Homebrew PCBs

> And how would you suggest doing that?  I'm not talking about a "soldering
> station" here,  which were still fairly pricey when I was buying this 
> stuff.
> I'm talking about the *cheap* stuff.  And a reduction in temperature was
> accomplished by placing a diode in series with the iron,  running it at 
> half
> power...
>
>

I see... well stations are not much more expensive (maybe 2x to 3x)
and they are worth the money.

You can easily build your own i reckon, it's just a triac and a few other
parts after all.
Supply it with rectified (and cap. filtered) AC and you get the necessary 
"plus"
in power for enabling the control loop to work - so you can still use
your 110VAC heater.

Would be a nice project, only a few hours...

ST