Soldering guns...

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So lets talk about them.

I plan to do some soldering of some very, very small pieces here soon. (doing a sd card mod on my wrt54g router) I am pretty sure the key to getting small, precise solders is to use a really good tool. So what tools do you guys recommend?

This will be my first time soldering, but the concept really isn't all that hard to grasp. I just want to make sure I'm using one of the best tools available for the job I plan to do.
 
Hakko 936 is what I currently use for through hole and occasional SMT work. I recommend it highly.
 
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I have used a variety of soldering irons, but this one is probably my favorite.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062753

It's butane powered, so it gets really hot. When it's that hot, you don't have to touch contacts long (usually less than 1 second) to get the solder to melt, so it really doesn't heat up the components much. Also, the tip is pretty fine, so it should work well for you. I really like that you don't have to have a cord as well. I would recommend you practice a little if you've never soldered before. Soldering isn't a difficult concept, but the more you do it the more precise and clean your results will be and the less likely you'll burn something up.
 
Pretty much anything Hakko or Metcal will be some of the best. Weller I used myself a while ago but I tend to think their value/performance isn't so great anymore. Of course, the best soldering iron won't save you from yourself - you should really do some practice work before you attempt to solder a working piece of equipment. Also, get some thin .015" 63/37 solder (skip the lead-free stuff) for SMT work - don't get rosin flux or you'll regret it. A flux pen is nice to have too, I prefer Kester #951 low-solids/no-clean.
 
How would you guys suggest I practice where I'd know I'm getting good "connections" and results with my soldering.

I really like that first soldering gun that was posted, really looks well built.

Thanks for the suggestion on the tip cleaner, it looks like it'll be a bit more efficient instead using a sponge as well.
 
Don't buy a 'gun' style iron, any instant on or cold heat iron, or anything gas powered (useful tool, but not for this).

Hakko 936 is great, I use it as well and have done quite a lot of SMT work, and a few reworks like a memory upgrade on my surfboard cable modem. It's a good iron, but it really does mostly come down to technique. If you're just doing this as a one-off or occasional hobby, you can do just as well with an inexpensive iron. Something like this is decent, but inexpensive. This shop also sells basically all the other tools you might need, and their prices are decent, I recommend them.

In addition to the above tips, an absolute essential for SMT work or any sort of rework like you're doing is solder braid. This stuff is indispensable.
 
Technically for electronics work you would be using a soldering IRON, the Gun style use a different heating method.

I personally use a $4 orange one from harbor freight, and grind the tips down with a bench grinder to suit what i need it for(small tip, chisel tip, etc), when its time for a new one, just spend $4 on a new iron. Buying new tips for my weller gets expensive, so i had to find this alternate approach to things. For areas where i need higher wattage or controlled temperature, THEN i pull out my weller, but for probably 90% of electronics work i use my modified cheap one.

Other essentials are solder braid, possibly a desoldering bulb, and if your using non flux-core solder, get a very small paint brush to use for flux, the small plastic handled ones used for watercolors work well.

I also own one of these:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3132686

Which is made by madell, model # AT201D if you need replacement tips for it.
 
You can get an iron + hot air for $100 on ebay. Search for "rework station."

http://cgi.ebay.com/SMD-Rework-Sold...ea6411a52&_trksid=p4999.c0.m14#ht_8335wt_1002

Mine came with pretty much every tip I'll ever use, a couple extra heaters, and a handful of hot air nozzles. It's compatible with Hakko parts (tips, heaters, nozzles) so it's easy to find accessories.

It's definitely an inferior knock-off but it was a good deal for $100 shipped. I bought mine for the air but I've ended up using the iron too.

It's not up to heavy daily use (get a Hakko) but it's fine for the occasional project.
 
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Hmm a heat gun could be useful for heating up heatwraps..
 
Heatguns are great.

So for a good soldering station, does one really need to spend $100+? It really matters to have an adjustable temp with a read out? I know personally I'd put such a thing to good use, but seems like too much money for an iron. I haven't really worked with SMDs. Though I have a project semi planned that I guess could use them. I just moved into a dorm so I don't have a soldering iron to borrow anymore. I don't need it for any classes, but I'd like one to continue my dabbling with things.
 
No it's not. Like I said in my post above, you can do pretty much anything with a cheapie iron (as long as it's a decent quality one and not a ratshack 'hot nail'). About all an expensive iron gets you is better temperature stability so you can finish heavy joints faster (with less component heating) and use a cooler temperature to reduce component temperatures and produce cleaner joints while still providing enough energy when actually heating a joint. The basic temperature control on the cheap iron I linked is adequate to not overheat joints, but they still don't have the heating capacity to quickly create joints on e.g. a large ground plane (though my Hakko has some trouble with this as well). And of course the stuff you get with a higher quality product in general - better ergonomics, better long-term reliability, more tips available, handle doesn't heat up during extended use etc. There's also the safety issue of having a very hot metal object with a PVC insulated live 120V cable attached to it that you manipulate by hand. If fumbled or carelessly put down it could easily cause large sparks, expose live wires, etc. The soldering stations use a low voltage supply for heating (the Hakko is 24VAC), and the true Hakko uses (I think) a silicon insulated iron cable too so should be less susceptible to damage. The clone probably just uses cheap PVC cable but I've not owned one myself.

Unless you're doing this quite a bit I'd say it's not worth buying a proper solder station. If you want to splash out, get one of the Hakko 936 clones (which are apparently excellent value for money and while not up to the real Hakko in build quality and ergonomics, perform similarly), otherwise the $18 iron I linked to is fine for everything but very fine SMD work, and the 'flood and suck' or 'lots of flux and not much solder' techniques work well enough there you don't really need a super fine iron anyway - super fine tips are hard to use because it's hard to get enough heat transfer area. I have a very fine conical tip that I tried to use once and have never touched since, it's just impossible to get any heat into a small joint that way. A 1.2mm chisel tip works far better (IIRC it ships with a 1.6mm), with enough flux and not too much solder the solder will wick to the joint anyway and not bridge, and removing any bridges that do form is usually easy by reflowing the joint or using desoldering braid.
 
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Skillz said:
Hmm a heat gun could be useful for heating up heatwraps..
Click to expand...

The "heat gun" on those rework stations is actually for doing surface mount work. It's not a general purpose heat gun. It does do an awesome job on headshrink stuff though! :D

Rework stations allow you to control the temperature of the ceramic heater as well as the speed of the air flow. The combination of the two allows you to precisely control the volume and temperature of the air that comes out of the tool.

Hot air makes desoldering smt parts trivial. Set the speed and temperature of the air, wave the air around over the part, flip the board over, and tap. Your 0.5mm pitch part is now laying on the bench.

To solder with hot air you buy a little pen full of solder paste. The stuff is kind of like toothpaste. You apply it very carefully to each pad. If you screw up you can clean it off and start over. When you have all the solder paste down you carefully place your components. The paste is sticky so it holds the parts. You then wave your hot air around until the solder melts. Done! :D If you want to get fancy you can preheat the board in a toaster over or hotplate before hitting it with the air.

The best part is that you can place your components a little off square. When you heat with the air the surface tension of the melted solder pulls them into perfect alignment. You don't get that with an iron because you can't heat 50-100 pins all at the same time.

If you're going to do any smt work at all I recommend something with air. It is possible to do some smt stuff by hand but it takes skill, practice, and a level of coordination that not everyone has. If you screw up a 100+ pin part by hand it can be a real pain to fix. Also, there are plenty of surface mount components that no one can hand-solder: bga chips, 0201 and 01005 passives, ... I even have trouble doing 0805's by hand.

As keenan said, the hakko clones are a phenomenal value. I used to have multiple Weller irons but I stopped using them after my Hakko clone arrived. It's one of my favorite purchases.
 
Very interesting, kristof :) You make it sound easy enough for even me to try :D
 
I accidentally wrecked a surface mounted capacitor on one of my electronics devices. I bought some solder paste and managed to reattach the replacement capacitor by heating the legs with a very small tip on my Hakko. Worked like a charm. From that experience, I can see the appeal of surface-mount technology for both industry and the hobbiest. Only downside is it cost me $20 for the solder paste and I only used a tiny bit.
 
riffer said:
I accidentally wrecked a surface mounted capacitor on one of my electronics devices. I bought some solder paste and managed to reattach the replacement capacitor by heating the legs with a very small tip on my Hakko. Worked like a charm. From that experience, I can see the appeal of surface-mount technology for both industry and the hobbiest. Only downside is it cost me $20 for the solder paste and I only used a tiny bit.
Click to expand...

You can certainly solder SMT devices with standard solder, you don't *need* to use paste. The reason the paste exists is so that you can use a metal stencil and push the paste through it onto all the pads quickly, place all the parts at once, then put it in a solder oven and solder everything at once. People have modified toaster ovens or even used skillets to solder this way - I'd never actually heard of people using rework stations with paste, but it's a great idea. Anyway, you don't need it if you're only doing a few joints.

Anyway, SMT is great for everyone. Once you get the hang of it, and 0805 and SOIC parts or anything bigger are pretty easy IMO, it's much faster than through-hole (no snipping leads or trying to hold parts in place against the board while you solder them) even for a hobbyist with simple tools. The benefits get even bigger if you're fabricating your own boards (no or less drilling!).
 
That rework stations sounds nice for not having to flux/solder smd parts.
My old iron is on it's last legs and my tip looks more like a fish hook every day.
I was going to get that Circuit Specialist iron or just wait for the Hakko's to go on sale at Fry's again, but who knows when that could happen.
 
keenan said:
People have modified toaster ovens or even used skillets to solder this way - I'd never actually heard of people using rework stations with paste, but it's a great idea.
Click to expand...

Funny, it's the other way around for me. I've never heard of anyone using regular solder with hot air. I wouldn't even know how to attempt it.

I was dying to do a toaster oven conversion for a long time but then these cheapo rework stations came along. Hot air is so much better for one offs. You can see exactly when each component is finished. I mentioned earlier that the surface tension of the melted solder pulls the part into alignment when it's melted under all the pads. The effect gives a noticeable pop when each part is done.

Ovens aren't as cut and dry as they may seem. You typically have to develop a time/temperature profile for each different board. This can lead to two or three tries before you get it right. Boards can be either "undercooked" or "overcooked." Not so much fun for the hobbyist... Even the big boys have similar issues with the oven method although their ovens are a bit different.

Electric skillets are good for very small boards but the heating coils are never uniformly distributed under the cooking surface. There are hot spots and cold spots. The center of a large board ends up nuked by the time the edges are finished. For little boards they can be great especially if you gently swirl the board around as it cooks. You can literally get into SMT with a $20 skillet from Target.

People have started to use copper or aluminum plates in their skillets as heat spreaders. The board to be soldered rides on top of the metal plate. I haven't tried it myself but a lot of people are getting good results.

There's a lot of interesting tinkering going on now. For a long time hobbyist electronics was dead. All the interesting stuff went surface mount and it just wasn't accessible to the average person. It's awesome to see everyone and their uncle cranking out surface mount projects.
 
odoe said:
I was going to get that Circuit Specialist iron or just wait for the Hakko's to go on sale at Fry's again, but who knows when that could happen.
Click to expand...

Fry's sells Hakko's? As in, you can walk into a physical store and walk out with a Hakko?

Do they sell solder paste too?

You people who live near Fry's have no idea how good you have it.
 
Yeah, Hakkos go for retail, but twice this year they've been like $50-$60 and I missed them both.
Never looked for solder paste, but I'm sure they have it, they have rolls and rolls of solder, cheap caps and resistors, proto boards, cases and so on.
 
Been using a sharpened rod of copper since I was 14 for personal use. The original tip broke so I just machined one in school workshop.

Also did SMT with regular sized tips, in one of those uni class project where they expect you to use the past-and-oven I was the only one in class to opt for full manual. People couldn't tell the difference and one said mine is as good as factory grade.
 
i have both at soldering gun and iron.... and really for the ultra small stuff i have discovered that a 2" length of 22 or 24 gauge wire works quite well......

this is really simple....

take the wire and strip off any insulation... take 1/8" to 1/4" and wrap the rest of the wire around the tip of the soldering gun/iron....

should look like this...

====///////___
===////////

anyways if you make the wire tip too long it dosn't get hot enough.... so you may need to trim it down. hope this helps.....
 
indeed.... with a less powerful soldering iron add a dab of solder to the coiled wire for better thermal transfer. if however you have a soldering gun just use that.....
 
LA Times has the Hakko 936 in their ad for $59.99 today. It's $69.99 online right now.
I just bought used one last week too. Damnit.
 
Volume said:
For any iron you get (I've always used Weller), get this tip-cleaner as well http://www.amazon.com/Hakko-Cleaner-599B-02-Non-Corrosive-Needed/dp/B000PDQORU/ref=pd_bxgy_hi_img_b

I don't know how people can stand those sponges.
Click to expand...
I can't stand those steel wool things! wetsponge4lyfe.

Here's another Hakko 936 vote. I use a 936ESD as my home machine, and my workplace has 936ESD's all over the assembly line. They're dead reliable and do a good job.

Some notes:

- For most day-to-day soldering, don't put the temperature control past about 2 o'clock. Otherwise your tip will oxidize - if you see the tip turn blue after the iron's been sitting for a while, TURN IT DOWN!. If you need to solder/desolder something large, crank it up, but turn it down when you're done.
- Clean your tip after you're done with it.
- If you're doing SMT soldering, grab a tube of no-clean paste flux to use separately - stuff I use is from AIM, but I can't recall the part number. Rosin core is fine for soldering SOICs, but for anything smaller you'll want to use separate flux.
- My favorite tip is a Hakko 900M-T-K knife tip. If the place you buy your station from sells tips also, grab one. It makes soldering fine pitch stuff like TSSOP's a breeze - coat the pads on the board with solder, lay down the aforementioned flux, lay the part on top and use the knife blade to solder several pins at once.
 
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