I would order a chisel tip and because of shipping cost, I would orde it at the same time
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
BigDaddy I would order a chisel tip and because of shipping cost, I would orde it at the same time
There is quite a variety. Are you thinking something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/XYTRONIC-INDUSTRIES-44-415402-Semi-Chisel-Replacement/dp/B01EYJIZJU/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Xytronic+chisel+tip&qid=1576800606&s=industrial&sr=1-1
Andy
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Milwaukee native modeling the Milwaukee Road in 1950's Milwaukee.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/196857529@N03/
Now that I look more closely those tips in the Amazon link dont appear to be compatible with the kit recommended earlier. I will keep looking.
The Milwaukee Road WarriorI will be getting one of two xytronics I've looked at since that brand was suggested here.
Hi 'Warrior',
If your experience is anything like mine, you won't regret it! In fact, I kicked myself for not having invested in a high quality soldering station years ago. If you do the same thing, be gentle on yourself!
I was brainwashed into thinking that Weller was a good brand, and indeed when it comes to their soldering guns, I think they are. However, I had a hard time with their pencil style soldering station, particularly when it came to keeping the tip clean. I blamed myself for being inept at following the instructions, but I'm not having any problems at all with the XYtronic unit so maybe it wasn't me after all.
This is the Weller station that I was using:
https://www.all-spec.com/Catalog/Soldering-Rework/Soldering-Stations-Accessories/Soldering-Stations/WLC100-12200?msclkid=8bf04d24593c1529080b10d83e037b83&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Product%20Listing%20Ads%20-%20Shopping&utm_term=1100404857041&utm_content=PLA
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critter The Milwaukee Road Warrior I will be getting one of two xytronics I've looked at since that brand was suggested here. Hi 'Warrior', If your experience is anything like mine, you won't regret it! In fact, I kicked myself for not having invested in a high quality soldering station years ago. If you do the same thing, be gentle on yourself! I was brainwashed into thinking that Weller was a good brand, and indeed when it comes to their soldering guns, I think they are. However, I had a hard time with their pencil style soldering station, particularly when it came to keeping the tip clean. I blamed myself for being inept at following the instructions, but I'm not having any problems at all with the XYtronic unit so maybe it wasn't me after all. This is the Weller station that I was using: https://www.all-spec.com/Catalog/Soldering-Rework/Soldering-Stations-Accessories/Soldering-Stations/WLC100-12200?msclkid=8bf04d24593c1529080b10d83e037b83&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Product%20Listing%20Ads%20-%20Shopping&utm_term=1100404857041&utm_content=PLA Dave
The Milwaukee Road Warrior I will be getting one of two xytronics I've looked at since that brand was suggested here.
That model is usually sold for stained glass work and other hobby type applications. For electrical and electronic work, it is not really suitable.
Especially for electronic work, a Weller (or another brand's models) intended for those purposes is a better choice, which should also be ESD safe. Being able to adjust the temperature is another useful feature. (Some irons use tips which control the their temperature.)
If you plan to solder decoders and other electronics, an ESD safe iron is really important. Many decoders are damaged by ESD. If it doesn't kill them outright, it shortens their life. Using acid flux is another problem. Most decoders returned under warranty for being "DOA" because of ESD and/or acid flux.
hon30critterI was brainwashed into thinking that Weller was a good brand, and indeed when it comes to their soldering guns, I think they are
.
I love my Weller soldering station. It is one of the items that I wish I would have purchased much sooner.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190I love my Weller soldering station. It is one of the items that I wish I would have purchased much sooner.
Hi Kevin,
Perhaps my comments about Weller were a bit overboard. I've been known to do that on occassion.
I'm trying to figure out what I might have been doing wrong with my Weller soldering station. I was in the habit of cleaning the tip with a small wire brush. That may have been too aggressive. I tried tip cleaning pastes but the tip just wouldn't accept a smooth coating of solder. Perhaps the tip was worn out and I didn't realize it, but there wasn't much time on it.
What I do know is that the XYtronic soldering station has worked wonderfully, and it has had a significant amount of use.
I don't use the wire brush anymore because the XYtronic station came with a brass sponge. The Weller had a wet sponge. Maybe that was part of the difference too.
Dave,
I looked at the link you posted. That station looks no where near as good as mine, and it is 1/5 the price.
Mine is a Weller WESD51 that was suggested to me by a friend who knows about these things, and knows my passion for having the best tools.
,
The problem with anything Weller branded is you never know what you are going to get. Ever since Cooper Industries bought the name, they slap it on anything. Kevin's station is a true temperature controlled station, not a junky one. But that cheap one they sell at Micro Mark, for about the same price as my Xytronic station? Just because it has a knob on the front doesn't make it temperature controlled - that one is like putting a dimmer switch in line with e regular soldering iron. You're adjusting the wattage, not the temperature. And the rather cheap soldering gun I got at Walmart? It's got the Weller name, but it weighs 1/4 of what the old REAL Weller my Dad had did. And that old one suvived several drops to the cement floor before the case was cracked enough to be potentially dangerous. My new one? One drop and I'll be buying a new one.
Today, you can get a Weller branded tool that is the utmost cheapest junk, might as well just find the cheapest Chinese knockoff. But you can also get Weller branded tools that are top notch high-end production line tools that last a lifetime. The brand has been very diluted. You just have to check out the actual features of what you are buying, not just get a Weller because it's a good name - it USED to be a good name, just get a Weller, be done with it. Not today.
I've mentioned this before - Carl Weller invented the soldering gun, in my home town. His last plant was just blocks from my house. He used the money he made to give back to the community, building additions to the local hospitals, community centers, and so forth.
It's not just Weller, other well known name brands no longer have any connection to the company that started them. Even GE - GE appliances have no connection to the General Electric Coproration. Neither do GE locomotives, for that matter. Or EMD locomotives. RCA brand electronics - it's just a name.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
That WLC100 is a prime example - that is not a temperature controlled soldering station. That is a 40 watt iron that plugs in to a base with a glorified dimmer switch. The easy giveaway is the fact that the handpiece operates on 120V and has the same sort of plug you could plug right into the wall directly, and use it as a plain old 40 watt soldering iron.
And the price - they really are kidding themselves. I paid less than that for my Xytronics, which is a real soldering station with temperature control. The current model replacement for the one I have (I got it more than 11 years ago - it's PLENTY durable, it's not one of those cheap Chinese Hakko knockoffs) is about the same price as that Weller. Luckily you can get that WLC100 for as low as $30 on Amazon.
SeeYou190I looked at the link you posted. That station looks no where near as good as mine, and it is 1/5 the price.
That would explain a lot!
Randy has pointed out the fact that the 'Weller' brand has been diluted. That is unfortunate, but not much hasn't been diluted these days.
In some cases diluting stuff is a good thing. I dilute my coffee with Bailey's Irish Creme and it works just fine!!
It's ok, you're among friends. You can admit you dilute your Bailey's with coffee.
rrinkerIt's ok, you're among friends. You can admit you dilute your Bailey's with coffee.
Cheers Randy!!
Have a good Christmas! Same to everyone else!
Bumping this to make it accessible to the guy asking what kind of iron to buy over in Electronics/DCC
OvermodFlux not only cleans the surface, it keeps air out of the joint like the flux in submerged-arc welding. Use it accordingly. Note that you can make a controlled-atmosphere 'glovebox' using appropriate shielding gas if you want, and solve some of the joint-contamination issues firsthand instead of relying on flux as a kind of kludge
NOT PLUMBER'S FLUX!!! That has ACID in it and is NOT used for electrical work. Use a nice Rosin Flux (Radio Shack Brand is Yucky but works), NoKorode is what my father used for years and years. He had a tin that he bought in the 40s and that was all I have ever seen him use (from that one tin) And he was a radio wizard and could repair anything until the invented transisters and circuit boards. After that it was easier to toss the circuit board and get a new one.
Most of the flux you find in the big box stores is an acid based flux used in plumbing, not in the electric shop.
I googled Rosin Electrical Flux, and among the entries there found these:
https://www.amazon.com/Delcast-Rosin-Soldering-Flux-Paste/dp/B00SVESNTC
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Soldering is a fine topic. The LION points outy some SAFETY suggestions that no one ever remembers to do.
1) Adjust your eyeglasses BEFORE you pick up the soldering iron.
2) ALWAYS LOOK at the soldering iron BEFORE you pick it up.
3) Do not solder directly overhead. Hot globs of fire will fall onto yor nice soft fur, and maybe into your eyes. Goggles (not Googles) should be worn incase of spattering.
4) Keep your nice soft tail out of the flux.
5) Well ventelated doesnt hurt.
6) LOOK BEFORE you set the soldering iron down again.
7) Know the number for the local fire department or ambulance service.
Thank you all for the answers and suggestions. There are a couple of active soldering posts at the moment, but I'll try adding to my own for an additional answer.
I saw some of the answers suggesting buying additional tips at the time of purchase of the basic iron/station. I have seen pointed and chisel type tips. The question is, what jobs do you use which tip for? My primary uses will be feeder to track and feeder to bus.
Thanks again,
Richard
I bought a variety of tips with my system, but I almost exclusively use a small chisel tip. And by small I mean, you have to look closely to see that it's not a conical pointed tip, but that it does have flats on the sides, making it a chisel shape. I've used this same tip for everything from soldering together Fast Tracks turnouts to soldering circuit boards.
For the sake of completeness: get one of the brass or bronze 'wool' tip cleaners, preferably in a weighted or even magnetic base holder. I greatly prefer these to wet sponges, even if using the 'right' kind of temperature-controlled iron that lets you know when the tip is back to the right temp after sponging.
And I recommend the use of a dedicated product for tinning, if you can afford it. I used the Thermaltake product, which is supposed to be straight tin powder in a dry base. Use of this is supposed to greatly enhance the life of the long thin tips used for fine work.
When I first started electronic work in high school, I made a contact on the barrel of the iron to which I could alligator-clip a line to an antistatic wristband (which itself was grounded to Something Proper). This seems like a reasonable precaution to use on any iron that is not known to have an electrostatically-grounded tip if you are working on decoders or other components with static sensitivity.
Those "tip tinners" are nothing but sal ammoniac. Be sparing in the use - they sure make the tip nice and shiny, but they also wear away the plating.
The brass wool things are vastly superior to a wet sponge - less thermal shock, which also shortens tip life, and no starting to solder and then realizing you forgot to wet the sponge. Though I didn't realize how big the one was that came with my soldering station. I got the 10 pack of replacements someone posted from Amazon, which I figure will be a lifetime supply considering the one I've been using is the original from 12 years ago. Well - maybe half a lifetime supply, as it took 2 of the replacements to actually securely stuff in the space in my holder base.
And I buy my solder by the spool, and have always made due until I got this the other day. I used it for the first time soldering together the calculator kit I got. A solder holder.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PQF98X4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's definitely one of those "didn't know I needed it until I used it" type of things.
Speaking of soldering practice, this calculator might be a good option (there are even simpler projects to start out with).
https://www.amazon.com/KKmoon-Calculator-Multi-Purpose-Electronic-Electronics/dp/B076SBY7DG/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=kkmoon+calculator&qid=1577721736&sr=8-1
It's a little quirky, and the mechanical assmebly takes longer than the electronic part, but it's a basic 4 function calculator but it also has some features that might come in handy. It does resistor color codes (see the color strips on the number keys - just key in the colors and it will tell you the resitor value) and it does LED resistor calculations, and finally hex to decimal and back conversion.
Main thing about it is you pretty much have to hit the Clear key between calculations, and to run it on battery power, well, you have to completely disassemble it to replace the batteries. I may drill a hole in the back piece and put a 2.1mm barrel jack to use an AC adapter with it. It has terminals for external power, which is how I tested it, using my bench power supply, but those are not accessible when it is assembled either. There's room for a power jack, but I don;t want to break the acrylic piece drilling holes in it.
rrinkerIt's definitely one of those "didn't know I needed it until I used it" type of things.
I have a double:
https://tinyurl.com/uknqudw
Same footprint. Two flavors of solder.
Cheers, Ed