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[Doug Tymofichuk]

On Thu, 27 Apr 2000 16:47:18 +0200 Ingo Debus 
<debus at cityweb.de> wrote:

> 
> 
> Michael Buchstaller wrote:
> > - a decent soldering iron of 30 - 70 Watts
> 
> If this is an iron without temperature regulation, this is 
> IMHO way too much power for doing PCB soldering. 15 W or 20 
> W is fine. Much better is a soldering iron with temperature 
> regulation of course. This may have 50 W or so, because of 
> the regulation it will never get too hot, but keep its 
> temperature when you're soldering at large ground planes or 
> plugs or the like. I have mine for 20 years now :-)
> 
> Ingo

In my experience, temperature regulated soldering irons are 
so superior to unregulated that I would not use anything 
else! Besides, it's hard enough for a novice to learn to 
solder in the first place, without being burdened with a 
crappy iron. Regulated irons heat up faster, hold 
temperature better, and are less likely to damage the 
components due to overheating. The downside is higher 
prices and larger footprint, but I feel it is well worth it.

Hope this helps,
----------------------
Doug Tymofichuk
dougt at cancerboard.ab.ca