Need advice buying my first soldering iron

Hello,

I am totally new to electronics and have zero knowledge on the subject. I have to fix my daughters vintage toy which has a simple motor, switch, battery and cogs set up. The motor is old and the worm gear is cracked. I’ve just bought a replacement motor and I’m currently trying to track down a replacement worm gear.

Anyway, I will need to do some soldering connecting the motor to the two wires. I’ll need to remove the solder and wires and then replace them, so I’m going to need a soldering iron. I’m pretty interested in electronics and have just bought myself a book with a few small projects in so I’d like to buy a soldering iron that will be suitable for many projects. I’m initially looking to spend around £50 but that could change once I have more of an understanding on the subject. You may notice by that pound sign I’ll need it to be available in the UK. I can’t find any decent reviews or a busy electronics forum in the UK so I hope you Americans can help me out.

Could anyone please advise me on good quality soldering iron for around £50 - $80 maybe a little more if it is worth it?

Thank you!

you should buy solder iron of 40W or 60W. 40W will work fine. by the way you are a good father.

There is a similar thread here https://www.edaboard.com/threads/222272/

There are also some variable temperature stations like ATTEN-AT936b or ATTEN-AT969D sold mainly in China stores, I haven't tried them but I have bought an ATTEN hot air station which was fine.

My personal favorite is Weller TC201T (US 42W) or Weller TCP-S (EU 50W) but is more expensive than your budget and in addition you will need a 24v/2A transformer for power supply.
The temperature setting is based on the tip (5 available temperatures), it is a magnetic tip that stops behaving like a magnet when a specific temperature is reached and then becomes a magnet again when the temperature drops, this property is used to pull a switch and turn on/off the heater and keep the temperature in a constant range.

Alex

I'd highly recomend the Hakko 936 if you can track one down (it has been discontinued). They replaced it with the 888, which looks like a kids toy. However if you can get past its ridiculous looks, I'm sure it'd be great.

My experience with Hakko soldering stations is that they heat up VERY quick, the tips last almost forever, and they are built to last.

I've been happy with my Hakko 936 but like Hewitson said, it was discontinued and replaced with the FX-888 years ago and there are many low quality counterfeit and clone 936's out there. In Europe you can get an FX-888 in black.

[HAKKO] : Soldering iron : HAKKO FX-888

Hello, I have been looking for a hakko fx 888 from the european area for a while now & can't find any.Would anybody be kind enough to put up some links please, I wonld be very grateful.I live in Ireland & it is a (curse word) getting anything shipped here because it is so expensive From asia or the USA especailly a hakko fx 888 in the right voltage.Would settle for a hakko 936 if I could find one also.
Thanks

I recommend you consider a Weller soldering station. That's a fancy name for an iron, usually 24V, and a transformer in a nice housing. The housing usually has a convenient holder for the iron on top.

Their power rating is 40 -45W, and there is a range of tip sizes and shapes, and each range is available in two or three temperatures.

The tip's tremperature is controlled by the Curie effect (look it up).

£50 might be a bit short of what the main distributors charge, but I'm sure you will find one at least near that price on eBay.

Arctic Jack said:

I am totally new to electronics and have zero knowledge on the subject.

Click to expand...

I've done virtually all my soldering using a basic 15W (non temperature-controlled) soldering iron over many years, so that goes a long way. Mine is a Weller, and they have a reputation of making quality / long-lasting soldering tools.

For a beginner a 25W iron might be more suitable, but more power = higher temperatures = quicker damage to components and circuit boards. So for >25W it's better to look for a temperature-controlled soldering station. Which (in my humble opinion) is not worth spending the money on until you have at least some basic soldering experience.

Also understand that tips (shape, quality, maintenance) are equally important for good soldering results. These days a lot of projects involve surface mount (SMD) components, where a basic 15W iron with good-as-new, fine tip is more useful than nice soldering station with big, worn-down tip (and replacement tips are cheap).

Better spend the money on parts & other tools. When you have some experience & decide to proceed with electronics as a hobby, buy better tools as needed.

I have seen a WELLER EC2100A FE SOLDERING IRON STATION for sale secondhand,I have been trying to find out some info about it but cant seem to find any.Does anyone have any info or links they could throw my way please.
@ syncopator Thanks for help

I would buy a cheap 60W pencil iron, that way if it dies someday you havnt lost much, one that has a high/low switch helps keep the tip from eroding away. As soon as its hot wipe tip on a damp rag that cleans it nice. When your done tap it sharply on something to knock off excess solder.

To desolder a part heat till solder melts then blow it off, take the guts out of a cheap pen use that for a blow pipe, works good.

Dont use acid core flux on electronics use rosin core.

For soldering stuff thats too big find a huge pencil tip iron at a garage sale, the tip on that is about 1/4 inch. The one I have was made in about 1940 I call her big bertha.