soldering guns

[coldfusion21]

i want to learn to solder and was planning on putting together a megasquirt EFI computer(a DIY fuel computer aimed at people that want to retrofit non EFI cars) which is a whole circuit board that you have to put together, in a few months so i figured i better start learning. now i want to know any tips people have, and also what a good soldering "device"? (not sure exactly what they are called now days, when i searched for soldering irons all i got were these 19th century irons) im looking for anything that will help my search: a brand, a wattage, a brand to stay away from and so on.


TIA

 

[xonik]

What's your budget? Are you willing to pay about $100 for a soldering iron that will last for a lifetime if you maintain it properly? In some cases you can get by with a Radio Shack $7 iron as long as you're quick with the iron and not dealing with CMOS and/or surface mount ICs. Chances are, you WILL be dealing with CMOS and/or SM devices, so you should invest in a quality, grounded soldering STATION from Weller or Hakko. I just bought a nice Hakko 936-12 station with two tips and a nice tip cleaner for just under $100 shipped. Let me know and I can provide you the link to the vendor's site.

 

[coldfusion21]

well hmm, i know im not dealing with and CMOS devices altho i cant say for sure on the surface mount IC's i dont really want to spend 100 on a soldering station, i really dont want to spend over 50, as the reason this DIY fuel comp is so cool is because you can do it for around 200 and a 100 soldering station is half the cost of the actual unit.

 

[xonik]

Then in that case, try some of Weller's entry level soldering stations. They should be priced in the 50s or so. Fry's and many other electronics stores have Weller irons available. Try Froogle for other options as well.

 

[Nazo]

At radioshack, I found quite possibly the most convenient soldering iron I've ever seen. It's a small (relatively) portable soldering iron/mini blowtorch which runs on butane (it uses any standard refill such as those used for cigarette lighters) and seems to last about half a year for me when I buy one of those large cans you can find in most drug stores and gas stations (which are well under $10 for sure, and I think more in the area of $5, but I can't remember since I've only bought two so far.) I find it terribly useful due to the fact that since it is so small, light, and portable, I can just take it out to my car or whatever I need. Plus, I hear the rechargable kind has noise that can damage chips. If this has such a thing, I'm not aware of it, and I have yet to do any damage to any electronics so far with it. The blowtorch part isn't terribly useful normally as it can't seem to melt too much more than aluminum, but every now and then it's the slightest bit useful (maybe more useful for pipes or something I guess.) If I were you, I'd find something like that. I imagine that the other places like radioshack, such as frys would have such a thing. Also, I think it was only in the area of $30 (US) or so when I got it, but it has been so long I can't really remember anymore.

EDIT: Oh, and naturally it's adjustable to provide different temperatures. I cheat and use this fact to heat it to solder melting really fast and then turn it down to the minimum. I'm so impatient sometimes I don't like to wait around the minute or two it takes for a soldering iron tip to heat up enough on lower settings. However, I find that it kind of sparks and stuff at the absolute maximum setting, so I generally don't set it above 3/4 or so just to be on the safe side. When using the blowtorch tip, that variance at maximum setting can actually make the flame go out even, but really I'm more worried about something happening to cause it to explode (just a bit of paranoia when it comes to burning gas right under my face...) d-:

 

[coldfusion21]

good sugestion, but i have heard that these kind (the ones the run on butane) arnt as good for doing delicate electronic work as the ones that just plug into the wall, so i am really just looking for electric ones, altho i apreciate you sharing your experiance with the butane ones and that might be nice when im away from an outlet.

 

[gee]

I've used one of those yellow colored butane soldering irons from Radio Shack - a friend of mine bought one, and they're crap. The "temperature control" on them is really finicky, and they invariably run too hot even on the lowest setting.

I've got a Weller Portasol (butane soldering iron), but it's one of the original ones which has similar problems, but nowhere near as bad. I'm told that the newer Portasol ones have a way better temperature control system on them and are a *lot* better.

I'd get one of those if you want cordless, and if not, I'd get a nice Weller or Hakko temperature-controlled soldering station. I'm using a Hakko 936 here, and I couldn't be happier...

Whatever you do, *don't* get a soldering *gun* if you're building something like a Megasqurt. If memory serves me correct, that's one of those homebrew EFI controllers that use a 68HC11...

 

[Nazo]

Part of what it is is that it takes a good while to cool since it's actually using a seperate peice of metal that gets hot enough to keep the gas ignited inside it, so it takes it a while for temperatures to change. In fact, mine is red, not yellow (I never saw a yellow one, so I'm guessing they are an older model and they decided to improve due to complaints like the ones you just mentioned) and I can turn it down low enough that it barely keeps the gas ignited and isn't really quite enough to melt solder. However, I will admit that if you set it all the way up to, say the 3/4, then it will be far hotter than you need for normal circumstances (great for preheating as I mentioned before though and higher is better when it comes to desoldering usually.) Oh, and technically it's not directly a temperature control, it controls the amount of gas that flows through at a time, so indirectly it controls the temperature by burning more or less gas at a time. Anyway, as I said, so far I've yet to damage anything, and I've worked with some pretty small resistors and capacitors. I use this thing for everything, even when I splice cables I just pick it up and put a little solder on there to prevent contact problems (this is usually with audio, so wattage and heat aren't factors, but sound breaking up and playing on only one side sure is...) It's a convenience none of the others can offer. The only real complaint I'd have is that you have to first light it like a pilot light and wait for the metal inside to heat up enough to start glowing before it will get hot enough to do anything, but I can't really imagine any other way unless they had some kind of switch that hit a flint and maintained a flame inside the tip...

 

[coldfusion21]

yea its a homebrew EFI thing, the chipset is a "Motorola 68HC908 microprocessor " thats all i know of the actual processor, to be honest i dont really know alot of electronics so im not sure how that plays into what kinda solder "device" i use?

 

[Acceptable_Risk]

Don't get a soldering gun. Those are for plumbing. Use an iron like the rest of the civilized world.

 

[d03boy]

Originally posted by Acceptable_Risk
Don't get a soldering gun. Those are for plumbing. Use an iron like the rest of the civilized world.

Use an iron? Were you talking about a soldering iron, or trying to be funny?

 

[Acceptable_Risk]

Originally posted by d03boy
Use an iron? Were you talking about a soldering iron, or trying to be funny?

A soldering iron, of course. Was a different kind of iron implied?

 

[d03boy]

I thought you might have been making a joke, saying you use your clothes iron or something. haha