need opinion

[ed1380]

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

[nanob0t]

I cannot view it.  Perhaps send another link?  or maybe the part has it's own website?   

[JonHylands]

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

[ed1380]

sry '
tb100pk

[JonHylands]

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

[ed1380]

Not $100-200 serious

$50 is as high as I'll go. won't pay more than $30 unless it's solid gold 
What's a $30 pencil type that performs almost as good as the expensive one

[JonHylands]

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

[ComputerGeek]

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).

[trigger]

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.   

[ed1380]

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?

[gallatorix]

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.