Soldering Iron recommendations

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Re: Soldering Iron recommendations

Post by Bg »

Slowy wrote:
GrantB wrote:Not wanting to hijack your thread OP, but can anyone tell if it is OK to grind a new sharp point on my big mofo of a soldering iron (the one I use to do grounding for pots etc)? I intend to make it sharp, then immediately heat and coat with flux & solder. Should I not do this for any reason?
I always do that; re-shape the tip with a file or grinder. Works fine, just shortens the life of the tip. Bear in mind if your iron is big and powerful, a fine tip will be very hot. Plan to work fast.
It does depend on the tip - the original olde worlde copper ones yes its fine, and recommended. But for the expensive coated tips, not recommended. Its never stopped me though, it just shortens their life.
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.

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Re: Soldering Iron recommendations

Post by StrummersOfThunder »

Soldering iron recommendations:
Hold onto the plastic end

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Re: Soldering Iron recommendations

Post by Slowy »

Bg wrote:
Slowy wrote:
GrantB wrote:Not wanting to hijack your thread OP, but can anyone tell if it is OK to grind a new sharp point on my big mofo of a soldering iron (the one I use to do grounding for pots etc)? I intend to make it sharp, then immediately heat and coat with flux & solder. Should I not do this for any reason?
I always do that; re-shape the tip with a file or grinder. Works fine, just shortens the life of the tip. Bear in mind if your iron is big and powerful, a fine tip will be very hot. Plan to work fast.
It does depend on the tip - the original olde worlde copper ones yes its fine, and recommended. But for the expensive coated tips, not recommended. Its never stopped me though, it just shortens their life.
Yeah, mine are copper.
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Re: Soldering Iron recommendations

Post by sizzlingbadger »

StrummersOfThunder wrote:Soldering iron recommendations:
Hold onto the plastic end
Both ends are plastic on those AliExpress models :winky:
Tube amp and guitar tones straight from 1958… amazing how believable the sounds were back then, even without the modellers...

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Re: Soldering Iron recommendations

Post by Bg »

sizzlingbadger wrote:
StrummersOfThunder wrote:Soldering iron recommendations:
Hold onto the plastic end
Both ends are plastic on those AliExpress models :winky:
Safer that way....
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.

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Re: Soldering Iron recommendations

Post by Slowy »

TmcB wrote:There's pretty much nothing in that range :(

The closest I've found is the Duratech station at Jaycar but that's still $120ish
I bought one of these last year.
It's like buying your first decent pedalboard power supply. It's a horrible amount of cash for what?
But once you do it, you discover how good it is and you'd never go back.
Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.

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Re: Soldering Iron recommendations

Post by TmcB »

Slowy wrote:
TmcB wrote:There's pretty much nothing in that range :(

The closest I've found is the Duratech station at Jaycar but that's still $120ish
I bought one of these last year.
It's like buying your first decent pedalboard power supply. It's a horrible amount of cash for what?
But once you do it, you discover how good it is and you'd never go back.
Couldn’t agree more
GrantB wrote:Tony, your taste is, as always, very refined. Or as HG would say, "bloody awful".
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Re: Soldering Iron recommendations

Post by StrummersOfThunder »

Don't try and solder on with codrel. That's just flu medicine.

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Re: Soldering Iron recommendations

Post by Slowy »

StrummersOfThunder wrote:Don't try and solder on with codrel. That's just flu medicine.
:rofl:
And never solder in your undies.
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Re: Soldering Iron recommendations

Post by codedog »

Slowy wrote:
StrummersOfThunder wrote:Don't try and solder on with codrel. That's just flu medicine.
:rofl:
And never solder in your undies.
Or stubbies. I was soldering at home after sports day at school. Still have the wee scar on my thigh from a blob of solder.

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Re: Soldering Iron recommendations

Post by sizzlingbadger »

When I was kid I made some exploding pellets for my air gun. I took red match heads, packed them into the back of the lead pellet and then put a blob of solder on the back using an Antex soldering iron my grandad had bought me. They worked really well when fired against a brick a wall. One day a pellet exploded while I was soldering and I got a spray of molten solder in my eye. I crapped myself at first, every time I closed my eye I could feel the fine solder beads that was stuck to my eyeball. It took a couple of days before it worked loose and got better. I didn't make them again after that.
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Re: Soldering Iron recommendations

Post by TmcB »

sizzlingbadger wrote:When I was kid I made some exploding pellets for my air gun. I took red match heads, packed them into the back of the lead pellet and then put a blob of solder on the back using an Antex soldering iron my grandad had bought me. They worked really well when fired against a brick a wall. One day a pellet exploded while I was soldering and I got a spray of molten solder in my eye. I crapped myself at first, every time I closed my eye I could feel the fine solder beads that was stuck to my eyeball. It took a couple of days before it worked loose and got better. I didn't make them again after that.
Shit you're hardcore!
GrantB wrote:Tony, your taste is, as always, very refined. Or as HG would say, "bloody awful".
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Re: Soldering Iron recommendations

Post by jeremyb »

Bloody hell!!
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Soldering Iron recommendations

Post by Molly »

This from Lindy Fralin.

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Re: Soldering Iron recommendations

Post by Fred »

I need to get a new soldering iron, bought a bunch of cabling and plugs from Lava Cables in December but still haven't been able to put them together. Super helpful tips here(mostly).

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