Soldering station temp

[Truktek2]

I did a search, but was unable to find any information. I've been using a 30 watt iron to do all my soldering, but have recently acquired a soldering station. My question is, what temp do you guys usually keep it at for optimum results without frying components? It goes from 400 to 900 degrees.Thanks peeps.

 

[FunkMetalBass]

I believe 30W is right around 430C/800F.

When soldering a to a board, I use my 30W iron. When soldering pots and general components inside of basses and guitars, I use my 40W iron (~460C/860F). Good technique and you wont burn anything. Components inside of the average guitar are pretty resilient.

 

[SGD Lutherie]

I keep mine set to around 750°F. Sometimes I lower it a little, like when soldering to Bourns pots, because you can damage them with too much heat. For stuff like that I bring it down to about 400°F.

 

[thatbasskid597]

^^Which soldering station do you use?

 

[Truktek2]

Thanks for all the responses guys. A coworker was getting rid of a barely used hakkon 936. I don't know much about it, but it seems to have positive reviews. I'm looking forward to squandering my time soldering needlessly

 

[SGD Lutherie]

^^Which soldering station do you use?

I use an Aoyue 936, which is a clone of the Hakko. It's made in the same factory as the Hakko, but has a 30 watt tip instead of a 60 watt.

Link Removed

Truktek2, the Hakkos are very good soldering stations.

 

[grinx]

pardon slight hijack

many moons ago i bought a soldering iron to keep in my gig bag for emergencies. have never used it. it is 15w. can i use that for normal soldering projects? is less watts better than more watts (i.e. a noob can do less damage?).

thanks

 

[Lo-E]

I usually run my iron in the mid 600s - it's an analog solder station, so the meter's not that accurate. I'll only turn it up higher if I need the extra heat for big terminals or to ground the back of pots. For that I'll increase it to the mid 700s.

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

pardon slight hijack

many moons ago i bought a soldering iron to keep in my gig bag for emergencies. have never used it. it is 15w. can i use that for normal soldering projects? is less watts better than more watts (i.e. a noob can do less damage?).

thanks

The problem that you can face, when using a lower power iron, is that you end up heating a larger area, before you get to the point where the solder melts (as the heat is conducted away).

 

[nashvillebill]

Exactly, as mohawk said. If you are using an iron that's too cold then you have to hold the iron on the solder joint for a long period of time. That lets heat flow into other areas that you don't want to heat up.

I prefer to have my iron set pretty hot, heat it up quickly, and move on.

And trying to use a 15 watt iron for large components (power switches, etc) will be an exercise in futility...

 

[12bass]

How hot? Hot enough to make the solder flow easily. If the temperature is too low, you may actually use more overall heat in trying to get the parts up to the solder's melting point. If the iron is too hot, the tip will wear out more quickly. I generally keep my Hakko 936 in the 400 - 425C zone, higher if trying to solder something really big.

 

[Passinwind]

How hot? Hot enough to make the solder flow easily. If the temperature is too low, you may actually use more overall heat in trying to get the parts up to the solder's melting point. If the iron is too hot, the tip will wear out more quickly. I generally keep my Hakko 936 in the 400 - 425C zone, higher if trying to solder something really big.

+1

I had a 936 for many years, and stupidly never bothered to buy any other size tips for it -- just used the default 1.6mm one the whole time. My new Hakko 888 came with 5 different tips, plus I bought a couple more for SMT work. It makes a huge difference, and now I find myself sometimes running much lower heat but still getting equal or better results to what I got from the 936 cranked way up.

 

[12bass]

Interesting... bought a few narrower tips for SMT work, but found myself going back to the original (which is still fine, BTW!). Though a bit big/clumsy, it just seems to work better on the 936, IME. With a narrower point, I found that I had to pump up the temperature. Maybe the newer units have better temperature control?

 

[Passinwind]

Interesting... bought a few narrower tips for SMT work, but found myself going back to the original (which is still fine, BTW!). Though a bit big/clumsy, it just seems to work better on the 936, IME. With a narrower point, I found that I had to pump up the temperature. Maybe the newer units have better temperature control?

The 888 is in fact slightly higher wattage, so it has more thermal reserve, but I neglected to clarify that I got those results by going bigger, not smaller, on tip size. 3.2mm seems really nice for jacks and pot bodies, but I still have 4mm and 5mm tips to try out when I finally get back into my shop one of these days. I gave the guy who bought my 936 a couple of bigger tips as part of the deal, and I think he's settled on 3.2 as his go-to size. I'm liking 2.4 for all around use so far with the 888.