Soldering Iron

[str3atwarrior]

I got the first one I posted. Although this one was tempting, but I couldn't find any specs on it at the store so I didn't get it.

That's exactly the one i got! For wires of any other kind of non PCB soldering, this is great, but no good on boards

[jbob0124]

Once I got the new one, it took me roughly 45 minutes to disassemble, de-solder, solder, reassemble and test out 1 zpa. Much better with the new iron. Thanks for the input.

[audiogood]

Dude spend $125 bucks on the snap-on butane iron . They have an life time warrente and can sided 0 gave ring termals . These r all I use in my shop. And they will soder anything quick with no burns in the bords ..

[ttocs]

snap on makes nice stuff, there is alot in the price range below it that is nice as well that does not include the price of the truck at your shop/house.

[audiogood]

The thing I like about the snap- on is it has soder tips , hot knife tip, plastic welding tips and a heat gard that let's me do heat srink tubeing all very usefull in this biz .

[Thumper88]

Lifetime warranty? No. 12 month, yes.
http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp ... ir=catalog

That being said...I purchased mine from here:
http://www.amazon.com/PSI100K-Super-Pro ... 698&sr=8-8

I also have the "75 watt" equivalent P2C. Both very good butane soldering irons.
The weller SP40LK is awesome for large gauge wire and other things that require a lot of heat....like alternator stator leads.

I also have this guy:
http://www.amazon.com/Phillips-Professi ... _orig_subj
Awesome for heat shrink and soldering large gauge terminals.
Again, you could also buy it from Snap On...
http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp ... ir=catalog
Hmm...no warranty.

Used snap on tools back when I was in community college...not a huge fan. Had bought one of their digital torque wrenches, had issues (loose battery wire), asked the rep what I could do about replacing it, past one year warranty...fixed the damn thing myself.

[ttocs]

I would probably be more likely to blame the community college and how the people treat the tools there then to blame the snap on tool IMO. I got them when I was making big bucks in the install bay at best buy and most of those tools I still have today, including the soldering iron. They are great but there are alot before them that are good too

[Thumper88]

My main point is shop around. As I pointed out above, a lot of stuff is just re-branded by snap on...and it doesn't carry a lifetime warranty...pointless. Why waste your money?

[audiogood]

And all of those are good irons .. I got mine 8-9 years ago and at that time it came with an life time then ..

[audiogood]

It's a good idea to shop around who don't like to save cash . My point was to get an butane iron once u learn how to work with one u will not work with plug in irons

[Thumper88]

For working on the car, hell yea. But an electric iron and heat gun have their time and place.

[ttocs]

I have a butane for the car, a solder station for my work-area and a gun for larger wires when needed as well as a desoldering-iron. Each has its time/place and once you get use to using them its hard to substatute one for the other with only a couple of exceptions.

[audiogood]

Agreed .

[ttocs]

also found the butane one with the top taken off was great for lighting an entire bowl at one time which is why I kept in my work tool box.

[freshkryp69]

Pace soldering equipment owns the pro grade soldering world! I use a pace MBT250, it has the heated desoldering iron with vac and a separate 70 watt iron, all in a nice package. But they are not cheap. a nice used 1 will set you back anywhere from 150-500 bucks on ebay. they make 100's of diff tips too so, they have what you need. and youll probly never have to buy another. Mine was used in production for yrs, and Ive had mine for 5 yrs and never a problem.

[jbob0124]

Didn't expect to see one of my old post's resurrected. Im not even sure where my soldering iron is at the moment

[Thumper88]

Pace soldering equipment owns the pro grade soldering world! I use a pace MBT250, it has the heated desoldering iron with vac and a separate 70 watt iron, all in a nice package. But they are not cheap. a nice used 1 will set you back anywhere from 150-500 bucks on ebay. they make 100's of diff tips too so, they have what you need. and youll probly never have to buy another. Mine was used in production for yrs, and Ive had mine for 5 yrs and never a problem.

Pace is what was used at the circuit board manufacturer I used to work at. Worked us like dogs, so the damn things were used 10/6 (10 hours, 6 days a week). Pretty reliable. The desoldering iron was nice, used it quite a few times.
Nothing beats the Weller Micro SMD Desoldering Tweezers Set....when doing surface mount. Lot of heat in those tiny little tips, go to tool for doing mods/wires to boards.

I use a Weller at home, much lighter (weight wise) and I like the way the tip is held in place (set screw is great for production work though)....now I'm just rambling on...