Need recommedation for new soldering iron

canadian1969

canadian1969

Well-Known Member
So my 20+ year old soldering iron gave up the ghost, it was an old POS from back in the college days and am amazed it lasted this long. Alas I am not familiar with the latest in iron tech so if anyone has pointers that would be great. Seeing as this is prolly the last soldering tool I will ever buy I want to get it right. I like the stations but dont know whats junk.
 
TacoMac

TacoMac

Well-Known Member
I use a WLC100 for all my guitar work and it's perfect. If you have the money, then go for the WES51 mentioned earlier. If all you're going to do is use it for small soldering jobs though, and not very often, then the WLC100 will be perfect and it's half the price.
 
Growcob5

Growcob5

Active Member
canadian1969 said:
So my 20+ year old soldering iron gave up the ghost, it was an old POS from back in the college days and am amazed it lasted this long. Alas I am not familiar with the latest in iron tech so if anyone has pointers that would be great. Seeing as this is prolly the last soldering tool I will ever buy I want to get it right. I like the stations but dont know whats junk.
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Harbor Freight has one for 12 box a hunter in 80 watt gone that gets Cherry red kind of a piece of s*** you could say but with the balls that it has a get home all the time I'll show you a picture what1499636437530-1954606124.jpg
 
Growcob5

Growcob5

Active Member
I know its not the nicest but for a getting glowing cherry red that's all I need need consequence on Fox it comes with some extra bit what I find the easiest is tickets yourself some sick hopper gauge wire and to use that instead
 
Cletus clem

Cletus clem

Well-Known Member
Growcob5 said:
Harbor Freight has one for 12 box a hunter in 80 watt gone that gets Cherry red kind of a piece of s*** you could say but with the balls that it has a get home all the time I'll show you a picture whatView attachment 3975198
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I have a similar unit, a PITA for soldering COBs in my opinion. The TS100 has really caught my eye as a great little unit. Do some research on youtube, its portable, versatile, open source and only 50$. You will need a power supply but anything from 12-24 volts will do it! Im going to get it to justify a benchtop switchable power supply...muahahahahaha
 
nfhiggs

nfhiggs

Well-Known Member
canadian1969 said:
So my 20+ year old soldering iron gave up the ghost, it was an old POS from back in the college days and am amazed it lasted this long. Alas I am not familiar with the latest in iron tech so if anyone has pointers that would be great. Seeing as this is prolly the last soldering tool I will ever buy I want to get it right. I like the stations but dont know whats junk.
Click to expand...
I've gotten terribly spoiled by the Ersa I-Con units we have at work. Best soldering irons I've used in over 30 years of soldering. They are pricy though.at about 2 bills...
 
BurgerBro

BurgerBro

Member
canadian1969 said:
I am seriously thinking about a two in one station , there are some nice ones on aliexpress
like this :
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20170626221843&SearchText=soldering+station+2+in+1

be nice to be able to do SMD work
prolly solve my hair dryer / heat shrink wrap problem too
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I'd say don't go for these fly-by-night no-name units. Some of them really aren't safe.
While all the usual HAKO, Weller, and Ersa units are very nice, the new kid on the block that is cheap, safe, and easy to get replacement parts for, is Xytronic (http://www.xytronic.com). My daily driver is an Ersa, which is very nice and very expensive, but my friend got a Xytronic, and honestly, it works just fine.
 
Cletus clem

Cletus clem

Well-Known Member
BurgerBro said:
I'd say don't go for these fly-by-night no-name units. Some of them really aren't safe.
While all the usual HAKO, Weller, and Ersa units are very nice, the new kid on the block that is cheap, safe, and easy to get replacement parts for, is Xytronic (http://www.xytronic.com). My daily driver is an Ersa, which is very nice and very expensive, but my friend got a Xytronic, and honestly, it works just fine.
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Big clive on youtube does a tear down of a knock off hakko, 936d and finds its actually not bad. I believe it was about 50$. There is a common problem with them which he also has a video on fixing.
 
Cletus clem

Cletus clem

Well-Known Member
canadian1969 said:
I am seriously thinking about a two in one station , there are some nice ones on aliexpress
like this :
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20170626221843&SearchText=soldering+station+2+in+1

be nice to be able to do SMD work
prolly solve my hair dryer / heat shrink wrap problem too
Click to expand...
Are you familiar with geek.com? Ive found some pretty good stuff on there. Takes a little sifting but some of the shit is decent. Wago connectors and heat shrink are some good scores that come to mind.
 
canadian1969

canadian1969

Well-Known Member
BurgerBro said:
I'd say don't go for these fly-by-night no-name units. Some of them really aren't safe.
While all the usual HAKO, Weller, and Ersa units are very nice, the new kid on the block that is cheap, safe, and easy to get replacement parts for, is Xytronic (http://www.xytronic.com). My daily driver is an Ersa, which is very nice and very expensive, but my friend got a Xytronic, and honestly, it works just fine.
Click to expand...
Well I am looking at this one for example
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/220V-700W-YOUYUE-8586-2-in-1-SMD-Rework-Station-Hot-Air-Gun-Solder-Iron/32585132407.html

Sold almost 1500 units, feedback score of 4.9 on 1009 votes. And for $60 for a 2-1 station. (Yes I know its 220, my bench has everything) This doesn't scream fly by night or poor quality to me. I am going to get one of these and then do a tear-down to see whats up.
 
BurgerBro

BurgerBro

Member
canadian1969 said:
Well I am looking at this one for example
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/220V-700W-YOUYUE-8586-2-in-1-SMD-Rework-Station-Hot-Air-Gun-Solder-Iron/32585132407.html

Sold almost 1500 units, feedback score of 4.9 on 1009 votes. And for $60 for a 2-1 station. (Yes I know its 220, my bench has everything) This doesn't scream fly by night or poor quality to me. I am going to get one of these and then do a tear-down to see whats up.
Click to expand...
Yeah, 60 bucks is definitely cheap even if it was just a reflow station. If you can be sure that the quality is good enough that it won't burn down the house or electrocute you, then you can probably also survive not being able to get new tips or other spare parts in 5 years time. I hope it works out wonderfully for you.

I will just restate that the Xytronic units are a lot nicer than they should be at the price they are sold at. In my opinion they compare very well with the Weller and HAKO units that people usually have.
 
Cletus clem

Cletus clem

Well-Known Member
BurgerBro said:
Yeah, 60 bucks is definitely cheap even if it was just a reflow station. If you can be sure that the quality is good enough that it won't burn down the house or electrocute you, then you can probably also survive not being able to get new tips or other spare parts in 5 years time. I hope it works out wonderfully for you.

I will just restate that the Xytronic units are a lot nicer than they should be at the price they are sold at. In my opinion they compare very well with the Weller and HAKO units that people usually have.
Click to expand...
canadian1969 said:
This was cool too
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Big clive is awesome. Be sure to check out AvE as well. A wealth of knoweledge and fucking funny as hell. Youll hear them reference each other. AvE is more geared towards power tools but does plenty of electronics and even some LED projects.
 
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