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[GOG440]

Just in case anyone is after a soldering iron for re-doing their ecu Aldi had a nice little kit on sale last week for £6.99, still available in my local one earlier this week.
Has clamps, solder, and an assortment of tips.

[Toltec]

For soldering some bits of wire together it is probably fine, but I would not want to go anywhere near ICs with something like that.

I have a Metcal though...

[adam quantrill]

Metcals - nice - but what do you think they were using in the Bosch factory 30 years ago? Don't forget these IC's are pre-CMOS and take a good slug of ESD before they give up.

As long as you clip a ground wire to the soldering iron, and to the board too, virtually any modern iron will be fine.

[Wedg1e]

Metcal? Pah. I still have the Antex temperature-controlled 30W that I've had since I was a radio ham in my teens. It's only on its third cable, has had two replacement elements and a new handle

[Toltec]

adam quantrill said:

Metcals - nice - but what do you think they were using in the Bosch factory 30 years ago? Don't forget these IC's are pre-CMOS and take a good slug of ESD before they give up.

As long as you clip a ground wire to the soldering iron, and to the board too, virtually any modern iron will be fine.

I suspect they were either flow soldered or at the very least a temperature controlled iron was used. You have no idea what temperature the tip on one of these cheap irons is at, with a bit of experience you can get away with one, but it is pretty easy to blow tracks right off a board if you are not careful. Worth spending a few quid more and getting a basic temp controlled iron at least.

I bought the Metcal psu for £30 second hand and while I went for a new handle etc. you can find complete sets for reasonable money if you are patient. The patent for the original design lapsed some time ago so you can get cheaper sets using the same technology now if you want new.

Besides, the way they work is cool

[Wedg1e]

Toltec said:

I suspect they were either flow soldered or at the very least a temperature controlled iron was used.

I was told (may have been Mark Adams) that the Lucas ECU assembly was almost a cottage industry and that they were hand-soldered. The same goes for lots of the electronics modules made by Pektron.

[RCK974X]

I worked at Ferranti in my youth (30-odd years ago...), and saw some of the smaller assembly lines and actually trained and worked on their testing lines for a short while.

Although you can easily imagine 'stone age' conditions, the Ferranti lines all used temp controlled Weller stations (the blue ones) and had proper earth straps etc. for the more sensitive CMOS stuff, and EVERYTHING was tested and calibrated (including solder tip temps) on a regular basis, with full documentation and labels.

So although Ferranti stuff was 'hand soldered' it was very tightly controlled and high quality - that's why a lot of their stuff still works today...even some of the early computer stuff was all hand soldered !!

So I'd be surprised if Lucas weren't at least a fair way along that quality line ....

I agree with above - a cheap iron is FAR more likely to lift the copper track off the board - it's worth the extra for a reliable good quality soldering iron. A cheap one is false economy.

Edited by RCK974X on Thursday 6th November 01:49

[maston]

Is this the one from workzone ???
If so, completely ironic as I am after another iron after re soldering my ecu a couple of weeks ago as the one I bought from Aldi a little while ago (for just £4.99 - the same one !!!) now does not work

I might buy another one though but don't expect it to last for long.
Mine lasted for 4 uses and that was it !!!!

Edited by maston on Thursday 6th November 12:46

[GOG440]

maston said:

Is this the one from workzone ???
If so, completely ironic as I am after another iron after re soldering my ecu a couple of weeks ago as the one I bought from Aldi a little while ago (for just £4.99 - the same one !!!) now does not work

I might buy another one though but don't expect it to last for long.
Mine lasted for 4 uses and that was it !!!!

Edited by maston on Thursday 6th November 12:46

Missed the replies here, yes mate it is the Workzone one.
I havent done any soldering for a very long time but I thought this might be useful.

[adam quantrill]

That's ridiculous Ian - ask for a refund. Even the cheapo one I bought in Thailand for a pound still works many years later.