Solder iron questions.

[Prairie Dawg]

Schmutz is a yiddish term which means dirt, filth, or garbage. It's related to the English smut.

[soundguruman]

A really good soldering iron is NOT a 35 watt, that's for sure. Very limited usage, especially for working on tube amps.
You need to be able to crank the heat up or down, to do effective professional soldering, and a non-temperature controlled soldering "pencil" is too limited.
The larger the mass you are soldering, the higher the temperature needs to go. BECAUSE larger mass = greater heat dissipation. You MUST overcome the heat dissipation(with more energy)...to heat the mass to the correct temperature...in order to cause solder to FLOW. And furthermore, very importantly, the soldering iron needs to transfer HEAT to the object VERY fast, the faster the better...the sooner the solder will FLOW...the faster your connection is accomplished...the less damage to the component you are soldering.
Ineffective heat or heat transfer inhibits the flow of solder, resulting in a cold unreliable connection. The connection does not flow, appears "globby" and has a white-ish, caked, cloudy appearance.

So, for soldering tiny little circuit tracks, 35 watts may be ideal, but then moving to the much larger thicker power rails, it's useless...it don't work at all. This is because the mass is dissipating the heat, preventing the temperature from reaching your ideal flow characteristic.
The system needs to sense the temperature, adjust the applied energy, compensate for the dissipation of the mass being soldered, and do this very quickly and accurately...causing your solder to flow...minimizing your working time start to finish per connection, minimizing damage to the component being soldered. the improved heat transfer and speed resulting in the professional grade result vs. the amateur grade result...
And taking this above into consideration, into finding the ideal soldering station that produces the professional result...
I predict you will spend about $300- $400 dollars.
http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WD1002-.../dp/B000FVCCOQ
that station + a variety of tips, + the "soldering iron cleaner" which is a stainless steel cleaning pad, that you use in place of a wet sponge, the water being now obsolete...+ shipping

[big_teee]

A really good soldering iron is NOT a 35 watt, that's for sure. Very limited usage, especially for working on tube amps.
You need to be able to crank the heat up or down, to do effective professional soldering, and a non-temperature controlled soldering "pencil" is too limited.
The larger the mass you are soldering, the higher the temperature needs to go. BECAUSE larger mass = greater heat dissipation. You MUST overcome the heat dissipation(with more energy)...to heat the mass to the correct temperature...in order to cause solder to FLOW. And furthermore, very importantly, the soldering iron needs to transfer HEAT to the object VERY fast, the faster the better...the sooner the solder will FLOW...the faster your connection is accomplished...the less damage to the component you are soldering.
Ineffective heat or heat transfer inhibits the flow of solder, resulting in a cold unreliable connection. The connection does not flow, appears "globby" and has a white-ish, caked, cloudy appearance.

So, for soldering tiny little circuit tracks, 35 watts may be ideal, but then moving to the much larger thicker power rails, it's useless...it don't work at all. This is because the mass is dissipating the heat, preventing the temperature from reaching your ideal flow characteristic.
The system needs to sense the temperature, adjust the applied energy, compensate for the dissipation of the mass being soldered, and do this very quickly and accurately...causing your solder to flow...minimizing your working time start to finish per connection, minimizing damage to the component being soldered. the improved heat transfer and speed resulting in the professional grade result vs. the amateur grade result...
And taking this above into consideration, into finding the ideal soldering station that produces the professional result...
I predict you will spend about $300- $400 dollars.
Amazon.com: Weller WD1002 85w/120v Digital Soldering Station with WP80 Pencil: Home Improvement
that station + a variety of tips, + the "soldering iron cleaner" which is a stainless steel cleaning pad, that you use in place of a wet sponge, the water being now obsolete...+ shipping

That is why they invented different size Irons.
You can use different size irons for different size jobs.
You don't need a Nuclear reactor size Iron to solder a Input Jack.
Most of the 30-50 watt irons are adequate for most Jobs.
I use a larger iron for Chrome Pickup covers.
It seems like the trend, is always if you don't have the very best money can buy then you need to stay Home.
I reject that mentality!
Us Poor boys, use what we can afford, and the trick, is to be able to do more with less!
I've done it all my life!
Keep Rockin!
T

[J M Fahey]

@ km6xz: worst case, "щи да каша – пища наша" .
You'll survive

By the way, I'm actually making cabbage soup now (Doctor's orders) , and of course some kind of kasha can be improvised in 10 minutes, including cooking time, so I might follow my own suggestion.
No more than half a cup of carbs per meal, of course .

[diagrammatiks]

the entry level hakko or xytronic will last forever, cost under 100 bucks, and take care of everything amp wise.

[Bob M.]

My favorite station is a Weller WTCPT; it's an industry workhorse and will outlast individual soldering irons by alot. You can find them cheap, used on Ebay usually from electronics wholsalers/liquidators.

What Big Tee has to say about the idle/diode trick for single wattage soldering irons is a good idea. It saves the iron from burning out too quickly and will reach it's soldering temp much quicker when using this homemade gizmo.

What Gtr_tech says is also correct. I use a 20 watt for fine work like effect pedals and touchy circuitboards that do not want/need too much heat. I use a 100 watt for chassis soldering and the WTCPT for everything else, about 90% of my work.

I always wonder how bad constant inhalation of soldering fumes are for those of us who do this activity non-stop, over the years?

Bob M.

[Sowhat]

Schmutz is a yiddish term which means dirt, filth, or garbage. It's related to the English smut.

Yeah, that's what I thought, a technical term.

[Sowhat]

That is why they invented different size Irons.
You can use different size irons for different size jobs.
You don't need a Nuclear reactor size Iron to solder a Input Jack.
Most of the 30-50 watt irons are adequate for most Jobs.
I use a larger iron for Chrome Pickup covers.
It seems like the trend, is always if you don't have the very best money can buy then you need to stay Home.
I reject that mentality!
Us Poor boys, use what we can afford, and the trick, is to be able to do more with less!
I've done it all my life!
Keep Rockin!
T

I second your approach as well, I use two irons a big gun and a small pencil and I sometimes find that to be too many... ooh! I forgot to mention my butane iron that I never really use. A lot of us on this forum have more experience with tube equipment as well as solid state stuff than anyone can even imagine like 40 and 50 years+ and have finally weeded things down to the essentials and to what works for sure fire first time and every time. I have a nice sweep signal generator but often I just use my finger to trace a circuit... afterall, it's what I happened to have on hand at the time.

[Sowhat]

I always wonder how bad constant inhalation of soldering fumes are for those of us who do this activity non-stop, over the years?Bob M.

Been soldering since 1965 and it has not killed me yet, although I bet there are some who wish it had.

[Rhodesplyr]

I used a blue-handled Weller iron for 18 years, and when it finally gave out, I decided to buy the same model again, only to find that Weller, in the meantime, had been bought by Cooper Tools and production moved to Mexico. The new one never worked right, and the tips were inconsistent in their dimensions. The whole thing had been redesigned, and various parts kept coming unscrewed. This was about two years ago, so maybe they've worked out the kinks, but, after suffering with that disappointing piece of junk for a while, I bought a Hakko 936 soldering station. I LOVE it.

I work on Hammond Organs, and I occasionally have to do a lot of soldering if I have to remove a tone generator, as I did this week--around 150 solder terminal joints. I remember doing this with my old Weller iron, the good one, and even it would bog down and get so hot it would start to burn my hand. The Hakko zips through them like magic. I never have to wait for it to heat back up, and it never gets too hot to hold. It also comes up to full temperature in under 30 seconds, so I can turn it off when I don't need it. It's also nice to be able to vary the tip temperature, depending on whether you're trying to desolder ancient terminals or doing fine PCB work.

The Hakko tip cleaners that look like bronze pot scrubbers are also great. As I said, maybe Cooper Tools has gotten back on track with Weller, but Hakko never seems to have problems like that. Plus, when I complained to Cooper Tools about the Weller iron I bought, they basically told me to f--k off.

[big_teee]

Been soldering since 1965 and it has not killed me yet, although I bet there are some who wish it had.

I found this.
It looks like the rosin flux is the worst thing in solder.
http://www.elexp.com/tips/Health_Hazards.PDF
T

[Sowhat]

I used a blue-handled Weller iron for 18 years, and when it finally gave out, I decided to buy the same model again, only to find that Weller, in the meantime, had been bought by Cooper Tools and production moved to Mexico. The new one never worked right, and the tips were inconsistent in their dimensions. The whole thing had been redesigned, and various parts kept coming unscrewed. This was about two years ago, so maybe they've worked out the kinks, but, after suffering with that disappointing piece of junk for a while, I bought a Hakko 936 soldering station. I LOVE it.

I work on Hammond Organs, and I occasionally have to do a lot of soldering if I have to remove a tone generator, as I did this week--around 150 solder terminal joints. I remember doing this with my old Weller iron, the good one, and even it would bog down and get so hot it would start to burn my hand. The Hakko zips through them like magic. I never have to wait for it to heat back up, and it never gets too hot to hold. It also comes up to full temperature in under 30 seconds, so I can turn it off when I don't need it. It's also nice to be able to vary the tip temperature, depending on whether you're trying to desolder ancient terminals or doing fine PCB work.

The Hakko tip cleaners that look like bronze pot scrubbers are also great. As I said, maybe Cooper Tools has gotten back on track with Weller, but Hakko never seems to have problems like that. Plus, when I complained to Cooper Tools about the Weller iron I bought, they basically told me to f--k off.

Sorry to hear your Weller is dead, mine has been with me for over 30 years now and keeps on ticking. That Hakko sounds like a wonderment of modern technology to me and as I have implied before, if it works for you then happy soldering. It figures that Cooper behaves that way, there's no direct responsibility for anything anymore... it's just a pass the buck society. For the youngsters among us, have a happy future, things will only get worse with time like the ROHS ban on tin/lead solder... what's next? If you squint your eyes you can almost see the massive piles of toxic lead building up in our trash dumps.

[Rhodesplyr]

I should add that the Hakko 936 station only cost me a little over $100. Best money I've ever spent.