I'm in need of a new soldering iron / station and pretty new to it in general. Any tips on what to get for $50 or less? I'll mostly be soldering small components and batteries (connectors mostly). Any help as to what solder is best (Is rosin core good enough?) and what station is best as well as any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated.
Actually same here, if anyone knows of a good electronics soldering kit, that would be terrific.
Don't know if your stateside, but radioshack has them for pretty cheap - usually $8-15. They just don't have sponges with them. SPonges are real cheap to come across, or just use an old towel or anything really. The solder itself is usually about $4 for a roll with rosin core.
Get a decent soldering station with temperature control (a must have), brands like Weller, ERSA, Toolcraft / Atten, Hakko, Duratool and Pace are usually a good bet, you want to pick one with a good selection of additional tips and replacement heaters as well.
Get a small 0.8mm chisel tip for general work and a larger 2mm tip for bigger jobs, if possible make sure your station is compatible with 900M hakko tips since you can get them real cheap from ebay, several brands use them as well.
As for solder you really want to buy the decent stuff, avoid ultra cheap solder from places like ebay and make sure it's 60/40 or 63/37 (if you can find it), avoid lead free at all costs.
If you solder a lot of wires and older stuff that may be oxidized you may want to pick up some flux, unlike solder the cheap stuff works great when it comes to flux, I recommend [url]http://dx.com/p/just-works-colophony-soldering-paste-4697[/url] real cheap just dissolve it in IPA overnight and you have excellent flux, same applies to solder wick as well get the cheapest you can find and soak it in some flux, ends up as good as the expensive stuff.
Also forgot to mention, get the smallest diameter solder you can find, personally I use 0.5mm and I still sometimes find that to be too large, a good soldering job requires the application of just the right amount of solder, 100g should last you a good long while.
If you need more help just tell us where you prefer to shop.
As for tips and tricks I can suggest:
Make sure you place the solder directly on to the component lead being heated rather than the tip.
Keep the tip clean by wiping it on a damp sponge, add some solder to the tip every 10 minutes or so to avoid oxidization.
Don't dip the tip in flux or any other liquid or plastic.
Keep the temperature set high enough to liquefy the solder within a second or less but not too high.
Turn the temperature down when idle for a long period.
Don't apply pressure with the iron, at minimum it will cause increased tip wear, worst it may fracture the heating element.
If the solder is not flowing well try increase the heat or change position, additional flux may be needed in some cases.
Put extra solder on the tip to increase heat transfer, particularly when trying to solder a joint your can't get to well.
Use croc clips / 3rd hand systems to keep your stuff in place, it helps a lot in particular when soldering wires.
For desoldering two lead components the easiest method is to grip the component and pull while heating both pads, some sideways movement may help as well, watch out for burns!
Use a desoldering pump to remove the majority of old solder and use wick to finish, some things my be very difficult to desolder even with the best of methods.
Also there is a thread on electronics in the programming section if your interested:
[url]http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1207850[/url]
I feel like such a scrub now. I recently bought an electronics soldering iron for like 12 bucks from the local builders market and used an old mirror as a "working station" since it cleans really well.
I managed to repair my earphones but now it looks like I fucked up everything that could be fucked up :(
[QUOTE=Killuah;38573653]I feel like such a scrub now. I recently bought an electronics soldering iron for like 12 bucks from the local builders market and used an old mirror as a "working station" since it cleans really well.
I managed to repair my earphones but now it looks like I fucked up everything that could be fucked up :([/QUOTE]
Those cheap plug-it-in soldering irons are good for simple tasks like joining wires and stuff, but for soldering components to PCB's you'd require something a bit more advanced.
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