I'm with the majority here. I started out with an "economy"
soldering iron and very quickly regretted it. Thing took centuries
to heat up and lost temp very quickly. I finally gave in and bought
a Weller WTCPT station. Not fancy, temperature control is in the
tips not on the station. The difference was staggering though, heats
up in < 1 minute, doesn't lose temperature when soldering. Has a
nice range of tips (which seem to last a LOOONG time).
As for the QFP - Some things I've read said that going with a fine
tip might actually be harder than going with a wide one. They said
go wide and solder several pins at once. Check for bridges when
you're done and remove with a soldering wick.
I haven't tried a QFP but I have tried some SOTs this way. Seems
that the solder rarely bridges unless you put loads of it on. Even
then I usually just turn the tip sideways and reheat one of the pins
and the bridge melts away in an instant.
Doesn't take a lot of practice to do this really. Thing is that I
usually have the fine tip on when I'm soldering SMT caps and
resistors etc and I can't be bothered to change tips (cool down
time) so i just do them one pin at a time.
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Moore" <pminmo@c...> wrote:
> Want to hand solder 44pin qfp's. Need a new soldering iron that
> won't break the bank. (less than $50). Suggestions?
>
> Phil