Recommend me a soldering iron

[joe123]

Hi,

Can anyone reconmmend me a decent make for soldering irons? As I have a cheap 8 quid which is just difficult to use and looking to get myself a decent basis to upgrade AEG's on.

Cheers.

[druid799]

Re: Recommend me a soldering iron

Get a gas one , couldn't solder for s**t with an electric but for some un-know reason solder lovely with a gas one .

[Genista]

Re: Recommend me a soldering iron

Antex 25w with a medium bit (or whatever works for you)

[sparrowhawk]

Re: Recommend me a soldering iron

i had a cheap chinese electric which did the job,,,,sort of, for a couple of years...then it broke, so i got a draper gas,it seems alright,very fast to heat up,and an accurate, small tip....its a bit scary at first,but once you get over the shock of starting it up and you realise its not going to blow up, its a good little gadget

[Tariq182]

Re: Recommend me a soldering iron

My £8 iron from cheap online stores hasn't let me down yet.

Even managed to soldier an entire guitar effects pedal from bare components great with it. Gun soldering should be fine :P

[balaclava ben]

Re: Recommend me a soldering iron

anything over a tenner that has a needle tip, really essential to have a needle tip for all those tight spaces/solder joints you need to make when working on your guns

[jonny lovegrove]

Re: Recommend me a soldering iron

Iroda gas soldering iron from maplin. (not competition)
A variety of tips are sold there too, from blowtorches to hot knives. Its brilliant, runs on lighter gas. (or green if youre brave/stupid. (i had run out of butane)). And is has a pretty low gas consumption.

[archangel]

I would second the Iroda recommendation.

What you need to look for is an iron with the highest wattage you can find, if you can spring to something temperature controlled, even better. The wattage is the important bit as this allows the iron to heat up an area quicker, leading to less melting of parts you didn't/ shouldn't get hot. It also makes soldering larger connections and cables possible.

As for tip size, you should go for the largest you can fit into the space as this allows a faster heat transfer, meaning you get the job done quicker and melt less!

I don't think anyone has mentioned Weller soldering equipment, but I can recommend both their gas and electric irons, though if you buy the Weller gas irons, they work loads better with the Weller gas.

Later daze

Lee

[paulh]

Re: Recommend me a soldering iron

some one like maplins would be able to sell you a ajustable (sorry bad spelling ) would be better as you would be able to use it for all the jobs on a aeg from batts to motor and all the bits in between and if ness circut work as temp is ajustable around £20.00 pounds

[joe123]

Re: Recommend me a soldering iron

Looks like the sensible thing is take a visit to my local maplins... I'm guessing i can buy solder and heat shrink there too?

[gijohn2]

Re: Recommend me a soldering iron

A soldering iron preferable of any make...

[FunkycHUNKY]

Re: Recommend me a soldering iron

Or Halfords.

Got my Drapers 40w (Needs to be at least a 40w iron, i found 28 was not hot enough for deans). All i needed to do was to swap the nib bit round for a pointy one (costs nothing and takes 5 seconds).
My first iron I got from Maplins though, but I recomend don't skimp out on the cheapest, get a good quality one!

[archangel]

Re: Recommend me a soldering iron

Maplins is your (overpriced) friend!

http://www.maplin.co.uk/home-and-diy...older-stations

If you can spring to any of the irons on this page, you will be set for almost everything! For something you can take anywhere, the first one of the page works well. Or go for one of the proper soldering stations for home use.

For a gas iron look at:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/solderpro-12...iron-kit-35516

This includes solder and the hot knife attachment is useful for cutting webbing with.

Otherwise lower price ones are:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/30w-soldering-iron-45545

Have a look as they will usually do a starter pack with solder, tip cleaner (very important) and a stand. Also worth getting a solder pump as if you're learning!

[Crude Skinny B]

Re: Recommend me a soldering iron

i use the Dremel VersaTip has comes in handy for a lot of things, you can use it to solder, use it as a small blow torch etc comes with quite a few bits and heats up in a 10-15 seconds and the gas reservoir lasts a decent time. its about £30

[Genista]

Re: Recommend me a soldering iron

40w!! you're kidding!? 25w with a medium chisel bit is more than enough for deans & xt60's

If you insist on a pointed tip for deans than you are simply making life difficult. It's up to you of course......

An overly hot iron will not make up for poor soldering technique.