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Choosing a Soldering Iron?


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Just to clarify, my "full blast" is 450 degrees.  If the iron is up to it, I don't see the point of using a lower temperature unless the specific nature of the work requires it.

 

DT

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May be a bit late, but i use an 80W Atten iron which i purchased from dcc concepts.

 

its probably the best bit of money i have spent since i started going mad rewiring locos/decoders and building white metal kits.

 

comes with a fine and a blunt tip,  has temp control with digital display and gets up to temp in around 10-15 seconds.

also goes into sleep mode if not used for a while, eventually turning off.

 

its excellent.

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On 26/11/2020 at 22:50, Phil Parker said:

I understand that you don't want to mix the solders on the tips, although I'm not convinced. Powerflow flux works for both after all.

 

I asked Tony Wright about separate tips for solder a while back (I believe I may have read it in an Iain Rice book once); Tony had never heard it and uses the same tip whatever the solder.

 

On 29/11/2020 at 08:53, Torper said:

I use full blast on most things unless there is some specific reason not to (which is fairly rare).

 

DT

 

Am I right in thinking that 145 may give off nasty fumes if too high a temp is used?

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5 minutes ago, polybear said:

I asked Tony Wright about separate tips for solder a while back (I believe I may have read it in an Iain Rice book once); Tony had never heard it and uses the same tip whatever the solder.

 

I read the same book and would agree that my experience is that the tips don't get eaten - but I might just be lucky, or doing it wrong! I'm sure there is some science to prove who is right.

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8 hours ago, polybear said:

Am I right in thinking that 145 may give off nasty fumes if too high a temp is used?

 

Some 145 solders contain cadmium which can give off toxic fumes at 320 degrees and even with 145 solder many people will be using irons at temperatures above that.  Not all 145 solders contain cadmium, however - in fact I understand that cadmium has now been banned as a filler in solders, but check before you buy.  Many solders and fluxes give off fumes which is one reason I like to use a hot iron - quickly in, quickly out.

 

DT

Edited by Torper
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16 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

 

I read the same book and would agree that my experience is that the tips don't get eaten - but I might just be lucky, or doing it wrong! I'm sure there is some science to prove who is right.

In terms of mixing solders that's always a big no-no at work as you end up with a joint of unknown metal composition and potential long term reliability problems; in the the context of toy trains then fine no issue: the only time I've seen tips eaten away is with persistent use of strong acid fluxes as may be used for loco construction.

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  • 2 years later...

I am very pleased with the Circuit Specialists 70 watt solder station. If needed I would happily buy the same again, if I would change anything I would buy one with a de-soldering facility as well

 

This is what I have

https://www.circuitspecialists.eu/csi-premier75w-digital-temperature-controlled-solder-station-with-75w-soldering-iron

Buy an extra set of soldering tips of various sizes and a second handle

 

 

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4 hours ago, hayfield said:

I am very pleased with the Circuit Specialists 70 watt solder station. If needed I would happily buy the same again, if I would change anything I would buy one with a de-soldering facility as well

 

This is what I have

https://www.circuitspecialists.eu/csi-premier75w-digital-temperature-controlled-solder-station-with-75w-soldering-iron

Buy an extra set of soldering tips of various sizes and a second handle

 

 

 

This is the de-soldering station I bought, not necessarily an essential but is a great asset when building with either whitemetal or sheet material, certainly for working with whitemetal both units I wind down to 300c as advised by others when I asked about what Iron to buy a couple of years ago

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144177646580

s-l500.jpg

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3 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

This is the de-soldering station I bought, not necessarily an essential but is a great asset when building with either whitemetal or sheet material, certainly for working with whitemetal both units I wind down to 300c as advised by others when I asked about what Iron to buy a couple of years ago

300C seems a bit high for whitemetal, hot enough to melt it. (220-250C)

 

see here:

 

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16 hours ago, melmerby said:

300C seems a bit high for whitemetal, hot enough to melt it. (220-250C)

 

see here:

 

 

Its what I was advised to do by several members on here, and it works. The thing is always be careful !! as the melting point of whitemetal is about 150c if you keep an iron at 220c on an item too long it would also melt !!. Its always easier to put the iron on the joint for a second or third time, than build up a melted area.  You are aiming to fuse a 70c solder to a higher melting point piece of metal and heating the joint only not the two pieces to be joined

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16 hours ago, melmerby said:

300C seems a bit high for whitemetal, hot enough to melt it. (220-250C)

 

see here:

 

 

Knowing the K's kit as I have a couple, the main parts are massive lumps of whitemetal and a massive heat sink. On the basis that low melt solder has been used the de-solder station is the ideal tool. I needed to reposition a 7mm cab/tank side which had moved whilst being soldered, my iron would not move it, the hot air gun worked perfectly in  heating the joint area, but it needs to be done carefully 

 

If it is normal solder then grinding the solder away may be the only alternative

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I have the desoldering station Yihua 995D, and used it for the last 6 years and its brilliant. The hot air gun attachment is very useful for heatshrink, melting epoxy adhesive, de-soldering and soldering whitemetal and sweating brass joints as well. Yes, it you let it linger too long it will melt, but thats the same with any temp controlled iron anyway. i use the air gun at maximum heat/air and give a few passes of no more than a second or two and its enough for the solder to flow, but not melt the white metal. Perfect for small parts. The soldering iron attachment needed replacing this year (£35 from Grandada) and i have ate through a dozen or so tips but they are cheap and easy to find. Dont bother with copper tips. They were useless.

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4 hours ago, ianLMS said:

Dont bother with copper tips. They were useless.

Aren't all bits copper?

The only difference is that many are plated these days, which extends their life, unless you use abrasive cleaning.

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5 hours ago, melmerby said:

Aren't all bits copper?

The only difference is that many are plated these days, which extends their life, unless you use abrasive cleaning.

I dont know, but i imagine you are right. The ones i refer to were all copper, no plating. Cheap, so i guess you get what you pay for. No doubt higher quality ones would last longer. 

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Another question with a hundred answers.

 

The wattage will (or at least should) determine how quickly the iron comes back up to temperature, when you touch the hot tip against two cold pieces of metal.  The bigger the wattage the quicker you get back to the control temperature or max temperature for a non controlled iron.

 

So in principle the bigger the wattage the better.  However there is a point of diminishing returns.

 

My 75W iron gets from room temperature to control temperature in around 10-15 seconds.  Soldering 2 bits of thin etched brass and I barely see the tip temperature change.  A 150W iron would undoubtedly reduce the time to return to control temperature by a few fractions of a second - but for what?

 

Now if I were soldering big bits of brass as perhaps in 0 gauge or larger  loco frames, that delay might be a little bit bigger and that might just be important of I had a long seam to solder.  I have not done it so cannot be sure.

 

For most jobs - and certainly for anything I am likely to ever need - I would say 75W is more than adequate.   This for H0/00 brass, nickel silver/white metal.  Could I get the same results with 60W?  Probably but the 75W iron is widely available and because of its use in the electronics industry* produced in numbers and therefore relatively inexpensive.

 

* Where I think the requirement is to get in and out with the iron before significant radiant heat is transferred to adjacent heat sensitive components - so speed of reaching control temperature is more significant.

 

So there you have your variables:

availability and price of the soldering iron/station.

Speed to get tip to control temperature when in use.

Mass of the items to be soldered and their rate of heat conduction of the applied heat.

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As well as the wattage (which is very important) the size of the tip you use is also  important. I bought a pack of 10 different replacement tips, ranging from small to large. I have two Irons as one is a backup, but one has a small tip the other a large tip so I can quickly change tips if required, plus I always have a back up iron

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  • 11 months later...

Sorry to dig this thread up again. I’m looking for some advice. I’m looking to replace my Weller 40w with something with a bit more grunt. The usage case will be 4mm chassis primarily, that and general electronics. My first thought was the Atten 80w digital but I can’t find a supplier for the T2080-K tips, in fact tips in general seem to be quite limiting. The alternative I was considering was the ERSA icon pico, which I know I can get tips for. Has anyone got any experience with this unit and know if it would be suitable?

Edited by RCP
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