Help me choose a soldering iron

not_the_dj

Planning a pick-up change in one guitar, and adding covers to the humbuckers in another....so the time is right to get a decent soldering iron and learn to do all this stuff.

So what do I need? Links and recommendations please. Ideally not mega bucks but I don't want cheap and cheerful (got one of those). 

jd0272

Same boat, watching.

the_jaffa

Someone recommended this one to me a bit back.  I've not bought one yet so intrigued as to whether anyone has tried one and whether it would be a suitable option this kind of use.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121075114962?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

mike_l

I have a decent Sealey Iron. Not overly expensive either (Cost me around £20, but I work for a dealer)

 

timhulio

not_the_dj said:

adding covers to the humbuckers

You're going to need a bigger boat a higher powered soldering iron than that above. Much like soldering ground wires to the back of pots in a guitar, the humbucker cover and chassis dissipate the heat from your iron, so 50-60 watts probably won't be enough. The 60W 450°C solder station I use for pedal work is not fit for this purpose.

Perhaps get a decent solder station for fine work, and one of these bad boys for the humbucker covers:
http://www.toolbox.co.uk/draper-71419-100w-230v-3442-68315

NervousJohn

Or one of these kits?

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/csk100-universal-soldering-kit

4string

the_jaffa said:

Someone recommended this one to me a bit back.  I've not bought one yet so intrigued as to whether anyone has tried one and whether it would be a suitable option this kind of use.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121075114962?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

I have one of these and it is ok for guitar work and making the odd pedal. The tip of mine does come loose occasionally and has oxidized very quickly. I would recommend a tub of tip leaner or whatever it is called.

equalsql

I picked one of these up from Maplin last year and it's pretty good:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/60w-professional-lcd-solder-station-with-esd-protection-511927

For Maplin its a good price and I've used it for building both pedals and a point-to-point valve-amp...so plenty of heat is on tap if you need to solder the backs of pots etc.

OilCityPickups

I collect soldering irons and use em all.
60w needle tip for pickup eyelets (on the flatwork). 100w 'instant heat' soldering gun for 'pigtails' on humbucker bobbins. 100w and 150w angle tip irons for putting on pickup covers. A few spares ... and my latest addition, a butane powered hot air gun for shrink tube and melting the odd bit of potting. You can never have too many irons (in the fire or not).

timhulio

equalsql said:

I picked one of these up from Maplin last year and it's pretty good:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/60w-professional-lcd-solder-station-with-esd-protection-511927

For Maplin its a good price and I've used it for building both pedals and a point-to-point valve-amp...so plenty of heat is on tap if you need to solder the backs of pots etc.

This is the exact iron I use. It's pretty good (and Maplin currently have them marked down to £40, in the Tottenham Court Road branch at least) however it is not hot enough for the humbucker covers and definitely not hot enough for the backs of pots if you use lead-free solder.

timhulio

D'oh. It's only forty quid on the website too. It's a good solder station for the money.

GuitarMonkey

Watch out for Maplin. I bought a solder station from there about 10 years ago and they no longer supply replacement bits.  :x 

ThePrettyDamned

I got an 80 watt one from cash converters and it's fine for working on pots and for making a pedal. They do replacement tips for 2 quid for 5, too, and they're thinner which is nice.

I doubt it'll have the punch for a cover, but maybe they do an even more powerful one?

ToneControl

For any Maplin -type stuff, I have used CPC for 20 years

http://cpc.farnell.com/

they are so cheap for anything, usually half the Maplin price. Free postage over about £45, usually next day

in particular, their ready-made cables are really cheap (with neutriks, etc), also HDMI, USB, etc,

anyway:

http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/zd-929b-89-2926/soldering-station-esd-bs-plug/dp/SD01113

http://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/21-10115-uk/soldering-station-digital-esd-uk/dp/SD01738?in_merch=Featured

 

I have this one:

http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/zd-929c-89-2932/soldering-station-digital-bs-plug/dp/SD01116

I think I recall that you need a beefy one to solder onto pots. To solder a pickup cover would need even more watts, Somebody here will know more than me about that

 

 

OilCityPickups

As I said before, a bare minimum of 100w for pickup covers ... and it will also come in handy for stubborn pots
here's my 100w in action with a good old 50s table knife ... removing covers. In the background you will see a small pot of flux ... I never just trust the flux in cored solder for important jobs. Also my iron iron 'tip cleaner' ... very important to keep yer end clean (oooer).

JD50

Circuitspecialists.eu I bought my 50w solder station from them. It's really good but having read the above posts I now know why I'm having trouble soldering to the back of CTS guitar pots, looks like I will be getting a new 100watt iron for that job.

fretfinder

I have a 50w Weller iron and it does the back of pots fine.

timhulio

It must be more efficient than these others. Weller irons are pretty expensive, however.

ICBM

fretfinder said:

I have a 50w Weller iron and it does the back of pots fine.

And humbucker covers. 100W is probably easier but 50 is definitely enough.

I use these and the typical Antex/Maplin-type 18-25W ones for fine stuff. They don't last forever but they're cheap and they work well.

Danny1969

It's not so much watts the iron consumes that means much but how hot it gets and the size of the tip. For big work you use a bigger tip with a flatter shape. 

I use one of these for everything from surface mount work to large current switching components

There's actually no need to coat the back of pots with huge amounts of solder, it's not good for the life of the pot

OilCityPickups

Applying sufficient heat for the shortest possible time is the key for not damaging pickups when fitting covers, or indeed for soldering to pot backs. While it is possible to do these jobs with smaller tip/lower power irons you will have to hold the tip in contact for much longer, and the whole workpiece will heat up more. This means with pickups risking cooking the wiring that runs inside the base lips etc. A big, properly shaped tip is the vital on the bigger jobs ... but not on an under powered iron!
The aim is to use the minimum of solder with the most localised heating.
A good 60w iron will do most things
Pickup covers are an exception ... as are soldering earth leads to heavy steel Tele base plates that act as efficient heat-sinks in their own right. 100w minimum for that.