Looking for a real man's soldering iron.

[Thomas P.]

Looking for a real man's soldering iron....

a real mans iron?

learn to weld.

damn right

[Hiwatt25]

Okay, so you sold me on the soldering station.  Didn't realize I was going to be buying a new station today but (and I feel weird saying this) my Weller has been kinda inconsistent for a while.  I was using a Radio Shack model for a while and I could flow solder like nobody's business but for some reason with the Weller, I can't seem to keep the tips wetted or get solder to flow real consistently.  I've been building a while and like I said, the Radio Shack iron worked really well.  It's just so damned big and clunky and doesn't have a stand. 

I'm an oaf, I need a delitcate pencil.  Boy did that sound weird.

What's with the little copper brillo pad that comes with it?

[rockgardenlove]

Dunno, but did you ever get my email about the box templates?  I have a request.   

[geertjacobs]

At work everyone who needs it, has a Weller WS50 at his desk.
So I bought one being pretty sure it would be the last soldering iron I'd ever need.
Was 150 Euro's at the time (5 years ago or so), maybe you can find one cheaper now.

[rockgardenlove]

So, I'm springing for this one as it's affordable and seems nice:
http://circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/7501
Thanks for you guys who pointed it out.

I have some other questions though:
http://circuitspecialists.com/level.itml/icOid/6383
I've only used Smallbear's desoldering wick before.  What thickness do I want?  And does the brand really matter?

And what tips do you recommend? 
http://circuitspecialists.com/level.itml/icOid/27
I was thinking the pointiest one there, the B03, or maybe the B02.  Maybe the B02 would be better?

Thanks!

[markm]

I bought a couple of the standard tips as replacements just in case.
They'll be fine I'm sure as they look like a pencil point.

[ubersam]

I think several of us use this one:
http://circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/7501

+1 on that - I just got the exact one from Circuit Specialist a week ago and it maintains the temperature you set really well even when soldering pots and jacks. I can't believe it's only $40 and I spent another $10 and got the free multimeter with the transistor/diode/capacitor tester.

How is that DMM? Is it good enough for our purposes? My DMM is cr@pcerizing and that soldering station is looking mighty tempting. Although, I do already have two working irons, both Weller.

[markm]

I think several of us use this one:
http://circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/7501

+1 on that - I just got the exact one from Circuit Specialist a week ago and it maintains the temperature you set really well even when soldering pots and jacks. I can't believe it's only $40 and I spent another $10 and got the free multimeter with the transistor/diode/capacitor tester.

How is that DMM? Is it good enough for our purposes? My DMM is cr@pcerizing and that soldering station is looking mighty tempting. Although, I do already have two working irons, both Weller.

Don't know yet myself.....still waiting for the UPS man but, should be here Thursday! 

[phil]

How is that DMM? Is it good enough for our purposes? My DMM is cr@pcerizing and that soldering station is looking mighty tempting. Although, I do already have two working irons, both Weller.

Hi ubersam -  I'm really pleased with the DMM, but then my old DMM didn't have the Diode/Transistor tester and didn't measure capacitance so it's a real bonus for me to have those features on the free DMM. So far I haven't found anything about it to complain about and it seems very well constructed. I haven't actually used the Tester part of it yet, but I'll test some transistors and capacitors tonight and let you know how that works... If you have any specific questions about it I'll be happy to answer them if I can. All in all though I'm really happy with the DMM and I'm really thrilled with the temperature controlled Soldering Iron - it really speeds up connecting up the offboard stuff. I've never had a temperature controlled one before, so I never realized what a difference they make ...

[phil]

I have some other questions though:
http://circuitspecialists.com/level.itml/icOid/6383
I've only used Smallbear's desoldering wick before.  What thickness do I want?  And does the brand really matter?

And what tips do you recommend? 
http://circuitspecialists.com/level.itml/icOid/27
I was thinking the pointiest one there, the B03, or maybe the B02.  Maybe the B02 would be better?

Thanks!

I'm not really sure about the best desoldering wick size - I'm still on my original roll that I bought from Radio Shack a while ago so I'm not sure what the optimal thickness would be.

I had a lot of components in my order from them, and forgot to order extra tips so I'll wait until my next order, but I really don't think I'll need anything other than the standard tip for building effect pedals. In my next order I'll probably get another standard tip as a spare and the B03 just in case I need a finer point (like for soldering in tight places like vacumn tube socket for instance, or in case I ever want to work with SMD's) . Don't really see the need to get the B02 as it seems like the same thickness as the standard tip, just not as pointy.

[nightingale]

Hi Guys,
I bought the $70 dollar xytronic in 2004. I am a tech at a well known guitar shop in Boulder,Co. I have been using it every day since I bought it. I believe I am on my 2nd tip only! The old tech who used to work down the bench from me had a metcal, but he could not get it hot enough to solder wick the filter caps off of all of the damn powered speakers we see day in and out. He would always ask to borrow my Xy for those jobs [Keeping mind the metcals are made for surface mount type applications].  The nice thing about the metcals is that only a small portion of the tip is exposed, so you don't burn all the insulation off of transformer wires when you are in a chassis. It looks like circuit specialists has a Chinese knock off of a metcal tip sort of? http://www.web-tronics.com/lesostwdic.html

If you order from CS don't forget to get some of their cheap germ [1n34a] diodes, and their bag-o-100 -LED's  for $1.50 is ace too!

Hope this helps guys,
ry


FWIW I prefer #4 wick.

[Nikolay]

I use weller solder - the best solder ever made :
http://www.cooperhandtools.com/brands/weller/

My solder is like this:

[rockgardenlove]

Allll ordered.  There's 75 more bucks down the drain!   

[phil]

I bought the $70 dollar xytronic in 2004. I am a tech at a well known guitar shop in Boulder,Co. I have been using it every day since I bought it. I believe I am on my 2nd tip only!

Hi nightingale - Glad to hear you are happy with your xytronic! since you're only on your second tip, I wanted to find out how you take care of it so I could get some mileage out of each tip. Do you just use the Brass mesh to wipe off the tip between components, or do you use a wet sponge to clean the tip between soldering components? And do you tin it each time you put it away?

Thanks too for the tip about the $1.50 bag-0 100 leds - I'll include that on my next order!

ubersam - I used the DMM to check transistors, capacitors and diodes last night - works Great! the HFE is shown for transistors so could be useful. The one thing about the capacitor checker it only goes up to 32.6microfarads. There are 2 ranges .1 nf to 326 nf (with a resolution of .1nf) and 10nf to 32.6mf (with a resolution of 10nf). It'll work fine for most caps, but won't work for Electrolycs 33 mf and up. Still I'm quite pleased with it.

[ubersam]

ubersam - I used the DMM to check transistors, capacitors and diodes last night - works Great! the HFE is shown for transistors so could be useful. The one thing about the capacitor checker it only goes up to 32.6microfarads. There are 2 ranges .1 nf to 326 nf (with a resolution of .1nf) and 10nf to 32.6mf (with a resolution of 10nf). It'll work fine for most caps, but won't work for Electrolycs 33 mf and up. Still I'm quite pleased with it.

Thanks phil... my dying DMM does not even check caps or transistors, just resistance, voltage and current. The voltage part of the DMM is cr@pping out so it makes biasing FETs frustrating. I don't really need a new soldering iron and I am still content with what I have, but the Xytronic station is tempting me  maybe I should stop poking around the CS website and just look for a DMM 

[markm]

ubersam - I used the DMM to check transistors, capacitors and diodes last night - works Great! the HFE is shown for transistors so could be useful. The one thing about the capacitor checker it only goes up to 32.6microfarads. There are 2 ranges .1 nf to 326 nf (with a resolution of .1nf) and 10nf to 32.6mf (with a resolution of 10nf). It'll work fine for most caps, but won't work for Electrolycs 33 mf and up. Still I'm quite pleased with it.

Thanks phil... my dying DMM does not even check caps or transistors, just resistance, voltage and current.

Same here. 

[rockgardenlove]

I got some of those LEDs too, 200 for 3 bucks is a good deal.

What's this with the multimeter?  I already have a nice one with hFE, capacitance, inductance, all that jazz, so I don't even need a new one even though I ordered it.  Is it crapping out or something?

I was hoping to sell it.

[ubersam]

...What's this with the multimeter?  ...Is it crapping out or something?

I was hoping to sell it.

I was talking about my old DMM crapping out, not the one from Circuit Specialist.

[calpolyengineer]

That one from circuit specialists does get a lot of good press here, but I am disappointed that it doesn't have an SMD tweezer attachment. Does anyone know of a similarly priced, quality station that has optional SMD?

-Joe

[rockgardenlove]

Come to think of it I think maybe I should have gotten an SMD one too.