Soldering Iron station recommendations

  • Thread starter Thread starter Music&Chaos
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Maguchi said:
The Weller WES50 is top quality, solidly built and has served me well for 25-30 years now and still going strong. The large variety of temperature settings works well for different projects. Don't remember what it costed, but it was very reasonable. The new version is called the WES51.

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I’ll second this same unit..been using one in my machine shop for yrs w/out a single hiccup - it’s reliable. I also have several el-cheapo’s I bought before springing for the Weller..they sit in the junk drawer. Can’t say I use it day in/day out but still..it’s a nice (professional) unit I’m sure would serve you well.
 
The quality of the old Weller stuff was really good from 10-20 years back, but anything new appears to be quite junky, I bought a few new pencil solder Irons to replace my old Weller and radio shack irons and all of them are too hot to solder with and just burn the solder....total fooking junk.

Maybe the new WES50 solder station has better quality control but for 300-400 bucks I'd be pissed if it sucked and died early down the road for that investment. I bought an older used Hakko 936 analog unit and it works great and would not hesitate to buy the new Hakko FX888D for price.
 
harddriver said:
The quality of the old Weller stuff was really good from 10-20 years back, but anything new appears to be quite junky, I bought a few new pencil solder Irons to replace my old Weller and radio shack irons and all of them are too hot to solder with and just burn the solder....total fooking junk.

Maybe the new WES50 solder station has better quality control but for 300-400 bucks I'd be pissed if it sucked and died early down the road for that investment. I bought an older used Hakko 936 analog unit and it works great and would not hesitate to buy the new Hakko FX888D for price.
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I have had problems with weller and have switched to Hakko.
 
Geo said:
I have a WES51 that randomly shuts down while I am using it. It's a pain in the ass.
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What's funny is my old Radio shack 30 watt pencil solder irons still work great , hold heat well and solder great, I've built all of my amps with them, I just can't find tips for them any longer so I have to go to a newer solder station and hakko has great support even for their older equipment. It was my deciding factor when replacing my old stuff. I'll purchase a Hakko FX888D in the blink of an eye after using my used 936 since I got it. It's a great unit!
 
harddriver said:
What's funny is my old Radio shack 30 watt pencil solder irons still work great , hold heat well and solder great, I've built all of my amps with them, I just can't find tips for them any longer so I have to go to a newer solder station and hakko has great support even for their older equipment. It was my deciding factor when replacing my old stuff. I'll purchase a Hakko FX888D in the blink of an eye after using my used 936 since I got it. It's a great unit!
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I moved to a Hakko too.

I put my weller in the garage for when I need to do something on the fly. If I where to build an amp with it, I would probably smash it to pieces.
 
Geo said:
I moved to a Hakko too.

I put my weller in the garage for when I need to do something on the fly. If I where to build an amp with it, I would probably smash it to pieces.
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It's crazy how many amps I built and serviced with those old Radio Shack irons, they worked great and I knew how they soldered through and through and made great solder joints. The Hakko is a better unit though I have to admit, but the ole Shack units were nothing to sneeze at for what they are. I occasionally search Ebay for tips for them just to have around the house for when the solder station is just not practical.
 
harddriver said:
It's crazy how many amps I built and serviced with those old Radio Shack irons, they worked great and I knew how they soldered through and through and made great solder joints. The Hakko is a better unit though I have to admit, but the ole Shack units were nothing to sneeze at for what they are. I occasionally search Ebay for tips for them just to have around the house for when the solder station is just not practical.
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I miss Radio Shack, they had some good products and being able to pick out a few caps or resistors was awesome.

I just recently fixed a sewing machine and needed a 220uf 10v. I had a 25v in stock but space was an issue. So, off to Mouser. They do ship pretty fast but I had to buy a few more things to justify the $8 shipping.
 
Music&Chaos said:
I have a little digital one from Amazon that has been a trooper but wanted to step up to something professional.

That is really a surprising little set there for $32 - hope it works out well!
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Yeah I do too. I got a Charvel relic Im working (tearing completely down) on the week Im off for the 4th.. I'll give a review afterwards (y)
 
Geo said:
I have a WES51 that randomly shuts down while I am using it. It's a pain in the ass.
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My WES50 has an auto off shutdown after 4 hours of idle no use. Seems they fucked up the safety circuit and yours is cutting off during time of use when it shouldn’t be.

Mine is an old Made in USA one and it’s NEVER let me down and I’ve worked on a ton of amps and gone through a ton of soldering tips with it in my life and never one single problem. Easily over 20 years. Sad their quality isn’t the same.
 
glpg80 said:
My WES50 has an auto off shutdown after 4 hours of idle no use. Seems they fucked up the safety circuit and yours is cutting off during time of use when it shouldn’t be.

Mine is an old Made in USA one and it’s NEVER let me down and I’ve worked on a ton of amps and gone through a ton of soldering tips with it in my life and never one single problem. Easily over 20 years. Sad their quality isn’t the same.
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Thanks for the info. I had tried contacting weller after I bought it but was unable to get anywhere with them, I forgot why. Just took my lumps and moved on.
 
Marking this for later. Mine is very old and somewhat underpowered.

Looks like some good recommendations.
 
I wish I could find some quality pencil solder irons for working on things like soldering up 4x12 cabinets but they all look like the Weller junk.
 
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