Simple yet effective soldering tip...

[rspst14]

Wow, I just picked up a 40 watt soldering iron to replace my old 30 watter, and I can't believe how much easier it is to work on guitars with a 40 watt iron. Soldering to the back of pots is a snap, and all of my solder joints are clean and shiny. With the 30 watt iron, I would always end up with a few connections that turned dull grey, and the solder would always ball up on the back of a pot. No matter how good my technique was, I was always plagued by these problems. I was worried that it would be too much heat, but it's perfect for guitar work. If you're using a lower watt iron, go to Radio Shack and spend $10 on one of the 40 watt irons. It'll make your life much easier.

Ryan

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Simple yet effective soldering tip...

I have a 20,25,30 and 40 watt irons for all the different uses...Great tips....

[Kent S.]

Re: Simple yet effective soldering tip...

Ryan, they also make one for around $19 I think that comes attached to it's own soldering stand/workstation that is switchable between 20 and 40 watts (it think it's those two sets of wattages). Good for PCB work with a samller tip. Oh yeah, you must have my old R.S. 40 watts iron, great little iron huh?
Worth noting also, R.S. also offers the actual components (bodies, grips, heating elements, tips) to build your own *customized* soldering iron. Great for replacing the elements also.

[beandip]

Re: Simple yet effective soldering tip...

I got one of those 40 watters, I really liked it, until the tip started like falling apart. I dont know why, but I'm never able to get a real good joint, no matter what iron or tip I use. What's up with that?

[Kent S.]

Re: Simple yet effective soldering tip...

I got one of those 40 watters, I really liked it, until the tip started like falling apart. I dont know why, but I'm never able to get a real good joint, no matter what iron or tip I use. What's up with that?

Technique ( tips on those are the larger conical tips, hard to explain but the heat transfers differently) , keeping the tip tinned, cleaning the tip (la sponge, and no damn sanding); my top three blind guesses.

[ArtieToo]

Re: Simple yet effective soldering tip...

Also, keep in mind, tips do wear out. Thats why they're replaceable.
Another thing, you should store your iron with a big blob of solder on it to protect the tip. A lot of folks make the mistake of having it clean and shiny when they turn it off. Which just means, its the tip that'll oxidize and corrode, rather than the solder.

[Chi3f]

Re: Simple yet effective soldering tip...

R.S. also makes a product called tip tinner and cleaner. It looks like solder but works extremely well. My cheap soldering iron was having a hard time getting solder not to just ball up so i bought this stuff. all you do is dip the hot soldering iron in then it melts and coats the tip and your iron is happy once again.

[bassdog54]

Re: Simple yet effective soldering tip...

After reading this thread I went and got a 30 watter. I had been using 23 w. It didn't like melting the large clump of solder on the back of my vol pot. The 30 did it for my soldering purpose. Much better. Thanks for the tip. Bob

[Faasie]

Re: Simple yet effective soldering tip...

A friend of mine kinda teached me how to do it. I did my guitar by tinning
everything with a 40 watt and do the connecting with a 20 watt iron, because that one has a smaller tip (I only have 2).
Soldering the ground is a bit of a pain in the ass you have to scratch the back of them
pots first so its not smooth anymore and the solder can get a better grip.

[Fusion1]

Re: Simple yet effective soldering tip...

I bought one of these over a year ago and just opened the box recently for the first time to use it.



I went to the website and it's already been discontinued :-(

Works great though, but it might be a little overkill for guitar work. 50 watts with adjustable temp and I still don't really know what the ideal temperature is supposed to be for guitar soldering. I think this unit goes from 350 degrees to 850.

[cementwave]

Re: Simple yet effective soldering tip...

has anyone heard of the cold heat? its cordless and supposedly gets hot in 1.2 secs and gets cool in 3 secs. their website is coldheat.com . watch the commercial. fix a broken switch on your guitar!

[psychodave]

Re: Simple yet effective soldering tip...

I have an iron that is adjustable via a pot. It is great to use a low setting on PCB's then if you need some real heat, just turn it up and you can melt anything. I think it was $300? But I have had it for 10+ years and it works flawlessly.

[Kent S.]

Re: Simple yet effective soldering tip...

Works great though, but it might be a little overkill for guitar work. 50 watts with adjustable temp and I still don't really know what the ideal temperature is supposed to be for guitar soldering. I think this unit goes from 350 degrees to 850.

Weller makes a bunch of those in various models, variable temperature is a nice feature, that and the faster heat up and regulated tip (plus many are esd safe ) . I prefer the ones that are set up according to wattage. Be care though, many of those are tarnsformer powered, some keep the base unit away from the pups, and other magnets ... ;-)

[Kent S.]

Re: Simple yet effective soldering tip...

I have an iron that is adjustable via a pot. It is great to use a low setting on PCB's then if you need some real heat, just turn it up and you can melt anything. I think it was $300? But I have had it for 10+ years and it works flawlessly.

R.S. used to make a cool little thing that looked like a dimmer switch that plugged into the wall, and you plug your cheaper soldering iron into, same thing.
They don't make them anymore unfortunately, a dimmer switch set up would probably do the exact same thing though ... get an iron of whatever maximum wattage you wanted, and then be able to turn it down ...