.

BeardyAndy

gringopig said:

LOL isn't that the hot end?

That's hilarious, she must have hands of steel!

Maybe its a scene from the new Terminator movie? 

gringopig

.

Philtre

gringopig said:

Ordered the Hakko FX-888D from HK Wentworth. Thanks all!

That was an extremely smart thing to do. You'll love it.

roberty

lasermonkey said:

For most of my working life (35+ years) I've used Weller TCP series irons and power supplies and they've been consistently good.

The only soldering irons I've liked more were the Metcal ones, which I used for a couple of years until I switched jobs. Yes, you could get through tips quickly if you weren't careful. We had that issue until the technical rep from Metcal advised us that the cleaning sponge should be nothing more than damp, and that fixed the problem. In fact, it's good advice for any soldering iron, as you don't want to be rapidly cooling a hot bit with a sodden sponge.

Mate that sponge tip has changed my life. Nice one 

BeardyAndy

roberty said:

lasermonkey said:

For most of my working life (35+ years) I've used Weller TCP series irons and power supplies and they've been consistently good.

The only soldering irons I've liked more were the Metcal ones, which I used for a couple of years until I switched jobs. Yes, you could get through tips quickly if you weren't careful. We had that issue until the technical rep from Metcal advised us that the cleaning sponge should be nothing more than damp, and that fixed the problem. In fact, it's good advice for any soldering iron, as you don't want to be rapidly cooling a hot bit with a sodden sponge.

Mate that sponge tip has changed my life. Nice one 

So is a sponge still better than the balls of copper wire you can buy?

Philtre

I use the ball of metal wire to clean my hot end. You get a cleaner finish.  

roberty

Philtre said:

I use the ball of metal wire to clean my hot end. You get a cleaner finish.  

I use the wire occasionally but sponge after every few joins. My sponge was too wet and it was effing over my tips. Couldn't figure out what was going on. It's fine now

robinbowes

BeardyAndy said:

roberty said:

lasermonkey said:

For most of my working life (35+ years) I've used Weller TCP series irons and power supplies and they've been consistently good.

The only soldering irons I've liked more were the Metcal ones, which I used for a couple of years until I switched jobs. Yes, you could get through tips quickly if you weren't careful. We had that issue until the technical rep from Metcal advised us that the cleaning sponge should be nothing more than damp, and that fixed the problem. In fact, it's good advice for any soldering iron, as you don't want to be rapidly cooling a hot bit with a sodden sponge.

Mate that sponge tip has changed my life. Nice one 

So is a sponge still better than the balls of copper wire you can buy?

I only use the ball of wire that comes with the Hakko, I never bother with the sponge.

R.

gringopig

.

roberty

gringopig said:

Ready to start!

Not often I'm jealous of another man's iron! Enjoy and good luck

robinbowes

gringopig said:

Ready to start!

Not just me that finds the blue/yellow rather garish then?

Philtre

robinbowes said:

Not just me that finds the blue/yellow rather garish then?

I love the Tonka toy look of blue/yellow. :-)

LastMantra

Can I ask a silly question...

In what way do you use the temperature control? Mine has a little screw on the handle for adjustment but I have it on full all the time. I'm not soldering all day though and usually just switch it off between solders. Only takes seconds to heat up when it's already quite hot. 


If you're using it a lot I imagine it would be a good idea to get a wee fan to blow the smoke away from you. 

robinbowes

LastMantra said:

In what way do you use the temperature control? 

I use different temperatures for different situations, eg. lower for smaller, delicate work, and hotter for heavier work.

LastMantra said:

If you're using it a lot I imagine it would be a good idea to get a wee fan to blow the smoke away from you. 

If you're doing a lot of soldering then some sort of fume extraction is recommended:

https://uk.farnell.com/essential-considerations-for-managing-soldering-fume-extraction

BeardyAndy

I'm no expert but some components can be damaged by too much heat where as bigger objects need higher temps to get the solder to flow. 

LastMantra

Yeah, suppose it depends on how much you are using it. Having a temperature control without knowing what temperature it is (like mine) isn't much good. I just try to be quick when soldering small sensitive stuff! Or, more often than not, use sockets. If it's something like germanium trans sockets are good for experimenting.

roberty

Okay so I was getting fed up with the tips on my cheap iron only lasting a couple of sessions.  At some point they would just stop melting stuff. I was semi convinced that it was to do with my technique but in my frustration I ordered a Hakko and the difference is night and day.  For a start I am now able to desolder.  The first thing I did was rescue about £20 worth of connectors out of the bin and clean them off.  Now I've redone all the cabling on my board because my work is so much neater with the new iron.  In hindsight I could have saved a lot of money and time in ruined projects by getting a decent iron in the first place.  I am actually looking forward to projects I was dreading before.  Contrary to the adage, it is sometimes okay to blame your tools

roberty

Can anyone recommend a decent solder vacuum? The button on my Draper one has gone and it doesn't catch any more  

bbill335

roberty said:

Can anyone recommend a decent solder vacuum? The button on my Draper one has gone and it doesn't catch any more  

you might just have to take it apart and clean it out

roberty

bbill335 said:

roberty said:

Can anyone recommend a decent solder vacuum? The button on my Draper one has gone and it doesn't catch any more  

you might just have to take it apart and clean it out

Can't get into the little chamber where the button is. The main bit cleans out fine