Soldering iron.......what tips??

GregJr

New member
Going to buy a new 60W soldering iron. What kind of tips do you recommend??
Beveled, Chisel,Pencil...????
 
Re: Soldering iron.......what tips??

I use a super thin chisel tip on a cordless soldering iron that I got from Sears. If you use anything too big, it's not gonna be precise enough to get in the smaller spots on the guitar. That's really all you need. I've got a super tiny pencil tip for the very few times that I actually mod my own pedals (one of my lead guitarists usually does it, he's got all of his modded with various things (put an external potentiometer on a Carbon copy so he could adjust the modulation from the outside rather than opening it up each time)).
 
Re: Soldering iron.......what tips??

60W is also probably overkill for working on guitars and pedals. A good quality 25W one is usually good for most applications.
 
Re: Soldering iron.......what tips??

60W is also probably overkill for working on guitars and pedals. A good quality 25W one is usually good for most applications.

Yes and no. If your quick you can do it with 60w. Sometimes I feel like 25w makes me spend too much time heating things up and i worry about stuff being damaged. But anymore depending on what im doing I have different irons for different jobs so its not an issue.
 
Re: Soldering iron.......what tips??

50 watt chisel tips are good for ground lugs and a 30 watt needle tip is good for small detail work. I use both.
 
Re: Soldering iron.......what tips??

Usually, 35W to 60W are ok. I am using pencil tip, myself.
My Iron has adjustable power so, I can work on pot's cases at full power and on the rest of spots with lower power.
 
Re: Soldering iron.......what tips??

I've been using my weller wlc100 station for some time but now need to get some new tips. Where do you guys buy your tips? Mouser, allied etc are not very shipping friendly, or they tack on a handling charge on small orders.
 
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Re: Soldering iron.......what tips??

Usually 15%, or 18% if the job was really well done.
 
Re: Soldering iron.......what tips??

Good choice in getting a 60 watt iron. Anything less than 40 watts will cause more harm than good causing parts to stay hot for too long spreading that heat to vital heat-sensitive areas while you're waiting for the metal to get hot enough to melt the solder (the hot metal should melt the solder, NOT the soldering iron, to get the proper "flow").

Anyway, I use a small pencil tip for everything, but a small chisel tip could be fine if it's small enough (we're working on electronics not heating ducts).
 
Re: Soldering iron.......what tips??

I like the small chisel tip and i use a weller solder station with adjustable wattage,(25-60 watt)
i use lower settings on pot lugs,switches and higher setting for parts that wont damage as easy
 
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