weller soldering station or just iron?

[T-bro]

hey all, i'm about to get me a weller... station or iron i dont know yet. so i need help. is it better for me (i'm building some hobby and small circuits nothing big for now) to get a station or just an iron?? some advice plz

 

[killivolt]

hey all, i'm about to get me a weller... station or iron i dont know yet. so i need help. is it better for me (i'm building some hobby and small circuits nothing big for now) to get a station or just an iron?? some advice plz

I'm using a weller wes51 Been a good iron so far. Back when I worked in a electronics shop we had them on 10hrs a day. We just had to keep replacing the tips when they became heat stressed.

I think the one I have now was under $60.00us.


kv

 

[BuffaloEngineer]

I'm using a Weller WES51 also, which is what I started using in school - I looked at a lot of less expensive ones, but for a piece of equipment that so important, I decided not to mess around. I would definitely recommend the WES51 since I've never used anything else except the cheap Radioshack irons.

 

[dknguyen]

Biggest thing about an iron is the dumb wire gets in the way. With a station the station weights down the wire so it doesn't try and hang everywhere.

 

[shimniok]

Is the station adjustable heat? That'd be the ideal from what I am told.

Meanwhile my little Weller pencil iron has served me well for years now. Amazing how much better my solder joints are with a decent iron.

 

[dknguyen]

I've never seen a station that wasn't adjustable heat. But the pencil I have is adjustable heat too.

 

[shimniok]

Cool. What pencil do you have?

 

[dknguyen]

THe pencil I have is this one:
GootPX-201 lead free soldering iron temperature controlled.

 

[HiTech]

I just use one of these units pictured below. I never have to worry about not having enough wattage. However I seem to have destroyed a good many IC chips and MOSFETs, etc. It could be from current surges and heat. Hmmm.

**broken link removed**

 

[shimniok]

THe pencil I have is this one:
GootPX-201 lead free soldering iron temperature controlled.

Nice! Thanks for the ... er... tip. I mean... thanks for ironing that out for me... erm... ok I'll stop, sorry.

HiTech -- lol, yeah that is what I need... (actually I do need one of those for the Jeep but that is another story entirely)

Michael

 

[microtexan]

soldering iron

I just use one of these units pictured below. I never have to worry about not having enough wattage. However I seem to have destroyed a good many IC chips and MOSFETs, etc. It could be from current surges and heat. Hmmm.

**broken link removed**

Didn't you get the surface mount attachment?

 

[kpatz]

I just use one of these units pictured below. I never have to worry about not having enough wattage. However I seem to have destroyed a good many IC chips and MOSFETs, etc. It could be from current surges and heat. Hmmm.

**broken link removed**

Try grounding it, that should help with your issue of frying MOSFETs.

 

[theinfamousbob]

Didn't you get the surface mount attachment?

Oh geez...it'd look like some kind of weird mutation of a DIP desoldering tip.

 

[dknguyen]

Only if you have no skill. Otherwise it would look like a perfect welded joint with no distinction between trace and pin.

 

[T-bro]

just got me a weller w61. very good at first use would recommend