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What do you guys use? I see various different irons at the shack ranging from $20 to $100. The one I got was a Radio Shack "learn to solder" starter kit one... and it's pretty shitty. I quickly realized that when working with such small pcbs, I'm going to need a much finer tip. And even then, the tip on mine seems to have worn away to become EVEN duller. It makes a ton of smoke and is all uneven and blah blah. So I'm gonna buy a new one soon. I'll spend like maybe $50 on one if that's enough. Just wondering what the best one is for pedal makin.

You can get smaller tips. Also, it's important to keep the tip tinned and clean so it does become all worn away. It's entirely possible technique is the answer here, not a new iron.

Tinned?

Before you go in to make a solder joint, put a small amount of solder on the tip of your iron. This is called "wetting the tip" or "tinning". It helps the heat flow to the component and pad more effectively and makes it so you don't have to hold the tip there as long.

Those things are shite. I got a weller wes51 and its great.

I have a Weller WESD51 and I would not trade it for anything... It has served me well for years.

I've got this little Stahl here:
http://www.amazon.com/Soldering-Station ... ering+iron

5-40 watts, great tip, great price.

IMHO a Weller around $80 and up is the 'best' and if you are going to be doing a lot of projects is a worth while investment. If you are doing something here or there, and want to see how it goes maybe you end up doing a ton - I still think the Stahl is a great value at $20.

I used a crappy radio shack one for many, many years, and this is a huge step up from that.

I'd point out you don't need an expensive iron, I got mine from ebay for £5 4 years ago and it's still going with the original tip (tip isn't super fine but it has a decent point which is fine for trough hole and hasn't worn, a lot of the time I CBA to tin it or clean it on a damp sponge either, still works) and I have probably 95% success rate with builds working first go, 99-100% if they're fabbed boards.

Only 30W (maybe even 25, can't remember right now) too which some say is too low.

So you can make do! But yeah I did my first project with a flattish tip, that was tricky so some kind of point is needed and cleaning with a damp sponge (wet and you'll get sprayed with boiling water and solder) and you'll probably be fine.

BrentMpls wrote:I've got this little Stahl here:
http://www.amazon.com/Soldering-Station ... ering+iron

5-40 watts, great tip, great price.

IMHO a Weller around $80 and up is the 'best' and if you are going to be doing a lot of projects is a worth while investment. If you are doing something here or there, and want to see how it goes maybe you end up doing a ton - I still think the Stahl is a great value at $20.

I used a crappy radio shack one for many, many years, and this is a huge step up from that.

I have the same Soldering Iron too. I like it, heats up pretty quickly and the base/stand is nice. The chord can be a bit troublesome sometimes, but it depends where you have the base situated on your work bench.

i've gone strong with my weller WES51 for years now. it's great.
i do go through tips relatively quickly so i keep a few around but 1 or 2 should last you at least 1-3 years depending on how much soldering you end up doing. as for cleaning the tips - like scruffs said a damp sponge works well. personally, i use a brass solder tip cleaner so the iron stays more or less the same temperature.

^ Samesies. WES51 is perfect. I got mine from amazon and it crapped out on me in 2 days (I have NO idea what happened, but I totally got shocked opening it up and slapped it back together ) - I did the "return this item" thing on amazon and they shipped me one the same day as well as providing a shipping label to return the defective unit free of charge. The new one is up and running like a champion, going strong as hell. SO good.

Radio shack irons - as far as I'm concerned they are throwaways. Some have success with them, but after using an ACTUAL soldering iron I couldn't believe the difference. Save yourself and just get a decent iron. Seriously.

yeah also an ETS tip for that weller iron. super tiny and awesome.

i bought the weller wp35
what temp are you supposed to be at
cause i dont seem to have an extra second
before stuff starts melting
and im guessing by super tiny=awesome
that i need a new tip as well

Non-station irons tend to be really hot. Like 850 degrees (in the case of the WP35), when, with a station, you tend to solder at like 650-700. So, on smaller things, they will melt things pretty fast. A smaller tip will help a bit, but you really just gotta learn to make the joints fast.

I use a 1/16" chisel tip for most things, and also keep 1/32" and 1/8" around (In my case, weller LTA, LTB, and LT... fuck you, I can't remember the smaller one). I'm not really a fan of smaller pointy tips, but it seems that most pedal builders use 'em.

It helps to look up some soldering tutorials on Youtube. There's some really good ones. I'd recommend staying away from anything from Expert Village, though, as they are neither experts nor in a village.

what temperature do you guys run the wes51 at?