Soldering Iron

I have 3 or 4 and they are all crap. I want a decent one. So who's using what and what's recommended.??

Get a decent variable temp one from America but make sure its 240v. There shite but you can do a utube vid and keep saying sordering to piss the rest of the world off.

meego said:

I have 3 or 4 and they are all crap. I want a decent one. So who's using what and what's recommended.??

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I got a little pistol grip one from maplins for simple stuff. Bout a tenner I think. Its the best one I have used but then again I too have had some chit ones in the past.

The military always used Weller, with which, you can have many different tips which change the temperature and tip shape. I use one which must be 30 years old.
Antex aren't too bad for the smaller iron.
Hakko make some good solder stations
Dremel make some nice gas irons
I've got:
a solder station with many different tips, variable temperature's and hot air blower.
An ancient Weller iron. 240V
A ancient gas pen solder iron bought at maplins, tips for that one are a problem, again 30 + years old. I may buy a dremel pen type to replace it.
A dremel versaflame silver solder, soldering torch.

Then of course you can get resistance soldering irons, quite expensive, but very useful for some jobs. I haven't got one... Yet..

You need to decide what you want it for, then Decide how much you want to spend, the buy the best you can get...

I've got three different wattage ones with fine to large tips. They were only cheapo from Maplins. I don't find the irons a problem, it's my lack of a third hand that holds me back.

Col

Weller for me, 45W when you need it with a big tip. Many tips & temperature range, mine is probably over 30 years too and still going strong (does a lot of work)

I have a variable antex mains powered one for stuff in the house etc, and an antex gascat for say soldering the wiring loom on the LR in the garage.

Tbh I use the gascat more as it's also adjustable. It also has a hot air blower which is good for heatshrink

I use a small butane gas blowlamp ! quicker and easier than an iron

Thanks for the info guys. I served my time in an engineering shop and spent a few years working in the welding fabrication, but I can't solder worth a damn.
I read about Weller being good, but apparently the new ones are not so good as they have moved the manufacture to China.

Foxyred said:

I use a small butane gas blowlamp ! quicker and easier than an iron

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Me too. But I use one that runs butane propane mix, heats things up quicker.

meego said:

Thanks for the info guys. I served my time in an engineering shop and spent a few years working in the welding fabrication, but I can't solder worth a damn.
I read about Weller being good, but apparently the new ones are not so good as they have moved the manufacture to China.

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As you are a good welder, you will pick it up pretty quick with the right equipment.

I refuse to buy any ex British product if the manufacturing has been moved to China or Asia. The trouble is I'm running out of stuff to buy

Col

I've got a Weller too.
At least 25yrs old, tips not so easy to get local anymore cos Weller changed the design at some point.
Annoyingly the power cord is far too short and I'm still annoyed about it 25 yrs later.

Turboman said:

As you are a good welder, you will pick it up pretty quick with the right equipment.

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I'm not used to chasing the workpiece all over the place when I'm welding though

meego said:

I'm not used to chasing the workpiece all over the place when I'm welding though

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Try using little clamps, even wooden clothespegs, to hold one piece. Then move the other bit up to it with your free hand, or fix the two pieces in clamps, so that they are touching for soldering.

I'd go with Weller too. My TCP must be about 30 years old now. I have an Solon 12 volt iron, another very small 240 volt Antex and a Weller butane iron.
Regarding how to solder, the thing to remember is that cleanliness is all, unlike welding where the heat can burn its way through any oxides on the surface to the metal below, in soldering you're not using that much heat, nor are you fusing or bonding the two metal parts together. You're actually using a lower temperature metal, a lead/tin alloy for soft soldering or in the case of brazing, brass for hard soldering, as a glue to join the parts together, and as you probably know, glue doesn't work too well if the parts are dirty.

We use Weller TCP at the factory, got mostly 24V irons but there are a couple of 240V ones as well.

Used to like Adcola, there's a couple of those as well.

Weller are pretty much the standard for most industrial users.

Peter

I've got a portasol super pro gas one runs on lighter fuel, you can get loads of different tips and the flame is adjustable on the bottom. Think it's really good and no wires to pull about.
Cheers Ian

Dremel gas, absolutely brill

Just ordered one of these.