Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Homebrew PCBs

I've been quite dissatisfied with my $20 soldering iron, takes
upwards of half an hour to get hot, the tip oxidized in no time
despite frequent tinning and solder seemed to like it waaay better
than the parts I work on.


Yesterday I picked up a Weller WTCPT station. Nothing fancy, no
temperature knob or calibration touch-spots but I gotta say WOW. What
a difference!

Heat up time was minutes, not exactly sure how long as I wasn't
paying attention. I picked it up shortly after turning it on just to
see if it was warm and damned if it wasn't already at full
temperature.

Solder almost leaps away from the tip. What little I do pick up is
easily wiped away. Quite wipe on a wet sponge and its shiny as all
get out.

Heat transfer is way better as well. About 1 second and the deed is
done, the old iron took as much as five seconds to heat a DIP leg.

Moral of the story - if you're still using a cheapo iron, DUMP IT NOW
and go buy a real soldering station - the difference is amazing.