What solder tip do you like???

[6stringer]

Quick question:  What solder tip do you find works best for stompbox PCB board building?   and, what heat range(s) do you use
with your solder station?
Thanks!

[Peter Snowberg]

It all depends on what I'm building but usually that means a 1/32" chisel tip running at somewhere between 550 and 650 degrees fahrenheit. With really fine wire sometimes I'll use less and when soldering to the backs of pots or to jacks I'll turn it up a bit.

[Dr Ron]

After burning myself (the iron fell and I deftly catched it mid-air), I'm wondering about the new iron I see on infomercials that is cold to the touch.
Is it any good?

[Peter Snowberg]

Sorry to hear of your burn. 

A for "cold heat" turns up a bunch of posts. The conclusion; junk. There isn't any substitute for being careful or for real tools.

[petemoore]

  Here's my rundown on it, two methods...the first, best IMO...Nobody but me tries or likes it AFAIKT.
  The Second...I state reasons why you should try, and see no reason you shouldn't.
  1rst method:
  Stick the iron in a brick or mount it, I've never had an iron attempt to fall, I can bring the board to the tip very accurately and from any angle, quickly, also I have my hand on the board at that time and have developed component holding techniques...anywho...it:
  Never lets the iron drop to the floor
  Hasn't let the iron try to burn me
  I *think quickens the process of soldering
  Allows an exhaust tube to be mounted over the tip
  it DoesN't:
  Allow for easy access when doing 'in box' connections, for that I remove the wedge and iron, solder, return the iron to the brickhole.
  Here's the second technique, great thing to try:
  *Drape the irons supply cord so the iron can't hit the ground...instead of breaking or burning stuff, the iron will just hang  .
  It happens that sometimes the act of draping re-assures you at the critical split second decision of whether or not to try to catch the burning hot metal, allowing you to opt for the 'hang test'.
   This also keeps the cable from scraping parts from the bench to the floor, and keeps it out of the way .

[Gilles C]

I have and tried the Cold Heat soldering iron, and found it wasn't working well on pcbs. It doesn't make nice solders as with a normal soldering iron.

And I saw a site where the guy came to the same conclusion.

This site:

http://www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/cold-soldering.htm

Gilles

[sta63bmx]

This is like my iron, but with the separate stand/heating unit.  Mine has the stand in the heating unit, but they're both the same thing, 60W Weller WTCPT irons.  I use a 1/16" chisel tip.

http://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=10272&WT.mc_id=froogle

It's just on or off.  It's ok for soldering to pots, but for soldering to a pot, chassis, tremolo claw, etc. I usually use one of those little cheapo $5 butane torches.  The flame is nice and pointy, and I can make a joint really quickly without heating up the entire assembly waiting for the solder to flow.    I use fine (28 ga?) solder.  I like having the roll of solder mounted like a roll of TP so it's free to spin, and I like mounting it above my head over my bench so I can just pull it down and it keeps coming off the roll.

I also greatly prefer soldering with a westerly wind, when the gulls are carried out over the ocean towards the Old Country, and I do quite enjoy it best when the moon is just rising and the sun is sinking over the rise.  My retardation is apparently limitless, too.

[bancika]

Hmm...lets see.
My cheapo solder pen does not have temerature regulation, so it's only default.
About tip, I don't know about others but mine turns so dull after making only one pedal. I have to sharpen it all time. Like it's made out of solder lead, not copper

[markm]

A friend of mine picked up a ColdHeat.......
(sounds painful huh? )
Anyway in his words.....JUNK.
I never tried it but, I have to beleive him.
Seems like it would be prone to many cold solder joints.
    MarkM

[sta63bmx]

It sounds like, by definition, every joint with that thing is a cold solder joint, ho ho ho.

[Connoisseur of Distortion]

i don't have much faith in the ColdJoint Soldering System.

i borrowed one to repair a couple of broken wires in a guitar, but ended up with a strange 'balling' thing happening... the wires wouldn't stick together. one wire would have a big lump of solder, and one part of the solder would be smoothed by the edge of the wire.

i waited 'til i got home.

as for tips... i just use a 1/8th of 1/16th pencil tip. works great.

EDIT: that is, a 1/8th OR 1/16th pencil tip. a 1/128th would be great for surface mount, but i am not sure they're offered yet...

[petemoore]

I never tried it but, I have to beleive him.
Seems like it would be prone to many cold solder joints.
  I got one, took a second more to get both sides of the contact tip to conduct...tricky, but heats the joint up real fast, I used the touch/off/touch and it seemed to solder just fine...for a 'remote emergency' item...it's small, light and packs EZ, I was able to get fine looking joints with it, in fact the main trouble...once I got it 'rolling' was that it had a tendancy to overheat and the heat...being dependant on both contacts contacting, is best guaged by observing while soldering whether and how long the contact indicator light stays lit, weighing that in with the estimated thermal mass of the joint...not exactly easy to use but does function.
  For regular soldering a decent iron is the easiest to 'judge'.
  I'm still using a cheepy RS or my trusty big 50 cent 'Industrial Iron' with the 'handwound copper core wire tips', of course my soldering method is far from conventional.