Author Topic: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?  (Read 4730 times)

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Offline MaltiKTopic starter

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Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« on: September 30, 2008, 06:52:51 AM »
Does anyone recommend this over a regular 50w soldering iron from say R-Shack? If so Why?
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Offline Qubix

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2008, 08:55:48 AM »
I bought one once and it was absolute rubbish  :-\  There are some reviews about on the web that say pretty much the same thing.
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Offline ArcMan

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2008, 11:05:25 AM »
I won't even acknowledge the existence of such a piece of crap...

But I do want to weigh in on soldering irons.  If you're in the market, you may want to invest in a good Weller iron with a control station.  After 30 years of soldering (OK, I'm old) with the good ol' Radio Shack type iron, I bought a Weller.  What a dream!  I've been kicking myself for not investing the $100 years ago.

Offline Trumpkin

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2008, 11:38:36 AM »
I couldn't agree more with what ArcMan said.
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Offline pomprocker

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2008, 04:10:30 PM »
i bought one once too...it was useless :(

Offline TrickyNekro

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2008, 04:41:19 PM »
Buy a Weller......
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Offline Smoothmachines

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #6 on: October 01, 2008, 03:47:03 AM »
ERSA stations with temp control are also smooth, powerful and very durable, my best investment...

Offline Trumpkin

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2008, 08:45:07 AM »
Wellers are just amazing. ;D
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Offline MaltiKTopic starter

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #8 on: October 01, 2008, 03:36:29 PM »
Im thinking about getting this: http://store.cs-sales.net/welowcosoirs.html

its a Weller Low Cost Soldering Iron Station 40 Watts # WLC100
is it good for the price? ($32 USD)
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Offline dunk

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #9 on: October 01, 2008, 06:15:45 PM »
so if you are just starting out soldering the i would say go for a reasonably priced one.
it will probably give you years of good use and you won't find any reason to upgrade.
i honestly don't know if the $32 soldering station you linked to is any good though. in that price range i only have experience with stand alone soldering irons.
i used something like this for years: http://store.cs-sales.net/we30wa1280pr.html

also invest in a solder sucker and solder braid. when staring out you will end up desoldering mistakes as often as soldering.
also good quality solder. skimping on solder will only make things harder.

for any one who does a lot of soldering with a similar iron i would highly recommend investing in a digitally controlled soldering station.
your current $32 iron might seem like all you will ever need but trust me here.
while it's definitely not worth the money if you don't know yet how much you will use it, but a professional iron saves you a lot of time and effort if you solder a lot.
spend as much as you can bring your self to. (my current iron was E250 or there abouts.)
having controllable temperature and 30 second warm up time make soldering far less effort.
the time saved avoiding dry joints from incorrect soldering temperatures saves you loads of debugging time once you progress to more advanced circuitry.


dunk.

Offline Trumpkin

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #10 on: October 02, 2008, 08:38:25 AM »
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Offline ArcMan

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #11 on: October 02, 2008, 11:14:21 AM »
I think that WLC100 would be a fine beginners iron.  I also have the WES51.  One thing that steered me toward the WES51 was the availability of so many different tips.  I have 3 different tips that I use for different applications.

Offline MaltiKTopic starter

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #12 on: October 02, 2008, 03:25:26 PM »
so if you are just starting out soldering the i would say go for a reasonably priced one.
it will probably give you years of good use and you won't find any reason to upgrade.
i honestly don't know if the $32 soldering station you linked to is any good though. in that price range i only have experience with stand alone soldering irons.
i used something like this for years: http://store.cs-sales.net/we30wa1280pr.html

also invest in a solder sucker and solder braid. when staring out you will end up desoldering mistakes as often as soldering.
also good quality solder. skimping on solder will only make things harder.

for any one who does a lot of soldering with a similar iron i would highly recommend investing in a digitally controlled soldering station.
your current $32 iron might seem like all you will ever need but trust me here.
while it's definitely not worth the money if you don't know yet how much you will use it, but a professional iron saves you a lot of time and effort if you solder a lot.
spend as much as you can bring your self to. (my current iron was E250 or there abouts.)
having controllable temperature and 30 second warm up time make soldering far less effort.
the time saved avoiding dry joints from incorrect soldering temperatures saves you loads of debugging time once you progress to more advanced circuitry.


dunk.

why is the one I linked to cheaper, but higher wattage and comes with the entire bundle, while yours is more expensive and lower wattage?
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Offline Trumpkin

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #13 on: October 02, 2008, 08:04:58 PM »
Higher wattage does not equal better.
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Offline szhang

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #14 on: October 03, 2008, 02:56:38 AM »
Even a radioshack firestarter is better than a cold heat  :P

I have a Aoyue lead-free digital station that costs about 60 bucks.  The brand is less well known than Weller, but from my experience with Weller irons it is just as good.

It also heats up amazingly fast, about 10 seconds.
« Last Edit: October 03, 2008, 03:00:42 AM by szhang »

Offline ArcMan

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #15 on: October 03, 2008, 07:32:32 AM »
why is the one I linked to cheaper, but higher wattage and comes with the entire bundle, while yours is more expensive and lower wattage?

Better temperature control, smaller more comfortable iron, easy tip changeout with a broad selection of tips.


Offline izaktj

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Re: Cold Heat Soldering Iron?
« Reply #16 on: October 04, 2008, 01:02:01 AM »
I have the WES51 http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/weller/solder/wes51.htm
Hey that's the one they have at my college, they got like 20 of those lol

 


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