Variable or fixed temperature soldering iron?

Flip

My soldering station just packed up and I've bought a Ryobi battery-powered replacement. I'm sold on battery power but since the purchase I've since discovered the iron runs at 460 degrees C. My first instinct was to send it back but then I realised that I rarely used my original at less than 380 and sometimes higher eg solder puddles on pot cases.

I'm fairly experienced and reasonable adept at soldering. Since the variable temp unit is twice the price I'm tempted to keep it and solder carefully. Most of my work is on guitar electrics and a lesser amount of circuit board work.

Any views, advice or comments?

LastMantra

Mine is adjustable but tbh I never change it.

SteveRobinson

Same here, I run mine flat out at 400°C

Danny1969

I have my Weller station permanently set to 400 ... I solder everything from SOP chips to jacks with it. The actual temperature is set by how long you leave the iron against the work and the contact area. Same as air soldering, the temperature is more set by how close you use the gun to the board rather than the heat setting on the gun. 

What you do need though is an iron than maintains it's working temperature when soldering, as the tip temp drops it should increase the current to maintain the heat. That's why cheap irons are no good, the tips only a good temperature when it's not pressed against the work and under load.  

Flip

Gentlemen, I think you've just saved me £40 or more. Thanks.

PeteC

Yep - I have a Hakko and its permanently at about 385 C  - the variable keeps its temp constant when engaged with the joint. 

AK99

PeteC said:

Yep - I have a Hakko and its permanently at about 385 C  - the variable keeps its temp constant when engaged with the joint. 

A quick question - are the irons with variable temperature capability and circuitry better able to maintain the temperature setting at the nominal operating temperature(s) than the fixed ones ?

PeteC

I think so.  I used an old Weller non variable iron for many years and it was Ok, but once I upgraded to the Hakko FX88D there was no going back - joints are quick and easy now.  Ive built a ton of outboard gear with it - including compressors, a Neve 1084 clone ( AMS kit ) and even a few synths ( Mutable Ambika and Shruthis ) 
If its break,  I will get another.

Keefy

I keep mine set at 400C. I’ve never felt the need to change it.

LastMantra

AK99 said:

PeteC said:

Yep - I have a Hakko and its permanently at about 385 C  - the variable keeps its temp constant when engaged with the joint. 

A quick question - are the irons with variable temperature capability and circuitry better able to maintain the temperature setting at the nominal operating temperature(s) than the fixed ones ?

I'd say it's more to do with how powerful they are. 

PeteC

LastMantra said:

AK99 said:

PeteC said:

Yep - I have a Hakko and its permanently at about 385 C  - the variable keeps its temp constant when engaged with the joint. 

A quick question - are the irons with variable temperature capability and circuitry better able to maintain the temperature setting at the nominal operating temperature(s) than the fixed ones ?

I'd say it's more to do with how powerful they are. 

yep - its about the ability of the iron to supply power instantly to the tip to keep it at the right temp, when the joint itself is trying to cool it down by absorbing the energy. 

Flip

All the erudite comments about how the iron actually works (that I'd not really considered until now) make me keen to find out how a battery-operated iron will actually work. It heats up to 460 very quickly (50 secs claimed) so I wonder if it will do well at maintaining that temperature in action.

If I find out I'll post.

Thanks, chaps

chickenbonejohn

Another vote for Hakko, we have the FX888D. Heats up quickly, adjustable temperature, the bits last a long time. After years faffing about with cheaper irons, (burning them out and replacing untold numbers of bits ) including Weller , it's made soldering totally problem free. Well worth the money, but don't buy off eBay, there are lots of dodgy knock-off clones.

PeteC

^    Yes - make sure you buy a Hakko from the UK importer, not from ebay unless you know it’s genuine. 

Dave_Mc

chickenbonejohn said:

Another vote for Hakko, we have the FX888D. Heats up quickly, adjustable temperature, the bits last a long time. After years faffing about with cheaper irons, (burning them out and replacing untold numbers of bits ) including Weller , it's made soldering totally problem free. Well worth the money, but don't buy off eBay, there are lots of dodgy knock-off clones.

Ditto. I got mine a couple of years back when the prices were much more attractive (IIRC I paid about £115, and even that I kind of winced at at the time!), but it's probably paid for itself when you factor in how much more rarely I have to change the bits than the old Antex I used. And is way more fun to use. It's so fast to heat up, it's just great. And the display means you know when it is hot, too, so there's much less guesswork involved.

I think Amazon is probably ok as long as you get it from Amazon itself- that's where I got mine. But I've heard a lot of stories about non-genuine ones, so you definitely need to be very careful.

I think I set mine around 395C for standard soldering, and then whack it up full (480C IIRC) for backs of pots and stuff like that.

thermionic

I bought a Hakko on sale when Maplins were closing. I don’t think they’re expensive really - the woodworkers on here would not baulk at paying that much for a decent tool like a router or even a humble drill. I used Weller irons professionally (though sporadically) for years and the Hakko is quality. It would be nice if they were easier to buy - the process of buying spare bits from the uk distributor was a bit strange! 

Ironic that so-called variable temperature irons are actually good at keeping the temperature of the tip constant…

Corvus

I have presets on my Weller and prefer to mostly go between two of them, 320 and 400 deg, via buttons. 80 or 90W iron.
400 easily does pot backs, solid core earthing, braided wire. I like to drop it back for doing pot or switch terminals, resistors etc.
The third button is set for dent steaming, but that's another thing.

The wattage is what enables the iron to keep hot, or rather to push heat into a thing, I think. Also I'm not convinced the budget irons are really always quite the wattage they claim, or they don't transfer that wattage as well as they might.

Cookiemonster

Hakko is the business

Dave_Mc

thermionic said:

I bought a Hakko on sale when Maplins were closing. I don’t think they’re expensive really - the woodworkers on here would not baulk at paying that much for a decent tool like a router or even a humble drill. I used Weller irons professionally (though sporadically) for years and the Hakko is quality. It would be nice if they were easier to buy - the process of buying spare bits from the uk distributor was a bit strange! 

Ironic that so-called variable temperature irons are actually good at keeping the temperature of the tip constant…

Oh no I'm not saying it's not worth it- at the time I wasn't sure how much soldering I'd end up doing. If you know you're going to do a fair bit, it's definitely worth it. Even the amount I do, it's worth it.

I got most of my spare bits from either Amazon or CPC Farnell... maybe you need fancier ones, but I was able to get all I needed from pretty standard shops.