Best Soldering Tools for Beginners?

[GARTHWILSON]

GARTHWILSON wrote:

I'll come back with the stock number of the soldering iron handles, heaters, and tips I use, when I get more time.

Here's what I use. First, the main soldering iron, which is Weller brand:
handle: 555XT
heating element: 1235-S (As listed here, it appears that it might include the tip listed below. Tips don't last forever though, so it's always good to have an extra on hand.)
tip: PL113 (unfortunately this one is RoHS[*], and doesn't last as long as the non-RoHS ones they sold before all this RoHS garbage came around. It's what there is though.)

The heating element screws into the handle, and the tip screws onto the heating element. Put some thermal grease on the threads where the tip screws on so you'll be able to remove the tip when it's time to replace, so you won't have to throw the heating element out with the time because you can't separate them.

Now the tiny iron, which is only good for the tiniest parts, not thru-hole IC leads:
handle with 12W heating element: WM120
tip: MP131

The stand I use is similar to this one. Supposedly it's not the right one for either of the soldering irons I link to here, but I don't know how it's different from whatever might be right. It's probably not critical at all. You might as well get a few extra sponges too, as they don't last forever. Keep the sponge damp, and when you need to wipe solder off the tip, just brush it lightly and quickly on the sponge. Don't poke it down in, as that will just remove a lot of heat from the tip and not wipe the solder off.

[*]RoHS (say "ROW-hoss") stands for "restriction of hazardous substances." Products sold in the EU are not allowed to have lead, cadmium, and various other elements in them. I have not kept up on the latest; but it is my understanding that most manufacturers conform to RoHS so that they don't have to make separate versions of products for the EU versus the US and other countries. Removing the lead from solder, and in this case, from the tips, causes various problems. Our company has essentially told the European market that they're not worth the trouble. If someone wants to order our stuff and take care of getting it into their country, it's up to them, but we're not going to go out of our way for it. We did get some dense SMT boards with parts on both sides assembled in the Orient recently, and forgot to drive home the point that we do not want RoHS, and they soldered them with lead-free solder, and a few parts got knocked off (the solder cracked and let go) just in the shipping to us. There were a couple of other problems too. For many parts there's no choice, and for some things, it doesn't matter; but we do want leaded solder, and I wish we could still get the tips with whatever they needed to last a lot longer.

[BigEd]

Although rosin-cored solder comes with flux, one can use separate flux, and it might well be that some people advise using both. As Garth notes, flux is an acid when at high temperature, and the idea is for the acid to remove any surface layer and get to bare metal. It also keeps the air away from that bare metal.

As the idea of soldering is to heat the joint and then apply the solder, which should melt at once, it feels to me that a pre-application of flux would be handy. It's what I do - I have a 'flux pen' - but I'm not well-experienced nor terribly competent when it comes to soldering, so I'm ready to hear from others.

Although the flux pen is advertised as needing no cleaning, it does leave a slightly sticky residue, which over some subsequent months might catch some dust... so a bit of cleaning after soldering can't hurt, I'd think.

[Jmstein7]

Thanks. That is a lot of information, and it certainly answers the question. I'm glad I can get most of this from Mouser; I really like that company. Good people there and always the best parts.

It's funny, but wayyyy back when I was a kid in summer camp, we had "electronics" in arts and crafts. We'd make things like crystal radios (does that date me?). Anyway, they were kits you'd have to solder the parts to. So, you'd heat the iron, apply the solder, and that was it. I guess I was already doing it wrong, all those years ago!

Jon

[BigDumbDinosaur]

BigEd wrote:

Although rosin-cored solder comes with flux, one can use separate flux...

The only time I've used additional flux has been in soldering SMT devices. For conventional soldering, the flux present in rosin-core solder is more than enough.

Jmstein7 wrote:

It's funny, but wayyyy back when I was a kid in summer camp, we had "electronics" in arts and crafts. We'd make things like crystal radios (does that date me?).

A crystal radio was the very first electronic project I built—I was eight or nine at the time. Much to my amazement, it actually worked and with a little fiddling with the cat's whisker, WLS AM 890 (a Chicago radio station) came in loud and clear—relatively speaking, of course.

[plasmo]

BigDumbDinosaur wrote:

A crystal radio was the very first electronic project I built—I was eight or nine at the time. Much to my amazement, it actually worked and with a little fiddling with the cat's whisker, WLS AM 890 (a Chicago radio station) came in loud and clear—relatively speaking, of course.

Yep, same here, roughly the same time period except it was half a world away and upside down in Taiwan, China and the radio station was in Mandarin. Yet it all worked, to every kids' delight.
Bill

[GARTHWILSON]

My first non-DC electronics project was also a crystal-diode radio. I still have the earphone I was given for it. The first time I heard the local radio station over it, it was incredibly exciting. My first soldering iron was 160W IIRC, and had a chisel tip about 1/2" across, given to me by my dad who didn't know any more about this stuff than I did. Not knowing any better, I used just the lower tip to solder smallish stuff. This was about 1971, in another country.

[Jmstein7]

It really is a small world. And, I remember those earpieces - the white ones. Something like this:

I was also 8 or 9. And, yes, when the station, any station, actually came in - it was like magic.

[GARTHWILSON]

This was my first one, which I just pulled out of a closet. I mounted it on an old Telex headband of unknown source. Wow, it's pretty grungy now. I'd definitely want to clean it up before putting it back on my head!

[Jmstein7]

GARTHWILSON wrote:

This was my first one, which I just pulled out of a closet. I mounted it on an old Telex headband of unknown source. Wow, it's pretty grungy now. I'd definitely want to clean it up before putting it back on my head!

[ThePhysicist]

I find my microscope very useful when it comes to small (as in SMD) parts, but for most work I prefer some headband magnifiers like https://www.amazon.com/Magnifier-Chof-M ... B07DN8B5JM. A good 3D microscope is easily 500+ U$, and should only be bought once you are really sure you are going to use it.

As for soldering - although flux should be inert, I found that cleaning everything gives more reliable results.

About soldering irons - I agree with some previous statements. A 25W or 33W should be enough for starters. Again, good temperature controlled irons are expensive, and you won't really get any benefits. Wellers are nice - you might get more out of it if you get one with changeable tips and try different tip sizes.

[floobydust]

Growing up in the 60's mostly.... my Dad ran a production line at EAI in Long Branch, NJ for the 231R vacuum-tube analog computer, from the late 1950's to 1961. He also managed to have a lot of tubes, sockets, resistors, caps, transformers, etc. all setup and labeled in the basement and a nice bench with 3 soldering stations, a Heathkit VTVM, a custom power supply that was all tube based and regulated DC up to 500V and 250ma. Yea... I was spoiled on that side.... He also built a small 2-tube short-wave receiver on an "L" chassis with a speaker.... but the sides, rear and bottom were open. He used the standalone power supply to power it... and held it in his hand.... I tried it once... and got my first electric shock!

I spent too much time in the basement growing up and was able to solder by age 5... not that anything I made really worked, but practice makes perfect. Shortly after that, I would bug Dad to take me to Atkinson & Smith... local electronics supplier, which had an amazing surplus room upstairs... as Fort Monmouth was literally around the corner in Eatontown. That was the U.S. Army Electronics CORCOM center, so they would be getting rid of all kinds of Army electronics and parts regularly.

He also had a small collection of electronic manuals... a 1956 ARRL, some Sylvania and RCA tube manuals and some others... most which I still have to this day.

In any case, I nicked Dad's WW-II headphones for my earliest radio experience... not a cat whisker... but an actual 1N34 germanium diode, a hand-wound coil on a toilet paper tube and a variable capacitor I found in Dad's parts stash. I also nicked a roll of wire and strung about 50 feet out the window to a tree in the back yard for an antenna. The headphones were 2000 ohm impedance and quite sensitive. it was trivial to pick up The Asbury Park Press AM radio station, which was less than 10 miles away... and I'm pretty certain they were pushing over 25KW back then.

This is about as close a pic to what I was using in the 60's to listen to anything I could tune in.

Ah... the good ole days...

In any case.... I would highly recommend getting some decent tools and soldering equipment to anyone who plans on doing hobby stuff around here... great learning, keeps your mind active... eye-to-hand coordination, etc.

[BigDumbDinosaur]

ThePhysicist wrote:

Again, good temperature controlled irons are expensive, and you won't really get any benefits.

I've used both unregulated and temperature-controlled soldering irons in electronics work, and definitely prefer the controlled variety. The Weller units I have are easily adjusted to suit the work I am doing and after a period of inactivity, will automatically reduce temperature to around 180° C, which does a lot to conserve tips. I have two such irons set up on my bench, a 25 watt unit with a 1/8" tip for small work, and a 40 watt iron with a 1/4" tip for heavier stuff.

For the really big jobs, there's my "killer" soldering iron, which is a 250 watt unit that is about 14 inches long, with a wooden handle and a 3/4" tip made from solid copper. That thing can solder the lugs on the ends of automobile battery cables.

[Jmstein7]

floobydust wrote:

Ah... the good ole days...

In any case.... I would highly recommend getting some decent tools and soldering equipment to anyone who plans on doing hobby stuff around here... great learning, keeps your mind active... eye-to-hand coordination, etc.

I married a Jersey girl, and I worked in Trenton for a short period of time, in the early 2000s, so I know all those areas. And, now you're in Florida - smart move!

Jon

[Jmstein7]

BigDumbDinosaur wrote:

I've used both unregulated and temperature-controlled soldering irons in electronics work, and definitely prefer the controlled variety. The Weller units I have are easily adjusted to suit the work I am doing and after a period of inactivity, will automatically reduce temperature to around 180° C, which does a lot to conserve tips. I have two such irons set up on my bench, a 25 watt unit with a 1/8" tip for small work, and a 40 watt iron with a 1/4" tip for heavier stuff.

For the really big jobs, there's my "killer" soldering iron, which is a 250 watt unit that is about 14 inches long, with a wooden handle and a 3/4" tip made from solid copper. That thing can solder the lugs on the ends of automobile battery cables.

For starting out, I just ended up with this - because I don't really care if I somehow damage it.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08VJ ... UTF8&psc=1

[BigDumbDinosaur]

Jmstein7 wrote:

For starting out, I just ended up with this - because I don't really care if I somehow damage it.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08VJ ... UTF8&psc=1

That'll work. My only question is where/how you would get replacement tips.