Which iron do you use?

[naamanf]

Pace MBT250 station. Love it and couldn't pull it from my dying hands

 

[SiBurning]

Hakko FP-102. I think of it as the hacker-matic. I do mostly old equipment repairs, so it's nice to have a good solid iron that doesn't wimp out on 18ga wire wraped on a case screw. I'm good as long as I don't don't lose that silly key. (Hint. Get the other one everyone else gets which don't need no stinking key.)

 

[mb3k]

I'm using my trusty Weller WLC100, which works fine.
Hakko is luring but the Weller is okay for now. I use a Hakko at work and I absolutely love the wire mesh ball rather than water&sponge

 

[ericj]

I use a Weller WTCPn that i bought on eBay for about $40 shipped.

You kids can play with the knobs on your variable temperature irons to your heart's content, but 99% of my soldering is handled with aplomb by the 700f conical tip in my Weller pencil. The other 1% is done with a 600f tapered tip. One of these days I hope to find a need for my 800f wedge tip.

 

[blackinches]

A very old "Popular Mechanics 30W" model...and a homemade stand.

 

[pinkfloyd4ever]

Xytronic 379 is what I ended up getting, and I'm very happy with it so far
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...=242105&page=2
read everything by mono

I almost got the Circuit Specialists iron, but either way I'm glad I didn't spend the extra money for a 936 because this guy has a CS iron and he has the most detailed, revealing, and all-around awesome sounding setup most people will ever hear in their life. He makes his own interconnects and speaker cables

 

[threepointone]

TC202, or essentially the old model number for the weller wcptc (or however you spell that thing) I pretty much inherited it from my grandfather (!!!), and it still works perfectly, although it looks rather nasty--I've heard lots of stories about how reliable these are. If you can find one on eBay, I'd say it's pretty likely that it's still working fine. No temp control (temp regulation only, selected by soldering tip), but as a previous poster said, does it really matter?

 

[MusicallySilent]

Does anyone have ideas on a sub 50 dollar maybe 25 dollar range iron (temp control isnt necessary) that would be fine for beginning some work (making cables, a few amps (pimeta soha cmoy etc.))

There is a decent all in one analog control (spring stand holder (the stand made from a spring) sponge holder one for about 30

 

[threepointone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grndslm /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ditto... I just picked up the RS iron, tho. Haven't actually used it, but I don't understand what other benefits a soldering iron could have. . .

you'll feel it when you get one. The main problem with the RS iron lies in its really nasty tip. I've used one before, and it does work well at first but the tips / iron die pretty darn quickly and the soldering simply is much easier with better irons (or any other iron, for that matter)

 

[hardnrg]

I use a Maplin N78AR. I don't know the actual manufacturer of the iron but it looks like this:

this is the stock tip (yes, dirty and not tinned lol, but I'm too lazy to take a new pic)

I've had it for years now and have used it to replace op-amps, carry out volt-mods on graphics cards (requires soldering wires to the sides of SMD resistors and to legs of fine pitched ICs), making my own interconnects and other cables...

Cost me like £8 because I got staff discount heh. But right now in the UK they are on sale for £9.99... I'm sure you could find this iron in the States for a decent price. It's 50W variable and the stock tip is very versatile (I bought the 3 other tips it can take and haven't used them!)

 

[Towert7]

Thanks for the info everyone, it was very helpful.

 

[Televator]

Hi all,

just venturing into DIY and looking for a decent iron. Unfortunately the Hakko 936 isn't distributed in the Benelux anymore... but I found a (Chinese) clone:
Quote:

Originally Posted by www.nedis.be Soldering station CT936: Korte opwarmtijd gekoppeld aan snelle-warmte overbrenging zorgen voor hoge kwaliteit solderingen bij lagere temperaturen. Het ingebouwde ceramische warmte-element waarborgt de ingestelde temperatuur met een tolerantie van 0.5°C. Specifications Power Consumption : 60W Output Voltage : AC24V Heating Element : AC24V-50W Soldering iron : 907 ( M-Type ) Temperature range : 200-480°C Temperature Stability : +-0.5°C Tip to Ground Resistance : under 2 Ohm

It takes Hakko tips and sells for €60-70. What do you guys think?

BTW, if there are ppl from Europe (preferably B/Nl) that know where to get a Hakko 936 or a decent other model for a reasonable price, please do let me know!

 

[cbw]

Got myself a Weller WTCPT, nothing fancy and gets the job done for me.

 

[KerryKing]

Hi,

Have you checked out this page??
http://www.hakko.com/world_network.html#29
I did that when i wanted a new iron, and they were great to speak to, at least the Swedes. What you think is a high price i don't know

Ended up with a free Weller WTCP iron instead so i newer bought one hehe

/Erik

Quote:

Originally Posted by Televator /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi all, just venturing into DIY and looking for a decent iron. Unfortunately the Hakko 936 isn't distributed in the Benelux anymore... but I found a (Chinese) clone: It takes Hakko tips and sells for €60-70. What do you guys think? BTW, if there are ppl from Europe (preferably B/Nl) that know where to get a Hakko 936 or a decent other model for a reasonable price, please do let me know!

 

[cruisaire]

Hakko 936 Nest money I ever spent on my bench. Solid performer all around.