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Before I buy?
Hi,
I am looking to buy a better soldering iron than the Iron that I currently have.
The Iron I have is wide boddied, chunky, 25watt, the cable is too stiff and you really cant do good soldering at all.
I am looking at the Antex soldering Irons, as I have heard that they are one of the best on the market, but would like to know what wattage.
Personally I am thinking that a 15watt will do nicely, but what abou the 18watt, whats the difference.
I will mainly be soldering encoders and switches, and that's it really, but not too sure on the wattage, I am thinking 25watts is a little too much, but the 15watt or 18watt is what I am deciding on:
Either this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Antex-C15-15W-...8#ht_500wt_848
Or:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Antex-cs-18-wa...#ht_500wt_1074
Just don't know what's best?
Any ideas?
Cheers,
Alex
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Re: Before I buy?
Hi Alex,
I had a cheapo soldering iron (£5 job from ebay) and had to replace it so I got a 15w antec, unfortunately I just couldn't get on with it, for some reason it just didn't seem to melt the solder enough for it to run cleanly onto the joints, it remained in a ball. This was probably due to my poor technique but I didn't have these problems with the cheapy 30w iron I previously used. Needless to say I have gone back to a cheap 30w as I can get a number of these for the price of the antec and I can solder succesfully... I wonder if the 15w just didn't get hot enough???
Just my recent experience...
Cheers
Mike
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Re: Before I buy?
Hating all things wired, I got a gas soldering iron from my local electronics shop. I haven't used it much as I'm not ready for soldering yet, but I tried it out and it works fine. The freedom from a stiff flex was wonderful.
I got the cheapest one they had, 40W for £12. Ronson lighter fuel is £1 a large can from local newsagents.
http://www.esr.co.uk/electronics/too...dering-gas.htm
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Re: Before I buy?
Thanks for that advice.
Maybe the extra 3 watts will make all the difference, maybe it would be a good idea to ask everyone what soldering iron do they use, my instinct tells me that the 18watt is the better option.
To be honest, I just want something that's light, and thin and easy on the hand.....
Thanks for your experiences though!
Alex
EDIT: Sean, really like the gas soldering Iron idea! Do they come with a tip or is that an extra?
Cheers!
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Re: Before I buy?
hi alex.......
i use an antex csl18. cracking iron, i've had it for years and it's great with lead free solder too :o
18watt is the way to go.........
good luck
ian
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Re: Before I buy?
I was thinking the 18 watt version, my instinct was right then!
Cheers Ian, once again! :)
Alex
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Re: Before I buy?
By the way, I think that nothing beats this for price £9.00!!!!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...#ht_1440wt_831
These retail usually at between £18 - £23, thinking this is a good buy.....ooops just bought one, lets give it a shot, I cant see much in difference beween this and the Antex.....
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Re: Before I buy?
Hi Alex,
Hava a look at this one as well:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/50w-Variable-T...item53dcef4123
I got one myself a while back and it's great. You can also get different tips for it from almost any maplin store or online.
Ooops, I just noticed you''ve bought one already...
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Re: Before I buy?
Hi,
Thanks for that, I do indeed like the vari temp irons, but I don't do too well with the chunkier irons as I tend to prefer the slim line irons (like holding a pen - my soldering is better)....
A very good buy, it appears that 360 people have bought one, must be good!
Good find!
Alex
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Re: Before I buy?
I bought this earlier, to help me solder small parts such as encoders etc, this is a very good tool for very little money......
For a few quid, the uses are endless....a very handy tool! Bargain!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...T#ht_500wt_848
Alex