Solder and Iron

[Scummer]

Weller makes good soldering irons for the price.
I'd recommend a 25W Weller for the beginner.

Thomas

[510rob]

My recommendation is to buy a Weller WTCPT Temperature Controlled Soldering Station. They are the Porsche 911 of industrial soldering irons...

[Peter Florance]

That's been the iron I used for years until I got the JBC AD2200 station for Xmas. Love the temp regulation and the heat.
 
The Xytronic that Howard sells works pretty well, gets hot enough for lead-free solder (if you insist on using it), about 35% the cost of a Weller station and the plating on their Japanese made tips lasts MUCH longer than the Weller tip (we still use 2 stations at work).
Something happened about the time Cooper bought Weller; since then the tip plating hasn't been as durable. Plato tips are a little better (available at Contact East and other tool suppliers).
 
 
If money is not an object, try the JBC. It's everything I loved about my Weller and much more.
 
Peter Florance
Owner - First Fives.Org - The E12 Registry
1981 Euro BMW 528i w/3.5L & Megasquirt Fuel Injection
1981 US BMW 528i "Repo Car"
http://www.firstfives.org
mailto:peter@firstfives.org (peter@firstfives.org)
ssr# 284
Posted by email.

[efahl]

Something I found I needed putting these kits together is a magnifying glass..

viewtopic.php?t=11266

(To save people some searching.)

[danielbal]

Has anyone tried the new cordless soldering irons?  The one in the new MCM catalog says it heats to 800F in one second and cools to room temp in two seconds or less.
Daniel
 
Posted by email.

[danielbal]

A cheaper solution is to get two pairs of reading glasses.  I normally use strength 2.5 (I am 55) for reading so I bought a pair of 3.0 for the soldering work.  For inspecting the work I stack my old 2.5 glasses on top of the 3.0 new one and it is as good as a magnifying glass.
Daniel
 
Posted by email.

[danielbal]

Sorry Lance, I didn’t mean to quote anything.  I forgot to erase the original message.  I will be more careful.
Daniel
 
Posted by email.

[Scummer]

My recommendation is to buy a Weller WTCPT Temperature Controlled Soldering Station. They are the Porsche 911 of industrial soldering irons...

Thats actually the station i have. Got mine on sale for 110$.
http://www.all-spec.com/cgi-bin/fccgi.e ... duct=WTCPT

Thomas

[Karch]

Can anyone tell me if this soldering iron/station is worth it?

I have a 15W pencil, but thought the price is ridiculous enough.

And to think I used to sell $250K/yr to Metcal.

http://www.mpja.com/productview.asp?product=15860+TL


Thanks.


-Karch

[Karch]

Does anyone have knowledge or can shed some insight to the above question regarding the very low price solder station?

Thanks.

[Bobzooki]

Hmm, I've got that Radio Shack soldering station, and have been using it at 300º C. So far, it's been working well.

[devilbrad]

Hmm, I've got that Radio Shack soldering station, and have been using it at 300º C. So far, it's been working well.

Ha, I was just gonna ask. I bought the same station today and found that the switch to change from fahrenheit to celsius isnt working, it only reads in celsius. I had mine at 300 degrees celsius and it seems to work perfect. I havent soldere in years so I also bought a little circuit board and some cheap resistors and sockets to practice with. I'm much more confident now. BTW, did the conversion, 300C is 572F.

[gielamonster]

I'm placing an order with HEI for some Xytronic 379s and just got off the phone with a customer service guy. I asked about the rumored "megasquirt discount" and sure enough there was one.

When you're looking at your shopping cart with a 379 in it, there will be a field called "Pricing Category" under the item list. Type in "megasquirt" and hit the 'recalculate total' button and you'll see the unit price on the 379 drop to $44.95, quantity discounts are subtracted from there.

I believe the pricing category "megasquirt" gives you a 10% discount on your entire order! Pretty sweet.

[gielamonster]

Used the 379 today for the first time. It F'n rules! I'm very happy with the quality of the machine, and the service and pricing from Howard Electronics was outstanding.

[canadian_psyko]

It seems to be that soldering stations are the commmon recommendation here, but I'm hoping to get a butane one for mobile work (read: in car wiring).


So....: Snap-on, butane

Think I could build MS2/V3/stim with it? Assuming I have no soldering experience, but lots of patience.

Next question: Which learning kit?
I'm thinking either C6491 Deluxe Learn to Solder Kit or K-6725-Deluxe Introduction to SMT Technology Course would be a good primer for MS.


Thanks

[Tjabo]

Is "solder wick" the same thing as "desoldering braid?" I went into radio shack today to get some of the necessary items to try and build a stimulator kit, and they had no idea what "solder wick" was. . .

I also got the .032" diameter rosin core solder, and a 25 watt soldering iron with a conical point for 8 bucks. Think that might be useable? I was planning to buy one of those Xytronics stations, but with some people using cheaper irons, and me not knowing whether I will really have the temperament for building a complex kit, I thought low-bucking it might not be bad at first.

A cheap Weller 25 watt iron was recommended to me, but I figured that this would be essentially the same. Am I wrong?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Thad

[Tjabo]

For anyone who might be reading this early on in his or her MegaSquirting experience, the answers to my questions were pretty much all covered in the materials linked to out of the soldering part of the assembly guide (as many undoubtedly knew, but are probably tired of saying!). If you thoroughly read those materials, you will be good to go, as has been told to me on here.

The specific answer to the "solder wick" question is that it is the same as the "desoldering braid" they sell at Radio Shack. I did get some, and only used it once on my Stim kit last night where I had kind of a fat glob of solder on a lead. Overall, everything was great! My 25 watt radio shack soldering iron worked well, but I think I might like one with a bit more power, as suggested in the "deployment guide."

On to a real MS kit!

Thad

[muythaibxr]

If you're going to be building a lot of megasquirts (for friends for example), you may want to consider a more expensive weller iron or something similar.... Those radioshack iron tips die very quickly.

[Tjabo]

I hear you MuyThai! I've got to go back and find out some more about "tinning," but I get the impression that you should be able to get the solder to sort of adhere to and coat the tip? I have had small areas on each of the cheap soldering iron tips I've used, including the Radio Shack cheapie. It appears to me that the surface of the cheap tips like that is just not consistent.

So, assuming that is true, would the better solution to being able to do some good, quick, soldering that doesn't heat up the components be to try out a Weller W60P like the guy who wrote the deployment guide likes, or to try out that Xytronics 379 station? That Xytronics is a nice looking station, and people seem to really like it, but if the W60P with the 700 degree tip is still a better quality piece that will work more consistently, would that be better?

Thanks for the help!

Thad

[gielamonster]

I've done about 250-300 joints since getting my 379 a month or so ago. The unit is outstanding. It reaches temperature really fast, and maintains it really well. You can dial the heat down to avoid cooking things, or crank it way up for thick wire or big heatsinks. The tip is in beautiful shape, a perfectly tinned cone area at the end. The pencil holder that comes with it is also very nice. Sturdy, no flimsy spring thing, and the brass-wool sponge is outstanding at cleaning the tip.

I can't say enough good things about the 379. And remember to type "megasquirt" when it asks for the pricing category, that gets you 10% off the whole order.