Soldering irons?

I've got a couple. 2 wellers, one has adjustable temp, the other is 25 watts, and an iso tip. Anything bigger gets the old Weller 200 watt gun or a torch.
I'd probably only have the 25 watt on if my Dad wasn't an electronic expiramentor, and thus me, by proxy.
 
I have a weller wes51 and I recommend them.

It sounds like you just need a new tip. Buy a quality tips in different shapes, you would be surprised how much better a new tip can make an iron seem.
 
I use a Maddell soldering station and buy them factory direct from Maddell. The factory store has great prices. They also make very large equipment for electronic manufacturing. I have had mine for more than 10 years and use it very frequently. Tips are cheap and easy to replace. Their customer support is great.

 
I just have a cheap Lenk L25 soldering iron that I've had for years. It works great for fixing car electrical wiring which is what I use it mostly for. I've also used it to add resisters to a circuit board.
 
I do a lot of soldering. Most of it is for point-to-point circuitry, not for delicate circuit board work. I too think 40W is enough. The only time you should want more power is if you're soldering wires to chassis ground.

An upgrade would be a station with temperature control, as suggested above.
 
I have both... A Weller model 8200, 100/140 watt gun and a 40 watt pencil iron. The Weller gun is good for spurious work. The iron is best for continuous work such as rewiring a radio.

If I try to use the gun for a long time it overheats and performs poorly. It's not designed for resting times that are too short. It's good for one minute, but then must rest for five minutes. The pencil iron runs continuously.

Don't let the wattage fool you. The 40 watt iron will solder electrical work as well as the gun.

Since I go through a lot of tips on my gun, I learned to make my own from 10 gauge house wiring.

The Weller gun is the one my dad bought in 1961.
 
RanoldDD said:
I have the Hakko soldering station for hobby purposes like you said. It is amazing, I would never go back or go to any other I think. It holds heat really well and it heats up really fast. I would not recommend to anyone the cheap soldering stations. I bought one but the tip is oxidizing really fast even with flux, plus there are no clear temperature readings, the heating is usually slow and when you solder a joint, you have to wait again for the thing to heat up. Read this article to find out more https://www.craftyhangouts.com/best-soldering-irons-for-stained-glass/
Click to expand...
Depends on your luck (or due diligence/research), what is cheaply made vs what is discounted to a great deal. A few years back I picked up a 75W Yihua 939D (old Hakko model clone) station on sale + ebay coupon for $23 delivered and it has been great for what it is. I intended it to only be a backup to my Hakko (both take 900M series tips) but decided to instead put it on a different work bench and have no reservations using it instead.

The thing is, quality control can be a lottery. Some of them have poor solder joints, and I've seen some other brands of Hakko clones with cheap wand wiring that falls apart, and some hakko clone or counterfeit tips are better than others too so I focus most on getting genuine Hakko tips.
 
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