[daronk]

Looking at purchasing a Weller soldering iron. I was comparing the WESD51 and the WD1001. Aside from the obvious price difference I wanted to know if the 85watt is total overkill for cable making. The only reason I would guess would be for large contacts. But then wouldn't the 50watt be fine? I understand that the wattage is really dealing with how fast the pencil will come up to temp as well as stay at temp.

Also can I always just change to a different low wattage pencil on either station for intricate work?

Thanks in advance.

 

[FallenAngel]

Uhm, I use a 25watt weller, and i love it. Couldn't do anything with my old 60watt ratshack brand, it just burned everything.

 

[mono]

Yes, 85W is total overkill. It is adjustable though, so IF you have no higher wattage iron AND you feel you'd be doing something more demanding than making cables (probably not related to audio at all), it might be useful for that other task. On the other hand, if you needed a very high wattage iron for some (obviously non-precision bulk work), you could just get a $16 pistol style from most hardware stores, there need not be this extra expense for the solder station to get those other jobs done.

 

[nikongod]

unless its regulated.

60W with temperature control is pretty sweet.

 

[nysulli]

i switch between a temperature regulated 80watt weller station at work and a ws series 25 watter, both work extremely well for cable making and just about any other job i've thrown at them, but if those 50 and 80 watt irons aren't temp controlled you'll probably run into problems burning connectors up

 

[Garbz]

Back when I made cables my 23watt iron was just sufficient to get the solder to stick to the plug. It was not pretty though. Also it completely ruled out any chance of desoldering them. When I went to replace the cable I was stuck and had to borrow a friend's 70watt iron to remove them.

Since then my iron broke and I bought a 75watt regulated iron with thermal control and have never looked back.

 

[daronk]

yes both units would have temp control. So when people say that the 70 watter burned everything that's because it was a set temp that was too high? So a 50 watt and an 85 watt set at the same temp will still do the same job, right? Both would have the same temp range. Only the 85watt will keep temp better as the solder piece sucks up the heat. So then in certain situations like soldering 23 gauge wire or something then you want a low wattage so that the heat doesn't curl the insulation?

 

[Garbz]

Teflon won't curl but otherwise you've hit the nail on the head. Funny though I find pvc curls up less with my new iron. Probably because the solder is melted faster over thepcb.

If you do have a variable temp control, higher is not better. You should set the temperature to the melting point of the solder not higher. So 380degrees for your typical 60/40. Even when I'm soldering to large ground planes this works because the iron is capable of keeping the tip temperature constant. I've built about 6 things with this new one and have yet to take the temperature above 400. Also your tips last longer and don't oxidise as quickly at lower temps.

 

[daronk]

ok - so then the question now becomes .... will a 50 watt station suffice for most work with ground planes, RCA interconnects, speaker wire, and amp builds?

Also can I change pencils on a 50watt station to a lower watt, say like a 20watt pencil. If the station is temp controlled is there any benefit to a lower wattage pencil? I would think that the larger work vs. intricate work is more a function of the tip surface area?

 

[SHLim]

Hakko 936/ESD safe is a 50W soldering station that allow you to switch the tips as well and hand piece. 907 is the std hand piece that comes with the 936 station and there 24 type of tips for you to choose from.
http://www.computronics.com.au/hakko/936/m-tips/
If you are into factory type heavy duty soldering, you can try the 908 hand piece and uses the 900L tips or if you into micro soldering, you can use the 900S hand piece with 900S tips.
http://www.computronics.com.au/hakko/936/hp/
But frankly 907 should be more than enough. If you wanted to solder thick fat speaker cable, use the tips with larger contact surface, ie the chisel type. Crank up the temperature and way you go.

Have fun,
Sam