Part recommendation

All things antweight

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Shakey
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Re: Part recommendation

Post by Shakey »

I use this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/60W-Soldering ... SwBahVNP62

It's excellent and quite low priced aswell.
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oxhey
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Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2015 8:31 pm

Re: Part recommendation

Post by oxhey »

Shakey wrote:I use this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/60W-Soldering ... SwBahVNP62

It's excellent and quite low priced aswell.
Seems a bit pricey :) , and I can't justify £40 for something that will rarely get used.

Was thinking something more like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soldering-Adju ... ering+iron
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Rapidrory
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Re: Part recommendation

Post by Rapidrory »

TBH, that one would probably do you fine. With a temperature controlled iron you'll want to solder with it at around 350C, assuming the temperature setting is accurate.

If you're using unleaded solder you may want to swap to using this stuff as it's so much nicer to solder with: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-AS1 ... EKM84KDS8G
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BeligerAnt
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Re: Part recommendation

Post by BeligerAnt »

For soldering irons the best advice is to get a sponge and keep it damp for cleaning the tip. Cleaning the tip will make it last a LOT longer and make soldering much easier. Rory's tip about using leaded (60/40 tin-lead) solder is spot on, lead-free solder is a right pain to use and unnecessary for hobby use. Just wash your hands after using it, and don't eat it! :o

Also, look for an iron with a range of tips and a source of replacements. Tips wear out (especially if you don't clean them!) and a replacement tip is much cheaper than a replacement iron. A range of tips is very useful if you want to solder everything from relatively heavy wires to small components/pads on PCBs. There's not much more frustrating than trying to solder a small joint with a too-big iron.
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oxhey
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Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2015 8:31 pm

Re: Part recommendation

Post by oxhey »

BeligerAnt wrote:For soldering irons the best advice is to get a sponge and keep it damp for cleaning the tip. Cleaning the tip will make it last a LOT longer and make soldering much easier. Rory's tip about using leaded (60/40 tin-lead) solder is spot on, lead-free solder is a right pain to use and unnecessary for hobby use. Just wash your hands after using it, and don't eat it! :o

Also, look for an iron with a range of tips and a source of replacements. Tips wear out (especially if you don't clean them!) and a replacement tip is much cheaper than a replacement iron. A range of tips is very useful if you want to solder everything from relatively heavy wires to small components/pads on PCBs. There's not much more frustrating than trying to solder a small joint with a too-big iron.
Thanks,

The iron I have purchased has a range of tips and the solder iv got is the one Rory recommended.

I'm hard at work designing a simple holder for a sponge which I will 3d print.

I should have some time on Sunday to get the work done.

Just need to watch some YouTube videos to brush up on good soldering techniques.

Should be fun :)
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SUSPENDED! - I dont have the time/money to fully commit and I may have killed a motor and my NanoTwo :o !

I may give this another go at some point, but for now its over.
Rapidrory
Posts: 1160
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:54 pm

Re: Part recommendation

Post by Rapidrory »

Eh, I rarely clean my iron tip, it's about 20 years old, and it still does 0.5mm pitch surface mount soldering just fine :L Cleaning it is good advice and will make your tips last especially if you're using a lot of flux, but you'll probably be fine without just doing wires for the occasional ant... Maybe just give it a wipe once you're done.
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