Decent soldering iron - what a revelation

[debrooker]

Originally I bought a 30watt maplins iron and have had real issues soldering my connectors onto the 12awg wires of my 6s batteries. Such was the poor job, on idle up my power delivery has poor causing an inconsistent head speed.

Anyway, bought another 100watt Antex iron and the difference! Like a hot knife through butter, I am changing connectors at a rate of knots.

Well pleased.

[alioth]

A cheap soldering iron is a huge false economy (especially for soldering things with big connectors, which act as huge heatsinks!) Always worth getting something decent. Preferably temperature controllable.

[Helimadlarry]

Had a few duff soldering irons in the past. But I can't fault my 40w Antex. Perfect for soldering deans and EC3 connectors.

[billydude]

Hmmmm, makes me think that I should get rid of the unknown origin antique baby thing that I have and invest in something decent...........if I still have grief with soldering for the 6S connectors, then it'll just be down to ME!

Have a good weekend all. Weather is caqu here in Monaco today.

BIll.

[Airwolfie]

50W Solder Station : Temperature Controlled Irons & Solder Stations : Maplin

Best money I ever spent!!

[PsiLo]

I got one of these when they had them on half price sale Makes things so much easier

[Lynx.1677]

I have to say, I am still using my dad's ancient Weller 30A soldering iron. It's fine for the 3S stuff and ESC's but for 6S pack's i's so hard. I thought it was just me but sounds like I need to invest in a decent iron.

[coptermanic]

A decent hot iron and a decent sized element/bit and even I can solder!!!!

[billydude]

Right then, so it's off to the shops tomorrow................thanks!

[asomaro]

I've been using the Maplin gas soldering iron Solderpro 50 Gas Soldering Iron Kit : Gas Soldering Irons & Kits : Maplin which works very well indeed on 3s and 6s stuff as well as just about everything else.

The beauty is that this particular kit comes with several "heads" that are very easy to change and one of them is like a blow torch element that I use for all my shrink wrap stuff (does the job very well indeed). The other thing that I like is that it has no trailing cable to get in the way which makes it easier to get into those tricky areas.

I wouldn't use anthing else now on my model stuff.

Cheers,

[billydude]

Wow, Express Tempo, 55W, heats in a minute and solders in seconds, 33 euros........even I can solder with this.......just wish I'd got one before I screwed up a couple of sets of good connectors.

Bon weekend!

Bill.

[jimheli]

i got a 48 watt station maplin & its great not digital display just a nob u turn up for more heat and a line off lights across the top as to show the heat setting , i done all my EC5 connectors with it in no time heats up in a flash , done a very good job i think.



jim

[dogbiscuit]

after two useless cheap irons i now use the gas hob to do my ec3 connectors. done in a flash and no stress, with the perfect join. give it a go

[vygec]

im new to soldering, so i picked up a cheap 30w soldering kit station for around a tenner last year, only got to use it for the first time today to put some ec3 connectors on some batteries.
didnt go too well, managed to get on, but im not sure if they will stay connected or not!
so im thinking, do i need a new soldering kit or is it becuase im a newbie?
i saw this in maplin, and wondering whther i should just fork out for it?
48W LCD Display Solder Station : Tools & Appliances : Maplin

[msssltd]

so im thinking, do i need a new soldering kit or is it becuase im a newbie?

I used to be a wireman and would say a good wireman can make a good joint with a crap iron, while a poor wireman makes a poor joint with any iron.

i saw this in maplin, and wondering whther i should just fork out for it?

I am slightly suspicious of these cheap bling irons. For soldering gold connectors, rather than circuit boards, a half decent butane iron is more than adequate. Spend the money you save on a desoldering pump, which I would say is essential for soldering Gold plated cup connectors.

You can not solder directly to Gold plate as it dissolves in molten Tin, (solder) despite having a higher melting point. The resulting crystalline compound is dull and brittle when it cools. The way to solder Gold cup connectors is to fill with solder, keep the heat on a little too long and then suck the solder out with the desoldering pump. It's dead easy to get a bright joint once the Gold has been removed. For blade connectors (Deans) you can just sand the Gold plate off and tin as usual.

HTH