Soldering Iron Recommendations

[Delberthot]

Is there anything recommended around the £50-70 mark?

 

I want to teach myself to solder - in all honesty I really don't want to spend £200 on something that I'm not going to use a great deal but at the same time I don't want to buy garbage. It would be purely for soldering bass electronics and nothing else and I like the idea of a soldering station with a temperature control but if someone could recommend a soldering iron which operates at the best temperature for this type of work then I'd be happy with that as well.

 

I've made the mistake over the years of buying rubbish and wondering why it was rubbish so want something good enough to make a decent job of soldering stuff.

[Sean]

17 minutes ago, Delberthot said:

Is there anything recommended around the £50-70 mark?

 

I want to teach myself to solder - in all honesty I really don't want to spend £200 on something that I'm not going to use a great deal but at the same time I don't want to buy garbage. It would be purely for soldering bass electronics and nothing else and I like the idea of a soldering station with a temperature control but if someone could recommend a soldering iron which operates at the best temperature for this type of work then I'd be happy with that as well.

 

I've made the mistake over the years of buying rubbish and wondering why it was rubbish so want something good enough to make a decent job of soldering stuff.

This is exactly where I was. 

I'd be interested to see if there's an answer. 

[Stub Mandrel]

£35.

 

https://www.antex.co.uk/store/p/m12-w9wdk-mg96e-y7lr5

 

Get one of these and a cheap stand off eBay.

 

Mine lasted about 40 years.

Edited 9 hours ago by Stub Mandrel

[prowla]

I have a Hakko; nice for precision PCB work, but it hasn't got the power to melt a blob of solder on a pot base.

[nilebodgers]

1 hour ago, prowla said:

I have a Hakko; nice for precision PCB work, but it hasn't got the power to melt a blob of solder on a pot base.

I have a fx888d (70W) - with a big enough tip it certainly can solder to pot cases without any trouble. As can my old 50W Weller TCP - again with a big tip.

[prowla]

1 hour ago, nilebodgers said:

I have a fx888d (70W) - with a big enough tip it certainly can solder to pot cases without any trouble. As can my old 50W Weller TCP - again with a big tip.

Hmmm - it's an FX-888D I have; maybe I'll give it another try.

I was trying to remove existing solder but it couldn't do it, so I just ended up adding more to it...