Getting a soldering station

[jac0b]

I am interested in getting a soldering station to recap and some other light soldering. Would this station be acceptable for a beginner?

[Link]

[dood]

Re: Getting a soldering station

http://cgi.ebay.com/WLC100-WELLER-TE...QQcmdZViewItem

My personal suggestion.

I have one and it's great... it'll take you into the more experienced soldering, too

[starfury1]

Re: Getting a soldering station

Humm although it looks the part at that price I think quality would be sadly lacking.

I dont know of them and have never used them so really don't know

I think its very much with solder stations "'You get what you pay for."

there are a lot of Asian knock offs of off brand name stations that work but really are not of the quality of the brand name.

me personally wouldn't buy it
but it is cheap price wise. may be somewhat useful to learn on.
money wise it isn't much to spend

Even a beginner I think should spent a bit of money on a some what decent station.

as cheap irons I think make it harder to hone your skills

Thats just purely my opinion on it...
I started with a cheap 240 Volt job...so I should talk
(soon upgraded to a weller which has served me well)

You should read all the FAQ's on this site and practice on junk PCB's before even contemplating a re cap of a motherboard.

They are really not a first project to tackle if you have never soldered before.

Although not hard they do require some skills

I suppose it does depend on how serious you are about learning the fine art of soldering.

Hopefully someone that has used one of these can add more practical first hand input.

Soldering is a skill well worth learning even if you don't intent to get into Electronics in a big way ......so go for it

Cheers And Welcome

Are Dood you beat me ...yeah Dood that would be more the go

If dood has been using one of those for recapping and hasn't had a problem then yeah I'd be more incline to go for that

Cheers Dood

[jac0b]

Re: Getting a soldering station

I have done a little bit of soldering. Some of the projects worked some didn't but yes I am going to practice on a dead/junk motherboard. When I first was looking at some soldering stations I saw the WLC100 and thought it would be a good station so I am going to get it [Link].

One more question is what tip should I get, I was thinking maybe the ST2 or ST3.

[Spacedye69]

Re: Getting a soldering station

I have one also. It comes withe the st-3. I prefer the st-1. I would like a little more power, but it works great.

[dood]

Re: Getting a soldering station

I've only got the ST-3 that came with it. The ST-1 would be nice to have as well, but I've made the ST-3 work in a variety of different situations

[jac0b]

Re: Getting a soldering station

I think the ST3 looks good. If that is what comes with it then I should be set. Does anyone have a real picture of the ST3 & ST1 tip.

[dood]

Re: Getting a soldering station

The ST3 will surely do for now. If you feel the need, you can find the ST1 even at Sears and the like.

[starfury1]

Re: Getting a soldering station

Not famillar with that station but as I said weller is a good brand...dood seems to be happy with his...sp69 has one too...so looks like that might be a good Iron for MB recapping

Not too expensive I think but thats a US price (you could probably double that + for AU will see what I can find on that)
...will have to look the specs up on that weller

Cheers

[dood]

Re: Getting a soldering station

I bought mine for $50 US brand-new from Sears.

[jac0b]

Re: Getting a soldering station

I didn't know they have them at sears I will have to go check that out today.

thanks dood

[starfury1]

Re: Getting a soldering station

Hi all well re that model of weller

I found this site here

It appears this Iron is NOT ESD , safe the tip is not grounded.

So therefore is not recommended for Electronics work for this reason.

That said

There is a work around in the "Notes"
if you are worried about ESD
(how legal or not it is with your local mains system ,I have no idea...)

I should add the Author seems to have been using one for 6~7 years for electronics work

Also it details how the Electronics work...beware "mains power" we are talking here

heres a link to CooperTools


Have a browse around the site there is a good page on caps for those that what to know the history and how to read values etc.

Caps page Here

No mention of ESR thought that I could find

Main site link Here



Cheers

[jac0b]

Re: Getting a soldering station

I purchased the WLC100 yesterday at Sears for $53.00, thanks for all the help.

[dood]

Re: Getting a soldering station

Nope, the iron isn't ESD safe. And while it's not a valid excuse, I've never had it kill a board before.Of course, I also don't have fancy things like board holders, and usually end up recapping with the board sitting in my lap anyway XD

[starfury1]

Re: Getting a soldering station

It was really just a side point that I thought should be mention for clarity in the post

(also thought it maybe of use (repair wise) to you dood and sp69 since you both have one....hope thats a long way off though)

So long as people are aware of this, then the decisions up to them.

(like I said the author doesn't seem to have a problem using one)

No ESD expert here and I guess it really depends on how ESD safe you want to be.
or for that matter how much of a risk ESD is on a fully loaded PCB anyway?

At this point I can't seem to find that model (or variant of) for sale in OZ,

(might be cause of different mains...sort of doesn't make sense since England is closer to our mains then the USA...maybe our market is just too small to warrent sale of another model or maybe a USA specific model)

Anyway goodluck Jacob and practice first

Cheers