Soldering Iron Recommendations?

When I got out the Weller, it was the first time in more than a year ;-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

snipped-for-privacy@Hovnanian.com...

...

"The Twilight Zone" -

Brings tears to my eyes just reading the synopsis. Poor ol' Mr. Bemis!

Thanks, Rich

I didn't know how lucky I was until I began to grow longsighted in my late 40s. Before that, I could focus from infinity down to perhaps 3 inches. I could count individual dots on a glossy magazine cover without any difficulty and also read typewritten text from 15 ft across a dimly lit room. Now I can read a newspaper without glasses by holding it at least 10 inches away, but can only do it comfortably in good light.

Ain't it great aging gracefully ;>)

If the first attempt at making a drawing board had been a failure, what would they go back to?

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Paul Hovnanian     mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com
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p,

tage

I use a second-hand Metcal STSS power unit with a new MX-500 handpiece and cartridges. It cost me =A3125, including six cartridges.

Leon

Years ago I bought a cheap soldering gun (god only knows why!), a few weeks later someone donated a nearly new genuine Weller - I can't recall ever having used either!

Yes I remember when Weller irons were worth having (a very long time ago).

A company I worked for bought out a competitor and dumped all the stuff they didn't want in a spare loading bay with a sign; "help yourself". - I grabbed a large box of Weller irons that had been taken apart and not put back together.

That collection lasted me many years, but as the spares got older and scruffier it got harder to maintain a reliable iron - so I bought a brand new one.

By this time Weller had become Cooper Tools and quality had gone down the gurgler. In the new iron, the thermostat went S/C in less than 2 weeks - Cooper Tools sent me a replacement FOC - which lasted almost a month before going S/C and burning out the element.

After buying a new element, I decided not to let that happen again, so I modified an old stat with an opto-interrupter to detect the position of the curie-magnet pushrod. With suitable circuitry to control a triac in the base unit I got a few more years out of it before the cheaper plating on the tip caused a tip to burst with copper oxide inside the element tube - making it impossible to remove without destroying the element.

The only problems I've had with Antex irons is the very fine element wire can be susceptible if your local supply has bad spikes - but it wasn't just irons suffering damage until I installed spike suppressors.

110V versions would probably be much more robust in this regard.

The other problem is they can snap if dropped, but the only time I've had that happen, the lead was coiled up around the handle.

They are not bad for checking EMI immunity. ;-)

I used Weller guns for decades, back in the tube days. I bought the first in '66 and still have a couple. I put a 12 foot coiled AC cord on one of them that was kept at the bench. They were used on service calls where you didn't have time to wait for a soldering iron to heat up, then cool down.

I also have a Wen soldering gun like this:

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Greed is the root of all eBay.

Jim's stone tablets and chisels, of course! ;-)

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Greed is the root of all eBay.

On a sunny day (Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:36:53 -0500) it happened Spehro Pefhany wrote in :

I did that by switching the Weller on/off, one could make a PC crash with it. (back EMF transformer). I have a much better one now:

Just got some new tips. Temperature control is excellent too. Auto switch off if you forget it. Been in use now for many years! And was a fraction of teh price of a Weller. The old Weller element broke down (really Weller is a piece of shit if you look at the construction) and the only part left is that transformer with the big back EMF. Soldering guns should be outlawed in electronics :-)

The other thing is I used Weller tips at 370°C, but now I solder 60/40 with

320°C, tips live longer.

For the price it sounds good. Looks like it has a small handle, but my Weller may be smaller, and its 80 WATTS.

greg

I have never before owned a soldering station with a temperature control. What's the best setting (60%Sn/40%Pb)? ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Better to use 63Sn 37Pb (eutectic) rather than 60/40-- it doesn't go through 'mushy' on the way from liquid to solid.

I generally use around 600°F. The WES51 auto-shutoff is a nice feature compared to the older WTCPN- it detects inactivity and shuts down after a delay.

My all-time favorite is a Weller EC1302B iron, next choice is the EC1201 for the larger stuff. There are several stations that will run these irons. You can still get cord sets, temp sensors and heating elements as replaceable parts for the irons. The tips are ingeniously simple and quite durable. I don't like their platings as much for lead-free, they need a lot of re-tinning.

But, these are getting quite obsolete, too, so I am moving over to the Weller WSL box and the WMP micro pencil. The tips are reasonable, the heat flow is pretty awesome, I go from 0.4 mm lead pitch micro soldering to fooling with wide ground planes and such with the same iron.

I demand a digital temp readout, so cheapy stations are not useful to me. You can get good stuff on eBay with a little patience.

Jon

Whew, glad you are coming in from the dark ages! I generally use 650 F for general work, but in cases of really fragile boards or parts, will turn it down to 600 F. 63/37 solder melts at 424 F, but you need to account for thermal resistance in the tip and heat sink effects at the joint. Also, it is often better to run the iron a bit hotter and get the soldering work done quickly than run the iron at the bare minimum temp and have to heat the joint for a LONG time to get the solder to melt.

For lead-free work, I have to run the iron at about 700 F for light stuff, and 750 where heavy traces and power components sink the heat away.

Jon

From the mid '60's onward I always had a technician, so I did very little soldering, except maybe patching a breadboard.

So my own tools see rare use only for my "G-job" projects.

Not that I've lost the skills... I hung out in my Dad's TV repair shop from around age 12, and I tech'd in MIT's Building 20 MHD Lab for 4 years for income needs not covered by my scholarship.

I have several BIG spools of 60/40 dating from late '80's ;-) ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

I've got the 15845 TL and love it. Even got to crank it up to max to solder two heat sink posts to a board today.