Soldering Iron Recommendations?
in [Design]
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From: Jon Elson on 18 Feb 2010 17:10 Jim Thompson wrote: > I have an absolutely ancient Weller WTCPN soldering station that is > disintegrating... it's probably at least 33 years old. > > I don't have any need for surface mount sophistication. > > What are people's thoughts on a cheapy replacement such as... > > Weller WLC100 Soldering Station > > ...Jim Thompson My all-time favorite is a Weller EC1302B iron, next choice is the EC1201 for the larger stuff. There are several stations that will run these irons. You can still get cord sets, temp sensors and heating elements as replaceable parts for the irons. The tips are ingeniously simple and quite durable. I don't like their platings as much for lead-free, they need a lot of re-tinning. But, these are getting quite obsolete, too, so I am moving over to the Weller WSL box and the WMP micro pencil. The tips are reasonable, the heat flow is pretty awesome, I go from 0.4 mm lead pitch micro soldering to fooling with wide ground planes and such with the same iron. I demand a digital temp readout, so cheapy stations are not useful to me. You can get good stuff on eBay with a little patience. Jon
From: Jon Elson on 18 Feb 2010 17:22 Jim Thompson wrote: > I have never before owned a soldering station with a temperature > control. What's the best setting (60%Sn/40%Pb)? Whew, glad you are coming in from the dark ages! I generally use 650 F for general work, but in cases of really fragile boards or parts, will turn it down to 600 F. 63/37 solder melts at 424 F, but you need to account for thermal resistance in the tip and heat sink effects at the joint. Also, it is often better to run the iron a bit hotter and get the soldering work done quickly than run the iron at the bare minimum temp and have to heat the joint for a LONG time to get the solder to melt. For lead-free work, I have to run the iron at about 700 F for light stuff, and 750 where heavy traces and power components sink the heat away. Jon
From: Jim Thompson on 18 Feb 2010 17:52 On Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:22:47 -0600, Jon Elson <jmelson(a)wustl.edu> wrote: >Jim Thompson wrote: > >> I have never before owned a soldering station with a temperature >> control. What's the best setting (60%Sn/40%Pb)? >Whew, glad you are coming in from the dark ages! From the mid '60's onward I always had a technician, so I did very little soldering, except maybe patching a breadboard. So my own tools see rare use only for my "G-job" projects. Not that I've lost the skills... I hung out in my Dad's TV repair shop from around age 12, and I tech'd in MIT's Building 20 MHD Lab for 4 years for income needs not covered by my scholarship. >I generally use 650 F >for general work, but in cases of really fragile boards or parts, will >turn it down to 600 F. 63/37 solder melts at 424 F, but you need to >account for thermal resistance in the tip and heat sink effects at the >joint. Also, it is often better to run the iron a bit hotter and get >the soldering work done quickly than run the iron at the bare minimum >temp and have to heat the joint for a LONG time to get the solder to melt. > >For lead-free work, I have to run the iron at about 700 F for light >stuff, and 750 where heavy traces and power components sink the heat away. > >Jon I have several BIG spools of 60/40 dating from late '80's ;-) ...Jim Thompson -- | James E.Thompson, CTO | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
From: Jim Yanik on 18 Feb 2010 18:05 Jon Elson <jmelson(a)wustl.edu> wrote in news:rJ-dnRBALPtwIeDWnZ2dnUVZ_jGdnZ2d(a)giganews.com: > Jim Thompson wrote: > >> I have never before owned a soldering station with a temperature >> control. What's the best setting (60%Sn/40%Pb)? > Whew, glad you are coming in from the dark ages! I generally use 650 > F for general work, but in cases of really fragile boards or parts, > will turn it down to 600 F. 63/37 solder melts at 424 F, no,it melts at 361.4 degF from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solder; The 63/37 ratio is notable in that it is a eutectic mixture, which means: It has the lowest melting point (183 �C or 361.4 �F) of all the tin/lead alloys; and The melting point is truly a point � not a range. -- Jim Yanik jyanik at localnet dot com
From: langwadt on 18 Feb 2010 18:11
On 18 Feb., 16:34, "ian field" <gangprobing.al...(a)ntlworld.com> wrote: > "Ian" <i.buckner_N...(a)btinternet.com> wrote in message > > news:Op6dnfjVaNe8p-HWnZ2dnUVZ8rudnZ2d(a)bt.com... > > > > > > > "ian field" <gangprobing.al...(a)ntlworld.com> wrote in message > >news:7lTen.7291$IC.3130(a)newsfe13.ams2... > > >> "Jim Thompson" <To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-I...(a)My-Web-Site.com> wrote in > >> messagenews:867mn5dvefiov77c2rti5ka57pppi1igc5(a)4ax.com... > >>>I have an absolutely ancient Weller WTCPN soldering station that is > >>> disintegrating... it's probably at least 33 years old. > > >>> I don't have any need for surface mount sophistication. > > >>> What are people's thoughts on a cheapy replacement such as... > > >> Since Weller became Cooper Tools, the bean counters took over the > >> asylum - they cut corners on manufacturing and reliability went down the > >> gurgler. > > >> When my last Weller fell to bits I bought an Antex 25W iron as a stop > >> gap, and have been using Antex ever since. > > >> I did treat myself to a 50W Antex TC iron but TBH I don't see much > >> advantage over the standard X25. > > > Interesting - Antex used to be rubbish many years ago, Wellers were far > > better. > > Yes I remember when Weller irons were worth having (a very long time ago). > snip I'm quite happy with a ws80, I like the compact handle. If I could find some specs on the tempsensor I'd build a controller for it so I could use it with a laptop power supply. would fit nicely in the bag with the laptop. though I guess pointy things like that will be trouble in the airport -Lasse |