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Old 12-27-18, 01:58 PM   #1
CrankyDoug
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Default Cost effective soldering station

I've owned everything from dollar store irons to 500W 15" long monsters for soldering stainless sheet to high dollar temperature regulated soldering stations.

At present I am using a 25W Weller I bought from McMaster for $35. When the tip erodes I'll end up throwing it away like the rest because the tip costs almost as much as the iron.

The last high dollar device was an Ungar station with closed loop feedback. When it quit in two months my tech looked up the replacement parts which were about $100. After cutting the wires and chucking the iron I had a pretty good base for my cheap Weller.

I do some board level repair and a lot of CNC machine wiring. No surface mount or microscope stuff at my age.

I ran soldering training classes at Panasonic some years ago, so I know how to take care of a tip. They had $600 stations with tips that cost $40-$60. That's OK on a surface mount production line. I'm not going there for what I do.

Can anyone recommend a good general purpose iron or station that has sensibly priced tips available? I like the Weller for field repair but want something a little better for bench work. Reasonably priced tips would be nice.

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