Buying a soldering iron

[Jono Bolton]

I'm looking at buying a soldering iron for my Strat project so I can do all the connections myself but I don't know what to look for. I've heard I should get a low wattage one. What sort of price is good for an iron too? I've seen them for a fiver on ebay, but I assume they'll be junk. Someone on here also bought one recently but it was bigger than he thought. What sort of size to I want it to be?
Cheers

[pete.young]

[quote name='jono b' post='145023' date='Feb 22 2008, 01:26 PM']I'm looking at buying a soldering iron for my Strat project so I can do all the connections myself but I don't know what to look for. I've heard I should get a low wattage one. What sort of price is good for an iron too? I've seen them for a fiver on ebay, but I assume they'll be junk. Someone on here also bought one recently but it was bigger than he thought. What sort of size to I want it to be?
Cheers[/quote]
I've had one of these for a while and it seems pretty good for the money.

[url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=35016&doy=22m2"]http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?Module...16&doy=22m2[/url]

[The Burpster]

for £10....? get one now.

[Jono Bolton]

Is that a good 'un? I have no idea about these things, but I'd heard that 50W was too much for general guitar/bass soldering. Wouldn't surprise me if I was wrong though.

[mhuk]

Bit late now, but this was £35 last week: [url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=218050&&source=14&doy=22m2"]http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?Module...14&doy=22m2[/url]

[The Burpster]

[quote name='jono b' post='145246' date='Feb 22 2008, 06:34 PM']Is that a good 'un? I have no idea about these things, but I'd heard that 50W was too much for general guitar/bass soldering. Wouldn't surprise me if I was wrong though.[/quote]

Whoever told you that was missleading you. Sometimes 50w isnt enough... Its HOW you use it not what you use.. there you go

[topic="0"]solder[/topic]

have yerself a little read.... Besides that Maplin one is variable... Bl88dy good value if you ask me. if you can get it with a couple of different size tips even better!

[Jono Bolton]

[quote name='The Burpster' post='145299' date='Feb 22 2008, 08:19 PM']Whoever told you that was missleading you.[/quote]

Total Guitar Also, that link don't work

[Mcgiver69]

Bought a Black & Decker in Focus for £18 that includes the iron and a station with croc arms very useful for fixing whatever you want to solder.

[The Burpster]

[quote name='jono b' post='145325' date='Feb 22 2008, 09:04 PM']Total Guitar Also, that link don't work[/quote]


Thats guitarists for you, talk a good game .... thats why mine brings his to me, a humble bassist to work on.....

New link sorry about that...

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=6993&hl=soldering"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...mp;hl=soldering[/url]

[Jono Bolton]

[quote name='The Burpster' post='145725' date='Feb 23 2008, 08:20 PM'] Thats guitarists for you, talk a good game .... thats why mine brings his to me, a humble bassist to work on.....

New link sorry about that...

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=6993&hl=soldering"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...mp;hl=soldering[/url][/quote]

Cheers! Invaluable info in there!

[tauzero]

I was just looking for an appropriate place to post a heads-up about that very same Maplin iron what I bought this lunchtime (I only went in for contact cleaner). I can't justify a hugely expensive soldering station with the amount I do these days, so just wanted something that meant I had sufficient thermal inertia to do pots and jack sockets, but could be kept cool enough not to fry tracks off PCBs. Should be doing some playing with it soon...