NSID

frankus

New Soldering Iron Day...

My 18w Antex crapped out, dead heating element... I went to Maplin during the day and found a 15w with a nice point that had been used... so I took it to the counter and said "it's been used but I like the bit" - he went to the stock brought a new one out and found the bit was different... so he took the tip off the new one, slid on the tip I wanted, knocked off £3 and we were both happy.

I love this iron! It's so much lighter, delicate - I'm seeing improvements in my soldering already

I took it home and built a Pedalparts Orange Squeezer - now I've a lot of experience with this pedal as I've made 3 now... this one has a 1n4148 diode in it and seems quieter and less twangy... I'll be swapping out the diode post haste, also may replace the taller components - the trim pot and the 47 uF elec capacitor or it's never going to fit in a 1590a

ThePrettyDamned

Me too!

A 30 watter from... Er... Cash converters.  

I wasn't spoiled for choice, but 30 watts should be fine for most jobs and should have enough power to do the backs of pots.  Hopefully.

frankus

I've a 30 watter I use for pots and stuff - or a butane powered portable for the same job - the dainty 15 watter is like a pencil

ThePrettyDamned

Well, it fixed my rubbish soldering fine, so I'm happy!

I managed to successfully build a Fuzz pedal with the 4) watter. How on earth, I've no idea...

frankus

I'm a clumsy chap when it comes to electrics - so I kinda need all the help I can get

johnnyurq

Belated one for I actually got it about a week ago.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/60w-professional-lcd-solder-station-with-esd-protection-a55kj

It was on special at £40.

V happy with it.

frankus

That looks really professional - wow!

chillidoggy

I gave up on the small irons, went for the soldering station in the end, as I found I couldn't get enough heat into the pots with this new-fangled lead-free solder.

frankus

Oh I agree - when it comes to pots I use one of these:



but when I'm striving to get solder joints as purty as @juansolo 's:

johnnyurq

Thanks @frankus it is really nice to use and has enough heat for any job, plus ESD compliant.

Almost as good as my old Weller one wot I bought for College/Uni. Time will tell though.

As Chilli says a solder station should last years and my last two are still going in new lives. the Weller is of 80's vintage and still going strong.

Over that time small mains and GAS soldering irons have come and gone in disturbing numbers.

Next is an SMD workstation hopefully this year or the next.

ThePrettyDamned

I will get round to getting a proper station and a selection of tips, especially if I want to build more pedals.

Good GAS lads!

Just realised how cool we are, discussing the virtues of soldering irons.

juansolo

I have a Trigger's broom 18W Antex. Element swapped (the catch 22 there is you need another iron to fit a new one), cable swapped and recently new tip. Only the case for it is original

When I do guitars/amps or when I really mean it de-soldering, I've got a 25W Weller with what looks like a spade rather than a tip on the end of it. Crude, but damned effective.

The trick with it is to keep your tip clean (as it is with so many things) so get a nice stand with sponge or one of those wire pads.

frankus

I've got this tip cleaner atm



Interested in the brass wool cleaners - is there a reason not to use steel wool?

ThePrettyDamned

frankus;135562" said:

I've got this tip cleaner atm







Interested in the brass wool cleaners - is there a reason not to use steel wool?

Fire, basically. Steel wool has a large surface area and is very reactive, and can look absolutely amazing while it does it.

I used to use fairly coarse stuff on my old iron when it got really bad, but since getting a proper sponge and cleaning regularly, I've not needed it.

juansolo

I'm a sponge man also... Missus.