My first decent soldering iron

I've DIYed hundreds of kits and here's what I use.

A 15 watt soldering Iron
Soldier that contains at least or > 2% silver.
Hakko 808 desoldering gun ( the only way to fix mistakes )
Wen 100 watt soldering iron ( for the big wires )
Harbor Freight headband magnifier ( It moves with your head )
Good luck





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Hakko 888 and a Aoyue 8800 desoldering vacuume iron, it's not a Hakko, but it was 1/2 the price.

Right. "lead free solder" doesn't work.
I've bought built DIY projects from other people and they use what seems to be electrical solder.
Can't reheat or desolder the stuff.
Also the thinner the solder the better.
I use .015" diameter 62/36/2 silver bearing solder. Even the .022 seems too thick. I also wash my hands often after handling the solder.
I use 99% Isopropyl Alcohol to clean the boards before and after soldering. You can order it at your drug store.

Leadfree needs around 20% more heat than leaded solder.
Unless you have an temperature adjustable iron you'll be lucky to get it to flow and even if you do poor joints are almost guaranteed.

Solder at 750 degrees. Keep your tip clean, the brass sponges are great. Use good solder, makes a big difference.

They may want to keep lead pipes out of plumbing but you can always find lead solder in the plumbing dept!!

I have to disagree on a couple of points here.

First, I would absolutely avoid any 15 watt irons. Or even 25 watt irons for almost everything except maybe stuff like the #42-#44 wire found in pickups and similar. The reason for this is that I've seen far, far more lifted and burned traces on PC boards, melted capacitors, damaged semiconductors, and melted/burned insulation on wires and in cable building caused by applying an underpowered iron that can't adequately overcome the heat sinking effect of the work or of the tools being used to hold the components (and having done plenty of that sort of damage myself when I was young, inexperienced, and stupid enough to believe the conventional wisdom of the so-called "experts" (aka idiots) who write beginner's guides) before getting enough experience, observation of what was really going on, and confidence to understand that you're much less likely to cause damage to the work and will find the job much less frustrating by using a somewhat higher capacity iron, using the proper techniques, and being quick so you don't burn stuff up, which is what happens when you apply prolonged heat from an underpowered iron that just barely can't  heat the work enough for a joint. I use a 40 watt iron for most stuff, ideally one that's part of a temperature controlled station. With a temperature controlled station you can dial it back for fine work but still maintain an adequate heat reserve - the best of both worlds.. For soldering stuff like ground connections to chassis or the cases of pots and switches I prefer a big honkin' Weller gun of about 150 watts because those kinds of surfaces will heat sink your iron to the point that you'll never get a decent joint with a smaller iron - unless there's already a big gob of old solder that you can get a quick joint to before the larger metal of the work drains all your heat - but that's really considered bad practice because you can't be absolutely certain that you have a good joint to the work under that gob (and it's ugly). Much better to haul out the big gun for that stuff if you have one.

On non-reflow soldering add the solder to the heated work, not trhe iron - although it very often helpful to "wet" the tip of the iron with a bit of solder to aid in heat transfer as well. And always tin your work.

What is important is to practice with scrap work until your touch is fast and sure.  Adequate heat capacity and sureness and speed are the ticket to good soldering.

Always clean and tin your work before soldering. For most electronics except PC work it's a good idea to tin both surfaces liberally (*but not excessively) before bringing the parts together for the actual joint. ( on PC boards obviously you don't want to clog the holes in the board but you do want a thin layer of new, clean solder.) Then you bring the pieces ofd the work together and touch the iron to them just long enough to remelt the solder. This is called "reflow technique". On PC boards you will obviously need to add a little additional solder to complete the joint. (You won't find reflow soldering in any of the common beginner's "how to solder" guides but it's the most common technique used by most service techs. When I first apprenticed as a tech to bring my hobbyist electronics skills up to more professional one of the first things my boss taught me was reflow soldering and it came as a complete revelation. Suddely I was soldering much more quickly and reliably than I ever had before! I have no idea why the common tutorials on soldering don't mention it - they should.)

Wipe the tip of your iron on a soldering sponge after each joint and keep the tip tinned with frequent use iof tip tinning compound - a dirty iron won't make good joints.

I generally avoid the use of silver bearing solder unless I'm working on something already soldered with it or unless I'm working on something being sent to a country with excessively restrictive ROHS laws (most countries now have ROHS exceptions for devices that are not commercially mass produced) (or if I'm working on something where silver bearing solder is specifically specified in the service documentation, like certain areas in Tektronics scopes) - it's significantly harder to get a good joint with silver bearing solder and it melts at a significantly higher temperature. What I use is 63/37 lead/tin solder, which is eutectic melting point solder - it's the ratio of alloy components that yeilds the lowest possible melting point with essentially zero "slush phase" - which is a major cause of bad joints. Most common "electronic grade" solder is 60/40, which works but is not nearly as good as 63/37. When working larger or heavier work you should clean it with fine sandpaper and apply flux to the metal before soldering (make sure it's rosin based flux for electronics, not plumber's flux like you usually find at the hardware store. Plumber's flux is acid and will eat your work. Clean excess flux off after soldering.

Use clip-on heat sinks on component leads and wires whenever possible to prevent heat going up the conductor and possibly damaging something.

Try and keep a set of tips of different configurations available for your iron - having the right tip can make things a lot easier.

Well, that's all I can think of at the moment - if I've forgotten anything I'll make another entry...

I think this is what I'll order. Thanks!