Hi everyone, its time for me to get a new soldering iron - any recommendations? Im replacing a knackered old Draper, adjustable heat iron, and im looking at a Pinecil TS101.....anyone have any experiences of this or other comments - all welcome! 
Soldering Iron
- Thread starter DLH635
- Start date
My Antex 18 watt has done everything I ever need for modelling. Easy to change tips on as well. It was set temperature though, not variable.
In my railway modelling days I used to do a huge amount of soldering and I found that the correct choice of solder and flux was far more important than the actual iron. In my opinion the iron just needs to be clean, have the correct sized tip for the job, and have enough stored energy (and be warm enough) to make the joint quickly.
If you are going to do a lot of low melt work on whitemetal, or hobby electronics with heat sensitive components, the temperature control is probably useful. However, if you do etch work or general electronics pretty much exclusively then temperature control is just a luxury you will hardly use.
Technology has probably moved on since I bought it though, and it’s just my two penneth based on ancient practices, so take this with a pinch of salt.
In my railway modelling days I used to do a huge amount of soldering and I found that the correct choice of solder and flux was far more important than the actual iron. In my opinion the iron just needs to be clean, have the correct sized tip for the job, and have enough stored energy (and be warm enough) to make the joint quickly.
If you are going to do a lot of low melt work on whitemetal, or hobby electronics with heat sensitive components, the temperature control is probably useful. However, if you do etch work or general electronics pretty much exclusively then temperature control is just a luxury you will hardly use.
Technology has probably moved on since I bought it though, and it’s just my two penneth based on ancient practices, so take this with a pinch of salt.
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Amen.
Was a bit preachy wasn’t it…..sorry about that
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