FIRST decent soldering iron, ERSA maybe ?

Other Hardware General Electronics
1

Hi guys, i'm an italian young ""maker"" enjoying Arduino and small circuit flashing an LED with NE555.
After two shitty chinese soldering iron I finally decided to buy a better one. I've seen that Ersa are rated good on the internet and some people claim their tools lasted for decades.
I think that a proper soldering station would be a waste of money since my exigence are so small, but i would like to buy a proper soldering iron.
I've seen on Amazon the PTC 60, a 75W with temp regulator from 250°C to 450°C with a 2,2 mm chisel tip for only 60€.
There is a lot of spare parts and many tips that this soldering iron share with the soldering station analog W60 maybe a future upgrade.
I've seen other models but i'm a little skeptical on them:

Model 30s, 25€, 3,2 chisel tip, fixed temp 380°C (maybe a little hottie ?) you can also purchase the 1,1 mm point tip for this model
Model Multitip 15W, 25€, fixed temp 350°C (hottie ? ) a lot of tips. Maybe this is not enough powerful if i would have to work on medium component ?
Model MULTITIP 25W, 25€, fixed temp 410°C ( so hot !! ) a lot of tips. maybe powerful enough, but isn't too hot the temperature ?
What do you think about it ?
Thanks to all will join this topic.

2

Personally I love my antex 25W iron with a silicone lead (makes it easier to maneuver), but I'm no expert.

You could get some good tips here:

3

quote "I think that a proper soldering station would be a waste of money since my exigence are so small, but i would like to buy a proper soldering iron." unquote

You should think of your soldering iron as a lifetime investment. I still use soldering irons I bought in the 1970s and they still work fine. Be sure to buy extra soldering tips, as the iron may go obsolete.

Paul

4

Agreed, Paul_KD7HB.. I'm still using an ancient weller I must have had for 40 years. And you can still get tips...

As for temperature, 370C is about right for leaded solder, unleaded rather more.

And do buy a temperature controlled iron -they're MUCH better.

regards

Allan

5

meurigf:
Personally I love my antex 25W iron with a silicone lead (makes it easier to maneuver), but I'm no expert.

You could get some good tips here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aIab66EgfHM

They are very good, I have had one for around 25 years.

I have the temperature controlled one, which is a good deal more expensive, but unfortunatley it comes with an extremely stiff PVC lead, which makes the iron difficult to use.

I would replace the cable, but finding short lengths of the thin silicone mains cable is not so easy.

6

My 1980's Weller WTCP / Magnastat is still working; just exchanged maybe a dozen tips since then.

As said before, ERSA is ok, in my eyes Weller is still my favourite (I had a modern Ersa 2 years ago with temperature control - ok, but git back to my old Weller as it delivered a bit more power, at least I had the impression, when it came to critical solderings like big copper plane around the wire to be soldered; so now my son has got a modern Ersa for his 2-3 times soldering actions/year).

If you don't want to spend the money for a brand new Weller (today I would go with a WS 51 or WS 81), have a look at *bay; a lot of people who had enough money but then realized that they had no time to use it, sell their 2-3 years old Wellers for about half or 1/3 the new price.

If you want to go with ERSA or something else - get an iron with flexible silicon cord as already adviced before - makes everything easier, especially if you want use the iron often.

7

I don't solder on a daily basis and I use a very cheap iron. See this post (Is this a good budget soldering iron? - #39 by sarouje - General Electronics - Arduino Forum) that shows the board I soldered.

8

The ERSA TIP 260 (16 Watts) is perfect for soldering chips and resistors and other stuff to printed circuit boards.

I also use an ERSA 30S (30 Watts) for soldering when the tiny tip if the ERSA TIP 260 does not deliver enough power ot takes too long to heat up the stuff I want to solder.

If you have got the money you will not regret spending it on two different soldering irons.
If you do mostly electronic circuits, the TIP 260 will do the job.

My personal experience is restricted to ERSA products. I never had problems. There are other fine brands as well. Just do NOT buy the cheap stuff from China. Go for a well known brand, because one time you might need a replacement tip.

If you get used to your two irons (this does not take long) you will not need a temperature controlled station.

9

arduinoaleman:
The ERSA TIP 260 (16 Watts)
If you get used to your two irons (this does not take long) you will not need a temperature controlled station.
[/quote]
That is what i know as a fire stick.
I started out with one of those and with practice they are usable.
For a serious user though a high power (50 W+) temperature controlled iron is the best idea.

10

Well, people will stone me, but this kind of soldering tips is all over the place internationally and fits multiple Chinese station. I filed a smaller chisel tip than usually available from them, have been using it for a few month now and am quite happy with it on my ZD-931ESD.
We have Ersa and Weller in the institute, so I also kind of know what I am missing. If this station breaks soonish, I would probably go for a brand product, but for now, it totally suits me.

11

sarouje:
I don't solder on a daily basis and I use a very cheap iron. See this post (Is this a good budget soldering iron? - #39 by sarouje - General Electronics - Arduino Forum) that shows the board I soldered.

i mean no offense but I've seen better joints.

arduinoaleman:
The ERSA TIP 260 (16 Watts) is perfect for soldering chips and resistors and other stuff to printed circuit boards.

I also use an ERSA 30S (30 Watts) for soldering when the tiny tip if the ERSA TIP 260 does not deliver enough power ot takes too long to heat up the stuff I want to solder.

If you have got the money you will not regret spending it on two different soldering irons.
If you do mostly electronic circuits, the TIP 260 will do the job.

My personal experience is restricted to ERSA products. I never had problems. There are other fine brands as well. Just do NOT buy the cheap stuff from China. Go for a well known brand, because one time you might need a replacement tip.

If you get used to your two irons (this does not take long) you will not need a temperature controlled station.

thanks but i doubt i will take 2 different irons, i would prefer only one good quality sold.iron

ElCaron:
Well, people will stone me, but this kind of soldering tips is all over the place internationally and fits multiple Chinese station. I filed a smaller chisel tip than usually available from them, have been using it for a few month now and am quite happy with it on my ZD-931ESD.
We have Ersa and Weller in the institute, so I also kind of know what I am missing. If this station breaks soonish, I would probably go for a brand product, but for now, it totally suits me.

i wasted enough good money on crappy chinese items. definetely no.

rpt007:
My 1980's Weller WTCP / Magnastat is still working; just exchanged maybe a dozen tips since then.

As said before, ERSA is ok, in my eyes Weller is still my favourite (I had a modern Ersa 2 years ago with temperature control - ok, but git back to my old Weller as it delivered a bit more power, at least I had the impression, when it came to critical solderings like big copper plane around the wire to be soldered; so now my son has got a modern Ersa for his 2-3 times soldering actions/year).

If you don't want to spend the money for a brand new Weller (today I would go with a WS 51 or WS 81), have a look at *bay; a lot of people who had enough money but then realized that they had no time to use it, sell their 2-3 years old Wellers for about half or 1/3 the new price.

If you want to go with ERSA or something else - get an iron with flexible silicon cord as already adviced before - makes everything easier, especially if you want use the iron often.

thanks now i've seen also the magnastat and I'm more confused than before :smiley:
I've read many people had this item for decades too, and i've seen the price is not so bad.
I've seen on YT tutorials many expert people claims they use "big" chisel tip with SMD.
I'm wondering if it should be a good choice a Magnastat with a 2,4mm chisel tip at 370°C for both normal joints and SMD. what do you think ?

12

I have soldered for 40+ years almost daily.
My old Weller is great, but I now recommend Hakko FX888.

http://www.tequipment.net/HakkoFX888D-23BY.html?b=y&v=7765

13

I'm wondering if it should be a good choice a Magnastat with a 2,4mm chisel tip at 370°C for both normal joints and SMD. what do you think ?

Normal joints -> no problem.
SMD: maybe too thick. I have only limited experience with SMD soldering. Did some with the Weller Magnastat, --> imho this is not optimal. But, it is also a question how good and experienced you are with SMD (I am not; plus at the age of 60+ soldering SMDs is a challenge for your eyes; that's why I am gonna build me a reflow oven for SMDs).

Honestly: Magnastat is a great technology and if you look back to the time, where it was invented it was by far the best iron you could get. All soldering industtry and major laboratories around the world were equipped with the Magnastat. A little disadvantage of the Magnastat is that you have to choose temperature plus size in one piece. If the size fits but the temperature not, you have to go for another piece which has both.

Today I would prefer either the Magnastat WS51 or WS81 which come with a broad range of temperature control and many tip sizes. This gives you more flexibility: i.e. with any tip, broader and smaller you can choose the right temperature for any given situation (leaded, unleaded solder, THT, SMD, small, big pieces etc.).

All Wellers come with silicon cable and the newer ones are also pretty light. So soldering with those tools is a piece of cake (-> I am NO Weller salesman and also like ERSA -> I've got a 35+ years old 12V ERSA which is still alive and supported my electronics adventures in my old car then). Happy soldering :slight_smile:

14

Charybdis:
Hi guys, i'm an italian young ""maker"" enjoying Arduino and small circuit flashing an LED with NE555.
After two shitty chinese soldering iron I finally decided to buy a better one. I've seen that Ersa are rated good on the internet and some people claim their tools lasted for decades.
I think that a proper soldering station would be a waste of money since my exigence are so small, but i would like to buy a proper soldering iron.
I've seen on Amazon the PTC 60, a 75W with temp regulator from 250°C to 450°C with a 2,2 mm chisel tip for only 60€.
There is a lot of spare parts and many tips that this soldering iron share with the soldering station analog W60 maybe a future upgrade.
I've seen other models but i'm a little skeptical on them:

Model 30s, 25€, 3,2 chisel tip, fixed temp 380°C (maybe a little hottie ?) you can also purchase the 1,1 mm point tip for this model
Model Multitip 15W, 25€, fixed temp 350°C (hottie ? ) a lot of tips. Maybe this is not enough powerful if i would have to work on medium component ?
Model MULTITIP 25W, 25€, fixed temp 410°C ( so hot !! ) a lot of tips. maybe powerful enough, but isn't too hot the temperature ?
What do you think about it ?
Thanks to all will join this topic.

The soldering iron I use is the RadioShack 640-0206 with a variac usually set to 70 VAC (out of 120).

I have not yet run into anything I can't solder with it... note that I only use 62/36/2 (lead, tin, silver) solder and never lead-free.

This iron MUST be used at a lower power than straight "plugged into the wall". otherwise it gets WAY too hot.

One thing I did is drip a drop of Galinstan (eutectic alloy of gallium, indium and tin which is liquid at room temperature) into the iron's replaceable tip to provide better thermal conduction between the heating element and the tip.

My 2 cents....

15

i use 62/36/2 (lead, tin, silver) 0,56mm bought on amazon,
i've seen that "HOTTIE" means other than "too much hot". woops