Decent Soldering Iron Kit?

[Baldchap]

I need to sort some temporary electronic bits into more permanent electronic bits and as such I'm going to need a soldering iron.

Can anyone recommend a decent enough one for PCBs and the like? Amazon is awash with dodgy sounding no-brand Chinese products as usual.

Extra points if it comes with the other bits I might need as well.

Thanks in advance.

[JoshSm]

Depends what your budget is.

There are some decent Chinese ones out there as they have a huge commercial demand for them. Brands like Aixun or Geboon.

JBC is 'proper' stuff, there are lots of Chinese clones of these of varying quality.

[Byker28i]

How much do you want to spend? Weller will cost you £150 upwards, or a straight mains plug in iron from Draper is around £15 from Screwfix etc

[Baldchap]

Budget isn't a huge concern TBH, but the question is, will an amateur see the difference?

[JoshSm]

Baldchap said:

Budget isn't a huge concern TBH, but the question is, will an amateur see the difference?

Depends what you're doing with it! SMT? Sensitive components? Big stuff?

You could use a basic stick or you might find you really want a decent temperature controlled one with plenty of power & swappable tips.

A proper expensive solder station can be a nice thing to work with anyway, but there's a difference between nice and necessary.

[ARHarh]

15 years ago when i was involved with buying for teams doing SMT stuff all day every day it was JBC always. Still use my 25 year old one sometimes. If its just a one off just about anything with the correct sized tip will do. After all it far more to do with technique than it is the equipment. I use a cheap temperature controlled Chinese thing, which is used a couple of hours a week. It cost less than a new tip for my JBC. Performs fine even down 0402 stuff. Though It would probably drive me nuts if I was using it more often.

[Gary C]

The duratool stuff is ok. Good price and the tips last (had mine in regular use for 3 years without a change).

I use the one with the Hot air and solder iron in one. The hot air is meant for SMT work but its brilliant for melting glue and separating cases, screens or keyboards.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Duratool-D00671-Soldering...

Edited by Gary C on Tuesday 12th August 12:27

[spangle82]

Antex is the brand I remember. I've had my 25W one for decades.

Just make sure you get proper solder if you can, not lead-free st.

[Elrikos]

I'd suggest anything which takes T12 tips. They are a standard, including the tip and element in one piece. Heat up in 10 seconds or so and keep a tight temperature.

I have a random chinese brand, but Quicko is relatively well known for their off brand T12 soldering stations. They are inexpensive on aliexpress or the like. I have hundreds of hours on mine. Tips as mentioned are interchangeable by brand, and tend to run £3 or so each. I keep 10 or so on hand, but actually only really ever use 3-4 styles depending on what im doing.

[JimM169]

I got one of these a while ago, got good reviews, there's few a few YouTube vids to see what it does and plenty of tips etc available

https://uk.banggood.com/V2_1S-T12-Digital-Temperat...

[un1eash]

I've been using an Iroda gas soldering iron for years for DIY jobs. It was bought from Maplin when they were still a store.

[Peanut Gallery]

I have used many small cheapy ones, they do the job - recently was looking through Switch Electronics shop and found this guy - 65W - ST-2065D - it heats up REALLY fast, doesnt overheat, the tip is nice and sharp, feels really good.

https://www.switchelectronics.co.uk/products/atten...

Word of warning though, I found many other small accessories in that site, things like small little legs for Arduino boards to stand on, adapters to screw a secondary board above the main board, small electrical connectors, decent quality ABS boxes - I very quickly only needed to add £10 stuff to save £5 shipping...

No relation, just a happy customer (with another basket filling up)

[Baldchap]

Thanks all. I'll take a look at the suggestions and LYK what I go with.

[smithyithy]

Bit late so you may have already picked something up..

But when I used to mess about with PCBs and custom keyboard (yeah, really), which involved lots of soldering, the brand 'Hakko' used to be recommended a lot on the hobby Reddit pages by loads of people.

I never splashed out on one, but it seemed like a lot of hobbyists swore by them for that type of usage:

https://hakko.co.uk/product-category/catalogue/sol...

[sospan]

I still use my old Weller. Had it for over 40 years. It has been great for occasional jobs. Car wiring, sorting poor joints on pcb's, even some plastic repairs. I might replace it now as the bit currently on it is properly seized on so lost flexibility of changing it. It's paid for itself many times over.

[Simpo Two]

Now if there was an app for one, you could use your phone

[OutInTheShed]

It used to be a lot easier, before lead-free solder.

Now, solder has a higher melting point, so tips must be hotter, which means they oxidise and have short lives.
Temperatures must be controlled more carefully.
You need to be more careful about using the right size tip for the job, it's easier to do damage.

I have a couple of old Wellers, which are OK for some work, but mostly I use cheap irons from Rapid Electronics or similar, because I can afford to chuck away £2 tips all the time.
In industry I'd be using Metcal Irons which have more like £20 tips and a technician might get through more than one a week.

Best advice is to get some decent flux.
And some lead/tin solder if you can get away with it.

[kambites]

Byker28i said:

How much do you want to spend? Weller will cost you £150 upwards, or a straight mains plug in iron from Draper is around £15 from Screwfix etc

Weller make cheaper devices too. I've got one of these and for my home use it's... fine:

https://www.toolden.co.uk/p/weller-welsp40nkuk-sp4...

However, I do have access to proper soldering stations (and perhaps more crucially people far better at driving them than me!) at work if I need to do anything fiddly.


It did indeed used to be a lot easier with lead solder!

Edited by kambites on Friday 29th August 07:45

[ARHarh]

OutInTheShed said:

It used to be a lot easier, before lead-free solder.

Now, solder has a higher melting point, so tips must be hotter, which means they oxidise and have short lives.
Temperatures must be controlled more carefully.
You need to be more careful about using the right size tip for the job, it's easier to do damage.

I have a couple of old Wellers, which are OK for some work, but mostly I use cheap irons from Rapid Electronics or similar, because I can afford to chuck away £2 tips all the time.
In industry I'd be using Metcal Irons which have more like £20 tips and a technician might get through more than one a week.

Best advice is to get some decent flux.
And some lead/tin solder if you can get away with it.

When I was hand assembling surface mount stuff all day every day, mostly 0805 size components. I would go through at least 2 fine Metcal bits every week, sometimes more. Not done that sort of work since the 90's though. I still have an old Metcal.

As with you I mostly use a cheap iron from the likes of rapid these days, for my own projects. I only use it a few hours a month though as I no longer need to work, and only play with Home automation stuff.

[Griffith4ever]

Baldchap said:

Budget isn't a huge concern TBH, but the question is, will an amateur see the difference?

Not really - Just buy a small tipped low wattage iron. Have a play with something like this:

Soldering Iron Kit, 90W Adjustable Temperature Soldering-Iron Gun Kit Welding Tool with 5 Soldering Tips, Desoldering Pump, Tin Wire Tube, Stand, Tweezers

(Amazon).

You'll most likely find a flat/spade bit easiest as a beginner. I'd recommend leaded solder too - much easier to work with

You won't need anything bigger until you start to pull large relays and the likes off board with thick copper.

Then you can buy yourself a soldering station with some bigger tips.

I find having the right temp really helps, and off the shelf irons like at screwfix are set for leadfree which overheats leaded solder instantly