Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Electronics => Electronics => Topic started by: ed1380 on April 18, 2007, 08:15:04 PM

Title: need opinion
Post by: ed1380 on April 18, 2007, 08:15:04 PM
what is your guys opinion on TB100PK?
IMO for $20 it can't be beat. no need for a stand since it's a handle type. and you can use alot of stuff instead of a sponge
Title: Re: need opinion
Post by: nanob0t on April 19, 2007, 04:03:43 AM
I cannot view it.  Perhaps send another link?  or maybe the part has it's own website?   :(
Title: Re: need opinion
Post by: JonHylands on April 19, 2007, 05:00:33 AM
You need to provide the Digikey part number. The search uses a cookie that is on your computer, and doesn't help us at all...

- Jon
Title: Re: need opinion
Post by: ed1380 on April 19, 2007, 05:27:56 AM
sry '
tb100pk
Title: Re: need opinion
Post by: JonHylands on April 19, 2007, 11:44:35 AM
I personally have both a soldering gun, and a soldering iron. There's a reason the pros use soldering irons for electronics work. It is very difficult to hold a gun-shaped object very precisely, especially since the heavy heating coil is inside. A good soldering iron weighs almost nothing, and is held much like a pencil, which makes the whole thing much more steady and simple.

Use a soldering gun for house and car (read: heavy duty) soldering. Use a soldering iron for electronics.

If you're serious about robotics, you will end up spending more on your tools than you do on your actual robots. A good soldering iron is really fundamental. You're going to spend between $100 and $200 for a decent quality iron, and its very worthwhile, because you spend so much time working with it.

- Jon
Title: Re: need opinion
Post by: ed1380 on April 19, 2007, 02:30:41 PM
Not $100-200 serious

$50 is as high as I'll go. won't pay more than $30 unless it's solid gold  :D
What's a $30 pencil type that performs almost as good as the expensive one
Title: Re: need opinion
Post by: JonHylands on April 19, 2007, 02:40:56 PM

Read this:

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/2671

That is what I have, and it is worth it. I used crappy $30 irons for years before I got that one, and what a difference!

- Jon
Title: Re: need opinion
Post by: ComputerGeek on April 19, 2007, 03:49:03 PM
Now you see I always thought because of the high power a soldering gun was used for plumbing. Radio Shack would have a cheap soldering iron. Your just heating up a piece of metal of all of the things in your kit to ignore quality on I think the soldering iron would be the one. As for my opinion concern your self more with the gauge of the tip and the content of the solder. I wasted a good year thinking there was no difference between plumbing solder and the electronic stuff (flux content).
Title: Re: need opinion
Post by: trigger on April 19, 2007, 04:54:11 PM
Now you see I always thought because of the high power a soldering gun was used for plumbing. Radio Shack would have a cheap soldering iron. Your just heating up a piece of metal of all of the things in your kit to ignore quality on I think the soldering iron would be the one. As for my opinion concern your self more with the gauge of the tip and the content of the solder. I wasted a good year thinking there was no difference between plumbing solder and the electronic stuff (flux content).

To each his own.  But I'll echo Jon's advice.  I have a RadioShack $7 soldering iron, and it heats and solders way too slowly.  It would be absolutely useless for surface mount work.  But I don't solder all that often right now, so I'll upgrade later.  But when I was in college, we had nice irons that heated quickly, soldered well, and could be used on the smallest SMDs.  If you're going to do a lot of soldering, do yourself a favor and buy a good one.   
Title: Re: need opinion
Post by: ed1380 on April 19, 2007, 05:59:01 PM
I know if you do something alot you get the best, hence my nice pc, but I won't be soldering small surface mounts(except the darn 5v regualtors maxim gave me(3x4mm), so I'll be fine
I managed to do the $50 robot with a blunt 150watt(the tip is 1/8" x 1/8") gun, so probably I'll manage with a $30 one.
what's the best I can get for $30?
Title: Re: need opinion
Post by: gallatorix on April 24, 2007, 09:57:01 PM
has anyone used a soldering kit before? i found one on the net and it has a soldering iron, wire cutters and a soldering practice board. I was wondering because i started building the $50 robot and i needed a soldering iron.