can you reccomend a solder station?

[Harry Bissell]

I use and old Ungar "Imperial".  No control at all. About 40W.  I have an old
stand
and use a triac dimmer circuit to put it in "idle" when I'm leaving the bench
for a while.
I guess I'm just used to that. The tip is about a 1/8 chisel. I would not
recommend this
for SMT but it works (for me) otherwise. I have been soldering with this rig
for about
30 years... if practice counts for anything....

I'd recommend that you  buy a very available model, from a stable
manufacturer. And
that you buy a LIFETIME worth of tips.  Buy 20 or so. These days, the tips and
the
manufacturer will be long gone before your station wears out !!!  So beware. I
still have
a spare element for my imperial, a spare cord and about 6 tips left... so I'm
flust for another 10 years or so (big 1/8" tips do not wear out very
fast......)

H^)  harry (my opinion only !!!)

Hess Hodge wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Alologies if this has been covered before... (anyone know where the
> archives went?  I have been trying to find them...)
>
> I am in need of a new soldering iron...  Here is what I have found on the
> web, and my initial impressions:
>
> Weller EC1002 : Very nice, temprature controlled, expensive ~$250
> Weller WES50  : temprature controlled, newer model, less expensive ~$100
> Weller WTCPT  : change tips to change temp, ~$150
> Weller WLC100 : cheap-o, temp controlled, ~$50
> Hakko 936     : nice looking, temp controlled, never heard of brand ~$150
>
> So, can anyone recommend a specific iron for DIY work?  Is the Weller
> WLC100 too cheap?  Will I be unhappy with it?  Is the Weller WES50 any
> good? etc etc etc...  Let me know your impressions...  What are you using?
>
> Also, does anyone have an old iron (in good shape) that they would like to
> sell to me???
>
> Thanks,
> Hess