what is the best soldering iron?

[beatmix01]

What is the best kind of soldering iron to get for working with sensitive electronics?

 

[jteef]

little more information? you can easily spend close to a grand for a good soldering station. or you can spend $60-200 on something that will work for 99.5% of the hobbyists.

look at weller wtcpt

or maybe a hakko 929

 

[Colt45]

how sensitive?

hakkos are pretty nice

 

[fyleow]

Weller > *

 

[kyparrish]

<--- loves his Weller Portasol butane soldering iron

 

[Analog]

I've been soldering electronics since the late 70s. I've used many, many different systems, and by far, IMO, the Metcal system is the best. I've got one for home as well. The system heats up in less than 10 seconds, and is extremely light weight. They have a ton of different tips available (including tons of surface mount, if you're into that).


metcal home

you can get these through many distributors, like Newark Electronics etc.

HTH.

 

[AlienCraft]

I have one of These from WELLER. Been using it for over 20 years with good results.... ie haven't fried anything with it.

 

[PrincessGuard]

Metcal stations are excellent though probably not worth it unless you plan on doing a lot of soldering.

At home I use a $10 Weller 40W pen, which works fine for the simple PCBs I make. It all depends on how "sensitive" your parts are and how often you plan on soldering.

 

[blahblah99]

Get a Weller station with active temperature control... it saves your iron tips and doesn't burn up your surface mount components easily.

 

[beatmix01]

sweet. thanks guys.

 

[DanFungus]

I just got a Weller 40W the other day along with a really tiny tip, and some thin Rosin core solder, and it worked great for soldering a power connecter onto my laptop's motherboard

 

[NutBucket]

http://www.paceusa.com/_ShowSystemDetails.asp?ProductGroupID=2&ProductID=26

I use one of those at work

 

[merlocka]

Originally posted by: fyleow
Weller > *

ummm. No, but for basic stuff Weller is good enough.

If you use one everyday, you either have a Metcal or wish you did.