I am getting a Hakko 926 station to replace the noname soldering pencil I use.

From your experience with general electronics work/design/repair please recommend tip sizes to order. (thru hole boards only)

See diagram by clicking pic below or http://www.madelltech.com/images/900M_soldering_tips.JPG

 

900M-T-1.2D is the only one I use unless I have some heavy wires (bigger than 18AWG) to solder. I use it for through hole work and for larger SMD parts.

 

For, "the usual", I use a Weller .1 inch wide spade tip at 35 watts. For SMD, there is a narrower spade tip, about .05 to .0625 inches wide. I do not like pointed tips. If tracecom was referring to a 1.2mm tip, that would be .047 inches.

Bigger stuff gets my Weller 140W gun or a Weller 250 watt gun. Really big stuff gets a soldering tip on a propane tank.

 

The majority of my work is with SMD components so I want the smallest tip I can get.

I use a 900M-T-0.8D most of the time, that's what I buy and run out of most often.

For larger leads, I have a cheapie Radio Shack iron that sees a couple of hours of total use at most per year.

 

Ditto, my main tip is a 900M-T-0.8 (flattened type). I have a few larger tips next to the iron, and can hot swap them in 30 seconds.