Soldering SBS

[FJCabeza]

May I ask what kind of iron would be the best if I can´t afford a soldering station?
Right now there´s one in a local model store , it is battery operated and cheap but it has only 6 Watt ...Would it be enought to work with PE?

[RickLawler]

Well I'm not an electical /solder expert..some of the other here may be able to shed a more technical light upon the matter..but this is what I'm using, and it seems to work for me.

I have a inexpensive soldering iron 30watt no regulator, which I purchased for about $12. It came with a tip, fairly large diameter which I have used for most of my work (until recently), including the (MY) work shown on the photo's on the first page of this SBS. The solder and flux were also purchased at the same mass-merchandiser's hardware department.

I recently have purchased a "finer" tip for the soldering iron at Radio Shack after seeing Fletcher's arsenal at the begining of this thread...Tip Envey...that helped.

Batteries....unless you are using rechargable (which are not inexpensive) this will become expensive...

Rick

[FJCabeza]

Thank you for your answer but I´ve tried with a 30W soldering iron before and it was a total mess. That´s why I was asking about lower temperature tools. The 30w one melt all the joints I had done whenever I tried to solder the other...I ended with a big ball of lead and brass melt together XDDD. It must be a matter of ability more than watts I´m afraid.
Oh well this is just a hobby. Isn´t it?

[lquah]

FJCabeza

When soldering where thare are other soldered parts, it is important not to heat those soldered parts to the point where they re-melt.

To draw away heat you need to use heatsinks and alligator clips placed between the part you are soldering and the soldered parts will prevent previously soldered parts from melting. Another trick I picked up from Marco's build is to wet strips of tissue paper.

Lawrence

[greybeard]

Believe it or not, I still refer to this tutorial. Well done, Tamigawa.

Respect
Scott Fraser