HeadWize: DIY Workshop > soldering iron

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DIY Workshop » soldering iron - 15 or 30W?
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ballena

Member

Joined: Oct. 25, 2001
Locale: east coast, usa
Total Posts: 9

Message [#1] posted on: 11-06-2001 12:46 AM CST (US).

Hello,
I'm a newbie about to make my first cmoy amp and I need advice on buying a soldering iron. What is the best wattage iron to purchase? I checked the archive, but didn't find a satisfying answer. <confused>

I've got Hansen PCB boards on the way, but I also want to tinker around with other layouts on perf or pc board. Should I go with the dual wattage version (15-30W) from Radio Shack? RS 64-2055.

Thanks for the help. <smile>

Nisbeth

HeadWizer

Joined: Oct. 15, 2000
Locale: Denmark
Total Posts: 229

Message [#2] posted on: 11-06-2001 09:02 AM CST (US).

Don't know the particular iron you're referring to, but IMO the availability of replacement tips is more important than wattage. It doesn't matter if your soldering iron is 15 or 50 Watts, you need small tips for it and you need to be able to get new ones when the old ones wear out. If you can't get these the iron is useless anyway.

Just my 2 cents!
/Uffe

tangent

Headphone Council

Joined: Aug. 27, 2001
Locale: Aztec, NM
Total Posts: 1821

Message [#3] posted on: 11-06-2001 04:17 PM CST (US).

I've had bad luck with Rat Shack pencil irons. They make the tips out of cheap metal, so that after you clean them on a wet sponge enough times, the metal gets hardened, then brittle, and finally starts breaking up. The tips also tend to get rough easily, and the tips are duller than a sharpened pencil. (I mean the taper of the tip, not the sharpness of the extreme point.)

I have a bunch of other irons whose brand I forget, which I bought at a local independent electronics supply house. I think it's something like Philmore (?) Another is marked "SHH". They've never given me any trouble. They also heat up a lot quicker than the RS ones, the tips are clearly superior, and they really aren't any more expensive. About $9 for the pencils. The temp-controlled iron was relatively expensive, of course -- a bit over $100.

rohitbd

HeadWize Fanatic

Joined: Aug. 27, 2001
Locale: India
Total Posts: 431

Message [#4] posted on: 11-07-2001 06:04 AM CST (US).

A 15-25W soldering iron is more than sufficient for light electronic work - the kind that's done here...and higher powers are not recommended, u risk damaging components/PCB. Irons of 30W or more are needed only for soldering large copper areas...

fredfindling

Member

Joined: Nov. 14, 2001
Locale: Crowley, LA, US
Total Posts: 2

Message [#5] posted on: 11-14-2001 01:12 AM CST (US).

I agree with Nisbeth that tip selection and availability is
probably the most important thing. If you plan on doing a LOT
of soldering, don't scrimp on an iron. I've used 24V Weller
irons for years and they worked fine for me. Low voltage irons
cost considerably more than line voltage irons if only because
the added cost of the power supply for them. But the advantage
to them is the ability to control the heat with the power supply.
Although a lot of stuff is surface mount these days, back in
the days where components were "lead through" with double sided
boards with plated through holes, the trick was being able to
lift a component off a board without the "plate through"
section of the board foil coming off stuck to the component
lead. So good heat control was necessary to prevent this from
happening. In most cases, it wasn't a big disaster when it
happened, you just had to remember to solder the replacement
on BOTH sides of the board, but it was annoying. I also avoided
using solder suckers because they could often pull the foil off
a board. I generally used wick which works well as long as don't
let heat concentrate too much around small areas of the board.
If you don't do enough soldering to justify the investment in a
low voltage setup, probably any good quality iron in the 25 to
40 watt range will be fine as long as you can replacement tips
of various types for it and possibly replacement heating elements. Tip selection is probably more a question of personal
preference, I like tapered conical tips that come to a fine
point, others like blunter "screwdriver" type tips for doing
the same type of job. Everybody develops their own technique,
so you have to experiment and see what you like best.

...Fred

Tomo

Headphone Council

Joined: May 4, 1999
Locale: Tokyo Japan
Total Posts: 2057

Message [#6] posted on: 11-14-2001 06:28 AM CST (US).

Hello,

You should get irons with ceramic heater. It will cost bit more but it is tougher and more efficient. After melting solder, tip temperature drop very little and recover very quickly.

Tomo

damonpip

Headphone Council

Joined: N/A
Locale: N/A
Total Posts: N/A

Message [#7] posted on: 01-08-2003 03:46 PM CST (US).

Hey, I know this is posted a VERY long time from the start of this thread, but I have around $100 Hakko 929 Temp controlled soldering stations that I got when a company near me went out of business. These stations sell for around $250 new but I'll sell them for $50 + shipping to anyone that wants one.

fa-schmidt

Headphone Council

Joined: Dec. 7, 2001
Locale: Siegen, Northern Rhine, Germany
Total Posts: 2635

Message [#8] posted on: 01-08-2003 07:03 PM CST (US).

damonpip:
Can you give some details on the Hakko 929, please ?

Fixup