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QUESTION OF THE MONTH : What Soldering tool would you like next to add to your Workbench?

vijeth_ds

e14 Question of the Month

Soldering components is a necessary skill for any prototyping maker or engineer. But the right soldering tool you need depends on what you are going to do. A standard soldering station may work for soldering through-hole components to a PCB, but soldering surface mount devices needs a different tool. What are you thinking about purchasing next?

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  • I recently had a need for a solder pot (to soak some coax) but I would do that so rarely, it makes it hard to justify purchasing this : (

    A powered desoldering gun would be nice, but I've never seen a review of one that seems of reasonable price (for non-regular use) and reliable enough for long-term use. In contrast, my plunger-style solder sucker is probably 20 years old! so that, and desoldering braid is all I use, and sometimes it's not good enough : ( I'd still like to know which desoldering system is reliable though; a friend needs one more than me, and I know of nothing suitable to recommend to him.

    I've often thought about desoldering tweezers (and there is a reasonable -price Multicomp pair) but again, i think I would use this rarely, so for the times I need to remove a SMD resistor or capacitor, I just alternatively heat both sides of the SMD with the iron quickly, until it slides off. A risk of damage, but I'm not working on critical/customer boards.

    I think for anyone getting into soldering, a super-important thing on the list (aside from the fume extractor, which is important too), is the soldering station. I purchased mine about a year ago, cost a fair bit (£500 GBP including a couple of tips) but I hope to use it for a decade or more.

    There are sometimes shows where you can try some tools out, so you can see what you're comfortable with in advance (or ask the distributor for a demo). Farnell ought to do a roadshow, would be interesting.

    For instance in the UK there's the Southern Manufacturing show every February. You also get to see really exotic tools there like high-end rework systems and so on.

  • in reply to shabaz

     I like the idea of try before you buy.  I used a Project14 prize cart to pick up a desoldering gun.  Unless I'm "harvesting", I default to soldering wick or the pencil/solder sucker combo tool.  The gun's vacuum pump is rather bulky - so it stays stored.    I picked up some soldering tweezers.  I still haven't mastered these yet - but I can launch a component across the workshop pretty well.    I bought an inexpensive solder pot.  It takes longer to heat the wire in the solder than I expected and the solder separates.  I'm sure that I'm not using it right, but it didn't work out as I had hoped.  SO... I'm all in on putting your money into a good soldering station before getting any of the other soldering toys.

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  • in reply to shabaz

     I like the idea of try before you buy.  I used a Project14 prize cart to pick up a desoldering gun.  Unless I'm "harvesting", I default to soldering wick or the pencil/solder sucker combo tool.  The gun's vacuum pump is rather bulky - so it stays stored.    I picked up some soldering tweezers.  I still haven't mastered these yet - but I can launch a component across the workshop pretty well.    I bought an inexpensive solder pot.  It takes longer to heat the wire in the solder than I expected and the solder separates.  I'm sure that I'm not using it right, but it didn't work out as I had hoped.  SO... I'm all in on putting your money into a good soldering station before getting any of the other soldering toys.

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