Good Soldering Iron?

[4x4Hemi]

Picked up a butane torch soldering iron today, just tested her out and yeah its garbage, doesnt heat up any solder lol.

So my question is... what soldering iron should i get?? id prefer electric, and id bet that would be the favorite, but still im open to any ideas, so what do you guys think?? Ill be using it to solder some simple truck wires together, nothing big. I dont really want the cheapest iron out there, but i dont need the most expensive haha

So what do you guys use?? Wattage, brand?

 

[BlackedOutHemi]

Honestly, if you're just doing it to solder some wires on a truck. Go buy yourself whatever they have at your local electronics store. Nothing fancy is needed at all to heat up a wire and melt solder onto it.

 

[4x4Hemi]

problem is man, i did that. and it doesnt work. i bought a $50 torch solder. and it doesnt even melt the solder if i touch it directly to it haha

What kinda wattage would i be looking for then?? 20? 30?

 

[BlackedOutHemi]

****. $50 is what you're considering cheap? I bought an adjustable soldering iron (electric) here at a radio shack for 20 bucks and thing worked like a dream until I snapped it trying to melt plexiglass in half (it worked btw).

 

[4x4Hemi]

haha no that was more then i wanted to spend, i just didnt want a peice of crap one again, i bought a 20$ one and yeah... didnt work at all lol so i was just thinking k screw it ill get a really good one and have it last me a long time


but im returning it tomorrow and getting a different one for sure. im more just wondering what wattage i should get. i can get an 80 watter for like 30 bucks lol

 

[BlackedOutHemi]

http://m.radioshack.com/radioshack/...g;+DSL-050+Selectable+Wattage+Soldering+Iron#

That's the one I had. Worked great. It doesn't have good reviews, but yet again. I wasn't using it for precision. I just wanted wires to stay together.

 

[4x4Hemi]

we dont have radioshacks up here man haha

i was thinking one of these guys possibly. then ill never have to buy one again

http://www.rona.ca/en/universal-140-100w-solder-gun-0185063

 

[BlackedOutHemi]

I know. Just giving ya a price range and an example. And 140W? That things gonna get **** hot. Lol. Honestly think ya should just go cheap. How often, and on what do ya plan on using it?

 

[4x4Hemi]

haha true that might be way over kill. but ive just been having trouble heating annnnything up at all. doesnt even melt anything lol

I wont use it really over i just have a tonne of wires to solder together, probably going to do 40 of em between my truck and a bike resto. and then after that... it wont be alot lol

 

[BlackedOutHemi]

Go for cheap. On my 20-50W iron any of the setting easily melted solder once you got it heated up

 

[4x4Hemi]

cool man, i just didnt know what wattage to get, soldering sucksss with a ****** iron hahaha takes way longer

 

[BlackedOutHemi]

I agree. Haha. Good luck! In headed to bed.

 

[Rock$tar]

What kind of solder are you using? Purchase the thin stuff for electronics. .02 dia and sn62 alloy. Makes life easier and you dont need alot of heat so you dont risk burning up electronics as easy. Just alittle annoying with it having to feed so much more into a wire because of how small it is.

Posted by my Droid

 

[Stangshcky12]

I like using flux cored solder too

If you can adjust the temperature of the new iron its a plus too
I have a 180W gun and a 30W iron that has 3 different tips that was $9 that I like better then the gun

 

[TexasRammer]

Could be the solder. I know when I first got my little cheap soldering iron from radio shack it took forever to heat up and mept the solder but it works a lot better after a couple usea

 

[nussdawg395]

I'm also a fan of the flux core solder and using the smaller thinner solder. I have a cheap-o iron that i got in a kit like 6 years ago that still works awesome and its been used and abused. Ive also have crap solder that was too big and took forever to get it to melt. Try new solder before a new iron.

 

[Netman66]

I have a gun like this:

Weller D650 300 200 Watts 120V Industrial Soldering GUN | eBay

Mine came in a kit with 3 different tips and a nice case.

It'll solder anything automotive you can throw at it. Of course, you MUST use the right solder for stranded wires - and flux paste makes things easier.

 

[Stangshcky12]

I've gotten spoiled with the irons I've used at school that I've come to hate guns lol

 

[WhiteExpress]

I got a 40W unit from Radio Shack, can change the tips on it. Works like a charm.
I also use flux core wire.

 

[wingnut]

Lots of good advice here. Alot of the problems folks have with soldering is the way they solder. We aren't doing circuit boards here, so a little heat isn't bad. For a board, about 35w. Go higher if you want to solder wires. Flux-core solder is fine for automotive. the thing is, alot of folks want to lay the solder onto the wire, or object. The key is to heat the object and let the solder flow ONTO it! A glob of solder on the tip of your iron will not stick to a "cold" item. You need to heat your target, and then apply the solder. This will produce a "wicking" effect that will draw your solder to where you want it. There are lots of Youtube videos to help you with this.