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by iigs 5541 days ago
Neat comic.

My opinion differs on soldering irons. I find that cheap electric soldering pens tend to give me poor results. For someone starting out I think this could be discouraging. Radio shack has a cheap butane pen that works much better for me. It does cost slightly more, but I find it is usable on a wider range of projects and can even heat shrink tube in a pinch.
2 comments
m0shen 5541 days ago
I would recommend buying an Aoyue temperature controlled soldering station (http://www.amazon.com/Aoyue-936-AOYUE-Soldering-Station/dp/B... $39.99)

It doesn't cost much to get a great iron.

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calloc 5541 days ago
Having used the Aoyue I found that it is not nearly as nice and does not keep temperature nearly as well as a nice Hakko soldering iron. The Hakko FX-888[1] (replacement for the Hakko 936) is absolutely fantastic. I used to own a Hakko 936 until it got stolen and it was by far the best soldering station I have ever owned.

[1]: http://www.hakkousa.com/detail.asp?CID=49&PID=4800&P...

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Florin_Andrei 5541 days ago
Cheap non-stabilized soldering irons are not for electronics. Use them for rough work such as soldering tin cans - and then get the largest baddest iron you can find. Or just use them as a generic focused source of solid heat - when the heat blow gun is too unfocused.

For electronics, use a soldering station, which is basically an iron that's stabilized and allows you to control the temperature.

Or use a soldering gun, but this is a bit of an acquired skill, and tends to fry sensitive CMOS devices (or anything that doesn't like EM fields and pulses). I still prefer the gun for regular components, but I'm probably old school.

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