Good soldering iron?

GhostlyGamer · Post by **GhostlyGamer** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 3:09 pm

So i went out and bought a Weller cordless (6watts, Upto 900F, but I don't believe it gets that hot). Im just wondering if it is good for soldering xboxes. i know you are only supposed to have an iron on a pcb for max of 2-3 seconds, but it doesnt heat it up that quickly, so i seem to have to put a ball on the tip, and then wipe it onto the joint (i belive this is called cold solder?) it has worked well for me in the past, is there any reason why it shouldn't work now?

asbo · Post by **asbo** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 3:55 pm

Be sure to leave the iron for a few minutes before you begin so that it reaches max temperature.
Clean the end of the iron on damp sponge.
Then tin the end, this means melt a little solder on the end of the iron so it goes shiny. This helps melt solder on a PCB.

Solder away!

Assuming its working properly and reaching a high enough temperature it should almost instantly melt any solder you touch with it.

Hope that helps.

blighty · Post by **blighty** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:06 pm

Use a small amount of flux to clean your copper contacts first and the rest almost does itself

GhostlyGamer · Post by **GhostlyGamer** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:27 am

asbo wrote:Be sure to leave the iron for a few minutes before you begin so that it reaches max temperature.

oh boy, holding a black button down for a few minutes LOL!

Post by **xman** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:19 am

Heat the iron up and then place it on the part or parts that require soldering. After about a second, feed solder onto that point and remove the iron, done if the solder is shiny. If it isn't, repeat adding a touch more solder. While iron is hot wipe it on a damp cloth to clean.

GhostlyGamer · Post by **GhostlyGamer** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:22 am

the iron looses heat as soon as it touches the contact, i might need to brute force it with a gun lol

Post by **xman** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 3:59 am

Well 6 watt is a baby. My weapon of choice is in the 30- 50 watt temperature controlled range with a 1mm tip in it and just be real quick. In quick I mean with that temperature controlled iron, I solder a whole LCP "DIN" connector in an Xbox board in about 12 seconds and I also do large soldering jobs as well with that iron like large transistors and when that iron isn't big enough, out comes the butane Portasol and when that isn't big enough, (like car battery leads etc), out comes the butane flame torch which also gets used for heatshrink. The temp. iron is ideal because some jobs can last for several hours and with the temp. controlled iron it will just maintain the set temperature rather than get hotter and hotter.

professor_jonny · Post by **professor_jonny** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 10:48 am

GhostlyGamer wrote:oh boy, holding a black button down for a few minutes LOL!

id be carefull we have goot pistol irons at work and if you hold the boost button down to long they over heat and burn out the heater.

GhostlyGamer · Post by **GhostlyGamer** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 5:29 pm

The button is what turns the element on. And it was the cheapest, it works ok if i cold solder the joint then re heat the solder and make it a hot solder

Good soldering iron?

Good soldering iron?

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