Good value soldering iron please ?

[greenstiles]

After 20 plus years mine has given up, so i thought, just go out and buy one......what crap they sell now as soldering irons, the one i got worked great for 2 days, then, after the shiny tip went dull won't pick up solder or get hot enough to melt solder.....utter crap.

 

[xerxes]

Can't go far wrong with Antex: http://www.antex.co.uk/

 

[02gf74]

Antex.

The maplins brand look like low quality shite (and probably are), I have 2 but still prefer my antex.

 

[greenstiles]

cheers just ordered an antex, many thanks !

 

[xerxes]

As an aside, what solder are you using?

Some solder, especially this new fangled lead free stuff is a right pain to work with, it has a higher melting point and doesn't flow as well as good old lead solder.

For audio stuff I like to use WBT Silver Solder: http://www.audiospares.com/product.php?productid=1416, I bought a big reel of it a while back because I was worried that ROHS might mean leaded solder became unavailable. Whether it sounds better than ordinary leaded solder I don't know, but it's lovely to work with, melts and flows really easily and gives nice shiny joints. Because it melts at a low temperature there's less risk of overheating delicate components, or melting the plastic/insulation of audio connectors etc..

 

[greenstiles]

still using same solderreel as before cheers, just a crap iron, got a refund

 

[We_are_Stevo]

http://www.audiospares.com/product.php?productid=1416

...but that's only 4% silver; I use 99.9% pure silver solder in my cables

As for soldering stations, if you're really serious then it has to be a Weller, but I have one of these...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/60-Watt-digit ... 33826b28fd

...and one of these...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercury-703-1 ... 1e7bf0af88

...and they both work just fine

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

I use an RS soldering station, which is actually a Siemans job with an RS sticker on the front. It's survived 23 years of use (I'm a radio amateur), still going strong. Soldering stations are a bit longer lived, have a bit more oomph when dealing with lead free rubbish, though I've got several kilos of olde fashioned solder left, enough to last the rest of my life.