Inexpensive Soldering Iron?

I started my electronics endeavours with such cheap irons and needless to say, I'd never turn back. A lot of them have plated copper tips which are a pain in the butt, as once the coating breaks through, the bit erodes to nothing almost immediately as the solder leeches the copper. The shape of the bit is poor making fine work very problematic, the nichrome wire often gives off some unpleasant smells and they take absolutely ages to heat up to temperature and are "thermally balanced" aka unregulated, so you need to add in waiting time for heat to recover post-joint and watch the solder closely. I would attribute it to the cause of many lifted tracks from PCBs in my early days of building kits. Over long projects, the handle which is often hard plastic gets uncomfortably hot and often the temperature they come set for is hot enough to cause flux spatter.

I've done many successful projects with such irons, which even included mounting the tip into a cordless drill and using a file to grind it back. But since then, I had graduated to better thermally-regulated irons and there is no looking back. The superior fine tip of such irons and feedback regulation means less heat, less flux spatter, less stress on components, less waiting between joints. I suppose it boils down to how much your patience, time, frustration and parts are worth! Aside from absolute apocalyptic circumstances, I wouldn't go back.

At the least, get an iron from a proper brand - even a Hakko FX-888FX-888 can be had at a good price and isn't a bad iron if your budget stretches. I have a Metcal PS-900PS-900 which I keep safe, instead using a Tenma combination hot-air/soldering station which is fairly inexpensive but also much better. For those who need much cheaper, I've had decent experiences with Goot plug-in irons - better tips, faster warm-up and more comfort, but still with most of the downsides of the thermally balanced iron.

- Gough

I started my electronics endeavours with such cheap irons and needless to say, I'd never turn back. A lot of them have plated copper tips which are a pain in the butt, as once the coating breaks through, the bit erodes to nothing almost immediately as the solder leeches the copper. The shape of the bit is poor making fine work very problematic, the nichrome wire often gives off some unpleasant smells and they take absolutely ages to heat up to temperature and are "thermally balanced" aka unregulated, so you need to add in waiting time for heat to recover post-joint and watch the solder closely. I would attribute it to the cause of many lifted tracks from PCBs in my early days of building kits. Over long projects, the handle which is often hard plastic gets uncomfortably hot and often the temperature they come set for is hot enough to cause flux spatter.

I've done many successful projects with such irons, which even included mounting the tip into a cordless drill and using a file to grind it back. But since then, I had graduated to better thermally-regulated irons and there is no looking back. The superior fine tip of such irons and feedback regulation means less heat, less flux spatter, less stress on components, less waiting between joints. I suppose it boils down to how much your patience, time, frustration and parts are worth! Aside from absolute apocalyptic circumstances, I wouldn't go back.

At the least, get an iron from a proper brand - even a Hakko FX-888FX-888 can be had at a good price and isn't a bad iron if your budget stretches. I have a Metcal PS-900PS-900 which I keep safe, instead using a Tenma combination hot-air/soldering station which is fairly inexpensive but also much better. For those who need much cheaper, I've had decent experiences with Goot plug-in irons - better tips, faster warm-up and more comfort, but still with most of the downsides of the thermally balanced iron.

- Gough