that.

That Weller WES51 and the Hakko FX888 were the two stations I was looking at when I bought my Hakko, I've since had the opportunity to use both irons and the Hakko just has more ass behind it... AND its about 1/3 the size... AND its cheaper... AND there are more tips readily available.

Sure its ugly, but nothing beats it - especially for the price. If you just can bring yourself to spend $78 (it admittedly took me a while too - I'm cheap), buy one of these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/150673322408...84.m1423.l2649

its $14 more than the weller will cost you and it's a true temperature controlled station, it also accepts all the different Hakko tips out there (the Aoyue 937+ that was listed on the last page would be a good choice as well).

[spacebassed]

...and as far as solder goes, it's hard to beat Kester 44. I've always used 60/40, but some guys say they prefer 63/37 - either will work fine. I use .050 diameter for general guitar work, but something smaller like .031 will be better for circuit boards.

[AdamR]

Thanks for all the advice. I know very little about electronics other then how to plug stuff in and turn knobs. This could be an entirely new hobby for me cause I need another, LOL

[delta7fred]

Originally Posted by Hactar

1. Get some rosin core solder.

2. Make sure to avoid acid core solder (it's for soldering pipes and will eat your electronics up).

3. Also, even if you've got rosin core solder, you need flux. Liquid or paste flux should be fine, but make sure it's for electronics and not plumbing, some of that stuff has nasties in it.

4. The key to fine soldering is judicious amounts of flux.

I've numbered your points.

1. +1
2. +1

3. Wrong. if you have flux cored solder you don't need extra flux as long as you solder correctly and apply the solder to the joint, not as a lot of people do, apply solder to the tip and then try and transfer it to the joint. By the time you get the joint hot the flux has burned off.

4. Wrong again. The key to good soldering is cleanliness, and good technique (see 3.). Make sure that everything is clean before attempting to solder. It is far easier than trying to clean it up after you have tried and failed to get a good joint. I use an old typist's eraser (a sand loaded eraser that looks like a pencil, but I suspect these went out when computers came in). A fibreglass brush is supposed to be a good but I have never tried one.

Also don't try to be all green and use lead free solder, it is not for the beginner.

[spacebassed]

The temperature controlled units sense the temp at the tip and keep it at that temp - so if you were soldering pot cases or just working fairly quickly the tip on a non-temp controlled unit would quickly begin to cool off - which will affect your solder joints, the temp controlled units sense the temp at the tip so when it starts to cool off it sends more heat to the tip keeping it at the specified temp at all times. This, IMHO, is VERY noticable, and make soldering far less frustrating and more enjoyable - I find myself
LOOKING for things to solder now that I have my Hakko FX888 (my jazz bass is getting a series/parallel switch as soon as the push/pull pot arrives).

That Atten that I linked to is a great value, but if you bought the Hakko and you decided that soldering just wasn't your thing, you could sell it for not much less than you paid for it - they hold their value very well.

[delta7fred]

If you are going to do a lot of soldering then a temperature controlled iron is best, not essential but preferable.

For the occasional joint the variable power irons are fine as long as you don't try and substitute good technique with more heat, you will just end up melting things if you do.

If you do get a variable power iron get some practice on something old that doesn't matter to get the feel of the dial before you attack your bass with it. The bigger the things you are trying to solder the more power you will need as the heat will be conducted away faster.

[Turock]

I use the Hakku 936 clone from web-tronics.com

[zachoff]

I have this one & it works fine...
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...30-103513711-2

[tjh]

I have the Team Checkpoint TC-950 left over from my Radio Control hobby days ... I had heard that it may have been made by Hakko ... I would +2/+3/+4 all the suggestions above to get a quality temperature controlled solder station the first time, and be done ... I struggled for years with the cheap little irons that I now have hanging on the wall taking up space ... now the solders are quick and clean.. night and day difference .. JMHO

[Zoomie]

I just received the new Hakko FX 888 digital. I needed a good iron for both bass electronics in addition to just starting to build a few pedal kits.

Can't wait to fire it up tonight to install a pair of Dimarzio J's in the Statatory Grape Jazz.

[grendle]

for home use just about any basic mid size (40 watt or so ) iron will work just fine. Any thing more than that is really overkill. get rosin core solder at any radio shack, they have irons there that will work perfectly also. an adjustable temp iron is cool but not needed. The better the iron the more expensive the tips as well. We use RF irons here for work, their great & expensive but we make a living with them. Learning to solder is far more important than having an expensive iron imo.

[DieterVDW]

Isn't this a light case of consumerism... ?

I mean to solder some guitar electronics basically anything that gets the solder melted seems to do the job for me?
I even do PCB soldering with a 5 euro gas soldering iron, works perfectly...
It's not like it has to be within 10 degrees tolerance or something right? As long as the solder melts and the PCB doesn't, thats fine right?
And you can pretty easily judge the heat of the soldering iron by just monitoring how fast the solder melts in my opinion...

[DieterVDW]

Originally Posted by zachoff

I have this one & it works fine...
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...30-103513711-2

I bought the exact same one for 15 euro's here ...
Don't use it anymore though, the stiff cord annoys me too much...

[UncleFluffy]

Nothing under 40W if you're planning to solder to the back of pots, preferably 60.

Weller and Hakko are both solid brands. I just upgraded from a Weller WES51 to a Aoyue 2702A. That's probably overkill for what you're looking to do, but it's looking like a fairly solid piece of gear so that might be another brand to look at.

+1 on the WES51 being a good iron, recommended.