Hello,

I'm hoping to get into electronics and PCB soldering. I currently have a Weller SP23LK (25 watt), which seems pretty good, but it does need a new tip. I actually read a decent number of reviews saying that this iron tends to eat up tips fast--so I was wondering, should I get new tips, or maybe spring for a slightly nicer iron, like the WES51? Is temperature controlled better in this case? My next project is to try to re-solder some blown capacitors on a motherboard (quite small).

Also, what tip is best for very fine electronics work? I imagine this depends somewhat...how can I tell what tip shape to use?

Thanks!

 

Hello,

I'm hoping to get into electronics and PCB soldering. I currently have a Weller SP23LK (25 watt), which seems pretty good, but it does need a new tip. I actually read a decent number of reviews saying that this iron tends to eat up tips fast--so I was wondering, should I get new tips, or maybe spring for a slightly nicer iron, like the WES51? Is temperature controlled better in this case? My next project is to try to re-solder some blown capacitors on a motherboard (quite small).

Also, what tip is best for very fine electronics work? I imagine this depends somewhat...how can I tell what tip shape to use?

Thanks!

Lots of people get by with cheap irons, but I like something a bit better and use a Hakko 936. The tip is chisel shaped and is sort of a compromise in size and shape. I have some smaller and some larger which I occasionally use, but most of the time, I go with the tip that's on the iron.

 

I have always used a temperature-controlled Weller soldering iron. The tip is always at the correct temperature and it never boils away the rosin in the solder. It rarely peels copper from a circuit board (except it peels RadioShack copper on their poor quality stripboards). Also the tip never burns away when it is heated all day every day for years. Each solder joint takes 1 second.