How important is a variable temp soldering iron?

[adds2one]

I am looking for peoples opinions about soldering irons.

How important do you think it is to get a variable temp soldering iron?

Also I have noticed some soldering irons advertised as "lead free" soldering irons. I understand that with the RoHS standard coming into effect that there is a move to use products that do not contain substances such as lead. But to use lead free solder do you need a different kind of soldering iron? I think the answer is no but I wanted to confirm.

Thanks for your ideas. 

[bancika]

I never had one, I solder everything with my 35w pen iron And it works...for stomboxes and tube amp I built

[Peter Snowberg]

Welcome to the forum.

The magic term is "active temperature control" and that usually comes along with variable temperature.

A decent active variable temperature control iron runs about $40 at Circuit Specialists and for how much a decent iron helps as a tool, it doesn't make sense to me to not get one. Picture trying to learn to ski with old fence boards instead of real skis. Maybe the comparison isn't that bad, but a good iron and 63/37 solder make soldering about as easy as it can get.

Tools that are less than optimal will always hold you back in some way.

I wouldn't worry about a lead free iron unless you live in the EU, in which case lead-free will be the only option.

[bwanasonic]

Of course you don't need a variable temp iron, but once you use one, I doubt you'd want to go back to using a standard iron. As Peter said, I don't see the point of not using one, as they are so reasonably priced, and perform so much better. I'm still unclear on the whole lead-free thing thing. ExpressPCB has gone lead-free with their mini-boards, so I'll need to find out what it means for me.

Kerry M

[adds2one]

How often do you make use of the variable temperature feature?

In what situations is it useful.

I really appreciate your input.

Thanks.

[Peter Snowberg]

I use it all the time.

Small traces, delicate parts, and phenolic PCBs all require a little less heat.

Soldering to a jack, or the back of a pot, or a place on a PCB with lots of copper attached takes a little more heat.

If you don't have control of the temperature, the only way to vary the heat application is with the amount of time the iron is in contact with the work. That works for most things once you have the feel of it but it's harder in the beginning.

One really cool thing about an active temp control iron is that if you try to solder something with lots of mass, the element will come on and heat the whole mass more to try to hit the set temperature. It's like the iron is auto-adjusting to whatever your work mass is. These irons would burn up if the element was on all the time. To control the heat, these irons run at 100% part of the time and the rest of the time they're off. These elements are capable of getting much hotter than the ones in uncontrolled irons.

With a regular iron, the tip will cool off if you touch a large mass and you can get some messy joints. The same is true of variable temp irons without active temp control... they'll cool off as you touch the iron to larger connections, but the recovery time will be much longer than an uncontrolled iron because it's not running at 100%.

Several people here have this iron and say very good things about it. 
http://www.web-tronics.com/aueltecosost.html

[D Wagner]

Several people here have this iron and say very good things about it. 
http://www.web-tronics.com/aueltecosost.html

I have been using the Xytronic temperature controlled soldering station that Peter recommended for over two years, now.  It is a good deal for the money.  I am going to pick up this CSI soldering station this weekend.  http://www.web-tronics.com/cispdeesdsas.html
It is $5 cheaper, and has the option of adding SMD tweezers, or easily replacing the irons.  I wish that I had thought of that when I bought the first one.  Either way, you would be hard pressed to find a better temperature controlled soldering station for the money.

Derek

[adds2one]

Great info.

What are SMD tweezers? What are they for?

[bancika]

For placing SMD components, I guess.
I don't think you'll need that any time soon

[Dragonfly]

Of course you don't need a variable temp iron, but once you use one, I doubt you'd want to go back to using a standard iron.

Kerry M

AMEN !   I find the variable temp irons ESPECIALLY useful if you're working with germanium transistors....

I LOVE my Weller iron...

AC

[pjwhite]

I've been using a temperature controlled (but not variable temperature) Weller WTCPT or the earlier model equivalent soldering station for 25 years now.  I have always used a 700 degree tip, though with the new lead free solders starting to come into widespread use, I may have to switch to an 800 degree tip eventually.
Before I was introduced to this technology, I used cheap Radio Shack soldering irons or a soldering gun.  I soon realized that these are bascially toys and not suitable for any kind of professional electronic assembly.

[Dave_B]

Before I was introduced to this technology, I used cheap Radio Shack soldering irons or a soldering gun.  I soon realized that these are bascially toys and not suitable for any kind of professional electronic assembly.

I had the same experience with the RS irons over the years.  YYMV, but I've had much better luck since inheriting a good quality, temp controlled / variable temp iron several years ago.   

[Peter Snowberg]

...I am going to pick up this CSI soldering station this weekend.  http://www.web-tronics.com/cispdeesdsas.html
It is $5 cheaper, and has the option of adding SMD tweezers, or easily replacing the irons.  I wish that I had thought of that when I bought the first one.  Either way, you would be hard pressed to find a better temperature controlled soldering station for the money.

Derek

Cool!, please give us a full report report. I don't believe they had that one available two years ago.

I don't remember who recommended that one first, but I think B Tremblay & Doug Hammond (among others) have them and have said good things.

I love this one: http://www.web-tronics.com/eltemconesds1.html I've had this model for almost 20 years now. The first unit lasted more than 18 years with lots of abuse.

[petemoore]

  RS Iron only makes sense if you do very little soldering and have like one thing to do and need it done yesterday.
  For heavier mass joining you may notice the little iron runs out of steam too easily.
  Otherwise their short lived tips and selves wear out quickly enough that the extra ~30 buxx literally pays for itself, not only does the reliability go up [I've gone through enough RS irons and tips to have bought a nice TC'd iron], you don't have to change tips [about 2-3 tips for one iron, tips look 'decayed' after 1 medium project]...on and on...
 

[brett]

Hi

you don't have to change tips [about 2-3 tips for one iron, tips look 'decayed' after 1 medium project]..

Yeah.  You at least need plated tips.  My current iron is a 25W cheepie, but it has a plated tip and has made a dozen projects or more and still looks like new.
After a hundred stompboxes, several solid state amps and three valve amps I'm really looking forward to a soldering station...
cheers   

[Dave_B]

  RS Iron only makes sense if you do very little soldering and have like one thing to do and need it done yesterday.
  For heavier mass joining you may notice the little iron runs out of steam too easily.
  Otherwise their short lived tips and selves wear out quickly...

That's been my experience.  I've probably bought eight or nine of those RS Irons over the years, and that's with some really long gaps of inactivity.

[petemoore]

  RS irons make sense to buy if...
  You have a little bit of light soldering to do.
  You don't care about ~10 buxxs, you need any iron NOW.
  You don't have ~40 buxxs at any one time.
  You don't know what you're doing...
  The fine tip and heat work 'good' when new, they become old very fast tho.
  An Improved iron will work better, last longer, be less trouble, and pay for itself in short enough order...if you use it 'some'...