Hi.
Sota O.T.
Don't put the cart before the horse, my friends.
Solder iron is to melt down the
solder to make proper electrical joints. In fact, quality solder which makes or breaks a 100% perfect electrical joint, is the crucial 'tool' we should spend money on.
Good solder do NOT need expensive solder irons. You may call me "cheap" again as I never spend over $10 bucks for a solder iron for building successfully tube phonostages, tube power amps & 4N pure silver ICs & power cords.
I just picked up a basic 30W iron as a backup from a neighbourhood Harbor Frieght Tools store when I was enroute my vacation trip at St Jose for only USD3.50 on sale. Too good a deal as not to buy one.
How come? Save the money on expensive irons for quality solder wires. That's what I've been doing since day one of my DIY. Get
silver solder wires!!!!! No lead solder which is toxic & needs expensive hi-watt solder to struggle with.
To be honest, my silver solder wires are not expensive at all. It is always - MG chemicals lead free silver solder wire (packed in a long plastic tube, net weight 0.6oz) - 96.5% tin, 0.5% copper & 3% silver. A 0.6oz tube only costs me $3.50 from a local electrioncs store! It works like a chime using a basic cheapie iron, enviromentally GREEN.
For those who want to cool down the iron a bit while idling, add a sand diode in series of the AC mains to drop down half the power supply to the iron. Why have to spend big bucks to acquire a thermal-control solderng station which works on the same voltage-drop principle.
Be a smart consumer!
c-J
