soldering iron advice.

[mercyfulfate]

i have an old radio shack iron and im wanting to upgrade.

im looking at the weller 25 watt iron with a few accessories. it has the fine point tip as well as a few others.
the radio shack iron is a switchable 15-30 watt iron. it does pretty good on the 30 watt setting but the weller im looking at is a 25 watt.

i mainly do effects pedals and the like.


would the weller 25 watt be as good as the radio shack 30 watt i have? and is a 40 watt too much?


thank you.

[mercyfulfate]

anyone?

[twabelljr]

    CAUTION: This is just MY opinion.

Depending on your budget, if you can afford a station with temperature adjustment controls (digital or analog), go with that.

Next, there are irons where the temperature is controlled by the tip. I would recommend this as your next choice. A 600 deg. F. tip would be a good start.

Lastly, any decent 25-35 watt iron with interchangable tips will do just fine.

The key is to shop around online. You can find some good sales most of the time. Just do a search for blah blah soldering iron and go from there. Also, do a search for soldering iron here at this forum. There has been alot of good advice given on this subject in the past. Have fun shopping, TWA.

[gulliver]

25watts seems low. I have a Radio Shack 20/40, and the 20 isn't hot enough for modding pedals; at least with my tip and way of soldering.

[MartyB]

http://store.yahoo.com/webtronics/aueltecosost.html

[$uperpuma]

http://cgi.ebay.com/WLC100-WELLER-TEMPERATURE-CONTROLLED-SOLDERING-STATION_W0QQitemZ4451724446QQcategoryZ46413QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I recently got this one and the ST7 tip. Works like a champ.

[Alex C]

This topic has been thoroughly covered in many threads (I don't mean to sound harsh, just letting you know there is a lot of info available    ).   The consensus seems to be that a good-quality yet inexpensive soldering station with temperature control is the way to go.  The  Xytronics AUTO-TEMP 379 that Marty mentioned is a favorite of many around here, and I can personally vouch for it; it's wonderful. 

Here are some links to threads discussing recommendations for soldering irons and stations:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=41150.0
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=25852.0
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=16220.0
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=19096.0
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=15940.0
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=23073.0
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=36061.0
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=21679.0
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=31611.0

Hope these help, and good luck with whatever you choose.
(Go with Xytronics!)

[dosmun]

Circuit specialists have some nice stations that are priced very well.
I got this one and have been very happy with it.
http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/7307