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[on:]

Aldi (UK) has a cheap 30W soldering iron on sale from Sunday. Its not the best in the world but at £6.99 it's cheap enough to keep as a spare

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3_21520.htm

If that doesn't float your boat, they have a Helping Hands clamp and magnifying glass for £2.99

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3_21521.htm

[Reply #1 on:]

What the ??!@#!

 

I thought Aldi only sells cheap food. Last time I picked up a roll of food wrap at aldi and still have half a roll. Cutting blade is cheap dull plastic and I have to rip hard every time. Just check their US website, yep, just food and some kitchen stuff.

[Reply #2 on:]

Aldi and Lidl here in the UK, always have something interesting for the DIY'er of the house to browse and stick into the shopping trolley. I nearly always end up with a set of something, spanners, screwdrivers - you get the picture :-)

Interestingly, Lidl (UK) have a nice looking magnifying glass with clamps and soldering iron holder for £4.99:

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/index_25486.htm

[Reply #3 on:]

Every now and then  the Lidl/Aldi in my neighbourhood also sells tools, microwave ovens, radios, computers and even bicycles. Some of those are quite interesting given the price.

I did buy a solder-iron at Lidl once, but I'll  never do that again.
While soldering just one board (with quite a number of components) the tip, new, dissolved half.

After that I've assembled PCBs at a firm for two years with professional equipment, have assembled/corrected at least 10.000 boards and... used two tips in total ! Tips used just started to degrade.

Nowadays I use an old iron I got while working at the assembly-firm. Before the Lidl-one I used a cheap Weller for about 15 years, unfortunately the tip also started dissolving after many years of use. Since the tip corroded in the iron as well I can't replace it any more although I can still buy spare tips for it.

So, If I had to buy a new one for a few bucks I'd probably spend 2-3 times the money of an Lidl/Aldi-one,
buy a weller again and take better care of it.

[Reply #4 on:]

Too little plating (chromium?) on the tip? I bought a radio shack 8USD kit and the tip gets eaten away quickly if you leave it plugged in between securing parts on a PCB. The 30W power is too large for the tip. 20W would be probably better. Plus, mine is still fine but those ones I bought for students got their tips eaten up

I also have weller battery-powered irons. Their tips are pristine even after around 1,000 solder points. I suspect low power + good plating. Just too much hassle to replace battery every 200 points.