Good soldering irons

[oross21]

My soldering iron has recently broken and I am looking for a new one.
I would like tips on ones that are

• Budget friendly
• Last for a fair bit
• Heats up fairly fast

 

[merryoncherry]

What are you hoping to solder with it? (I like my miniware for medium and small stuff, because even though I am terrible at soldering things work out for me when I wield it.)

 

[oross21]

ESP32 and similar controllers

 

[merryoncherry]

ESP32 and similar controllers

I have not done this but don't people use paste / reflow for that?


View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PfrHjtu_-pE

 

[macmanluke]

Im a fan of small usb powered soldering irons like the Pinecil
Portable (especially paired with a battery bank), temp controlled, lots of tip options

Only thing they are no good is soldering heavy wires or desoldering large components off PCBs.

Have not touched my soldering station more than a few times since getting one.

 

[PixelProject]

I'm a big fan of the Weller butane soldering irons, I've got two. Comes with added bits that a greats for heat shrink too

Weller Professional Cordless Butane Pyropen Soldering Iron Kit

Find Weller Professional Cordless Butane Pyropen Soldering Iron Kit at Bunnings. Visit your local store for the widest range of products.

www.bunnings.com.au

 

[Katekate]

butane? last century called, they want their cordless technology back

good way to melt a hole in a prop with the exhaust

plenty of good battery options around these days.

working in the house I have an old Hakko 936 that I really like. i believe its current descendant is the FX-888D

for field work im using one of these cheapies from ali that go on a drill battery https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007693560052.html
seems to work well enough.

 

[Dreamin]

I bought the Ryobi soldering iron, I've got loads of batteries and the batteries last a session for me. It works, it's portable. I had one fail a year after use, took it back and Bunnings replaced it no questions.

 

[AAH]

I have been using A Quicko T12 for the last few years and after using it I won't likely change to anything else. I have a couple of Weller irons as well as a few cheap irons from Jaycar and also Iroda and Weller gas irons. the Quicko heats up in a few seconds and the tips are far cheaper than the Weller ones that I used to go through fairly often. You can swap tips out in a few seconds and it's also possible to get base stations that use the same soldering irons and connect up to Makita and presumably other cordless drill batteries. I probably do 200-500 hours of soldering a year and the Quicko iron has been pretty amazing. The genuine Hakko T12 is probably better but with hundreds of hours of use and 10's of 1000's of solder joints the Aliexpress clone has done me well.

 

[SmartAlecLights]

i use the 937D soldering station, an when the first one died after 9 years, i got another the same