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the pros use hakko. that is all
surprised to see the crappy WLC100 being outvoted by the excellent Weller WES51. I've had my 51 for year and it has been perfect. Owning a temp controlled iron and a panavise makes DIY electronics so much more enjoyable.
My Auyoe iron came with a spare heating element - a positive feature until I realized I needed a soldering iron to install the replacement element. What were they thinking?
Does nobody use butane soldering irons? I use mine all the time, mostly because I'm a mobile mechanic and I like solder more than butt connectors. The portability is awesome and its super easy to convert over for shrink tubing.
Thatuglydood
0
Look for heat shrink butt connectors with solder. Butt two wires, crimp them in the center, use your butane soldering iron as a torch and heat the center up, low-temp solder flows to make a great connection, then it heat shrinks the entire thing. Stupid simple to use and very cheap.
Codemastadink
0
I use them all the time. Sometimes though, butt connectors are not permitted to be used on some repairs (J1939 datalinks or some video systems for example). I use my butane iron for these and they work great. Those butt connectors I use on everything else.
Stick with a decent $15 variable w/ small tip... or get the Hakko 888 and be done.
Just got a Hakko FX888D - best iron I've ever owned. So far using it with rosen core 60/40 (fully leaded), much nicer than the old weller in terms of heating speed & tip temperature consistency. Only thing missing is a calibration point to measure actual tip temperature, but consistency is more important since one can adjust based on results.
Weller is a good brand name but that WLC100 is THE WORST soldering iron. It was my first and i really regret buying it. The knob controls power not temperature so it over heats when sitting in the stand and then gets too cold when working.
Temperature control is a must have otherwise you may as well buy a 5$ one from china
ive got the Stahl Tools SSVT Variable Temperature Soldering Station and man, what a great starter soldering iron for $20!!! use this for building my keyboards, modding usb cables, and other small electronics projects.
more money gets you much faster heating, and probably some other features that are useful if you are a frequent user that needs it for extended periods of time, but for a newbie hobbyist you can't go wrong here!