The best Soldering Guns: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

What the hell that's way too expensive for a soldering iron. You can get a good one for like 10-20 dollars. Here's the top amazon result to get you started: Full Set Vastar 60w 110v Soldering Iron Kit - Adjustable Temperature, 5pcs Different Tips, Desoldering Pump, Stand, anti-static Tweezers and Additional Solder Tube for Variously Repaired Usage https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01712N5C4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_-13Yxb3PCAPT6

I bought this cheap kit off Amazon and used it to desolder and then solder at least 200 switches.

It works quite well and you can adjust the temperature which is important.

The solder sucker included also works well enough, but is prone to clog up so I would empty it once in awhile and make sure that the tube isn't clogged full of dry solder.

There is a pretty basic soldering kit on amazon that I have been using for the last few months and it has been amazing! Ill link it to you below.

https://www.amazon.com/Vastar-Full-110V-Soldering-Iron/dp/B01712N5C4

I bought this kit off Amazon for $16. Not super high quality, but I've used it for several builds with no problem.

I use a cheap ass one off Amazon that's going strong after a bunch of builds. Unless it's somehow crappier than that, I wouldn't worry about it.

I would suggest getting a switch puller if you don't have one. Often listed as an 'IC puller', it still works and it should be real cheap. There are clips at the top/bottom of the switch that hold it into the plate, a puller can release those and help pull the switch out. It makes life a lot easier.

Often I'll just heat up the legs of the switch (both at once, if you have a big enough chisel tip) and gently wiggle it out with the puller, rather than trying to use one of those crappy solder suckers to clear it all out beforehand.

Yep! I haven't gotten to use it yet (because my parts from TCSS haven't arrived yet), but I got this kit from Amazon for $15.99 and it comes with a soldering iron, a solder sucker, and some solder and it has good reviews.

Listen to me very carefully. You are not bad at soldering. You're soldering iron is trash ( probably ).

I really thought i was terrible TERRIBLE at soldering. I had a $10 no temperature adjustment iron, nothing to clean the head with besides wet paper towel, and bad solder.

Ironically if i had done a little bit of effort when picking an iron i would have gotten this one. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01712N5C4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 .

That temperature adjustment makes all the difference in the world.

Between that iron and just the advice of "Solder flows onto what is hot", was enough to make my soldering go from "haha oh god don't look at it" to "haha okay that's not embarrassing and works well enough".

So yes, clearly by this wall of text i am excited for you to experience an iron that isn't total crap. Seriously though heat up the pad and/or the wire first, then touch the solder and it will wick right onto where you're trying to go. For some reason it took reading about 3 or 4 guides before i found that one sentence.

Use 350 to start on the temp, but i've started doing 400 lately.

Lastly, clean the tip of the iron between EVERY solder. if the tip doesn't look nice and silver and shiny it's not going to conduct the heat well and things won't get hot and the solder won't flow where you want and you'll get mad.

Good luck, trust me i have never written more about a $13 product in my life before, enjoy!

I'm a complete do-it-yourself hack but this one is the one that I got that hasn't broken yet and I use it pretty frequently. It's probably garbage but it was good enough for me

Forgot the other part:

I've seen lots of folks here saying they use like 60watt irons but that's actually pretty low for the big fat wires of RCs and probably impossibly low if you ever have to solder wires close to the cells of a battery.

If your iron is within the return window, you may want to see if you can find a 100watt at a similar price.

Some people (my father who's an electrical engineer, and myself because I learned from him) also have a second solder tool called a soldering gun. This is the industry standard reputable brand and is reasonably priced. amazon

Oh, another tool that can be helpful is helping hands

If you have clamping pliers, they can also be good for holding something, although not quite as much as helping hands.

I've been using vastor for many years and I haven't needed to buy an expensive soldering iron for a while since I also have a hot air gun for any work that a simple soldering iron can't do. This is the model below but I have an older version of it I think. I've used the same Vastor soldering iron on Gameboy just yesterday for adding in a PAM8302 amplifier, It's quite amazing the results. Very happy with the super loud Gameboy color that I have now.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Vastar-Soldering-Iron-Full-Welding/dp/B01712N5C4

? It's like a soldering iron, but it's shaped like a gun. https://www.amazon.com/Weller-D550PK-260-Watt-Professional-Soldering/dp/B00002N7S1?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref\_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Couldn't think of the dang name when I was posting this. It's called the "Cable Boss" https://smile.amazon.com/Gardner-Bender-MSG-501V-Cable-Staple/dp/B002RBE1TQ

Using these staples: https://smile.amazon.com/Gardner-Bender-MPS-2125-CableBoss-Secures/dp/B005ZFKD4S

Drip loop looks like a good idea. Hopefully I have enough slack.

soldering where it is broke not going to work well. soldering inside will be easy, but you need to desolder the old wires, and pull the old stuff out, then fish in the new cables and solder again.

i have been soldering for 20 years and still struggle with it some times, but other times i seem to solder like a pro. i think the secret is a clean hot tip and flux. i bought one of those big 360 watt weller soldering guns. it gets got fast, the tips are cheap and common and use it all the time.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00002N7S1/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Watch some videos on soldering, but basically let iron hit up till solder from the spool will melt on it. Press iron into where the joint it then add solder wire till it flows.

This is a cheap kit that works ok. I recommend you turn it to max "temp" wait till its hot enofe to melt solder then turn it to about 1/2 use ether the flat screwdriver like bit or the well tip (cylinder that's cut) .

https://www.amazon.com/Vastar-Soldering-Iron-Full-Welding/dp/B01712N5C4/ref=dp\_prsubs\_2?pd\_rd\_i=B01712N5C4&psc=1

Yup. It's just like doing heat shrink tubing.

I'll only rewrap when it starts to look worn or off (like you have now). Usually around the positive side the ends will fray after about a year or so. Don't forget the little insulator ring on the positive side. New wraps and rings are like a buck for 10. I have a cheap hobby style heat gun I use which is handy for other things around the house also (like removing sales stickers).

Newer model of what I have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000X4SMRQ/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

As a visual check, leaving the wrap on, I just take a good look in the light now and then when changing batteries. Mostly under the positive terminal cap thingy (don't know the proper name). Just a quick "does it look dirty or nasty under there". I figure if it is all going to go sideways on me it will be something happening there that causes a short and then excitement. :)

Yeah. It had the prime logo on it and had been labeled as the #1 best seller. I think the only issue I had with it was that the lights on it burned out very fast. But here’s the link if you haven’t seen it just in case.

Weller D550PK 260-Watt/200W Professional Soldering Gun Kit with Three Tips and Solder in Carrying Case https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00002N7S1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_G1S1Y86HYEPZ350JPPRP?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I bought this cheap kit from Amazon and it's OK:

https://www.amazon.com/Vastar-Soldering-Iron-Full-Welding/dp/B01712N5C4/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3PRYC5XZYUFE2&dchild=1&keywords=vastar+soldering+iron&qid=1609854232&sprefix=vastar+solder%2Caps%2C354&sr=8-3

I had to buy flux, solder wick and capton tape.

I've got this one and have been very happy with it.

I have this exact kit.

It's lasted me around 9 builds so far and it's still working fine. But I think pretty much all the cheap irons on Amazon are very similar.

Yeah, can confirm I have no clue what I'm doing! Just got my kit, and I honestly just picked one from Amazon because I don't know one from the others. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01712N5C4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Should this be sufficient?

I just bought a cheap iron (not a station!!) off amazon... this. it gets the most basics things done without having any fancy temp control or anything

I miss Aldi's, I moved to the western United States and there are none out here :(, I'd love to visit one overseas though. Amazon has a relatively cheap soldering for like 11 bucks, link here so I'm going to give it a shot.

I do use Spotify Premium, I keep all of my main playlists and random albums downloaded. I had like ~30 gigs on my S8, and that was barely a dent in all my random playlists.

I'm going to tolerate the cable, but I'm excited to do my first mod. I ordered my cable from these guys as it was recommended in the modding guide.

Agree with all of the above. I have a BH77 backhoe as well which has another ~17 or so grease points in addition to the loader and tractor. I got the electric Dewalt grease gun and it's been terrific. The nozzles pop on and off easily and it makes greasing a relatively painless experience. There's a lot of grease choices but I've been using Lucas x-tra.

Another protip would be to take all the shirts you don't wear anymore and start cutting them up right now for rags. When you go to service the tractor, which is basically every day or two that you're using it, have a cardboard box handy to toss rags / grease balls / etc.

I'm in a really dusty area so my air filter is constantly needing to get blown off.

Really read through the manual though and get to know your tractor. They're designed to be worked on so it's not really a pain to do most service tasks.

This is the soldering iron i used to do it. Comes with everything you need.

You can buy switches from here if youre in the US. https://lethalgaminggear.com/collections/micro-switch

Or from eBay/AliExpress if you're willing to wait longer for shipping.

> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01712N5C4

It's not the worst one I've ever seen, but loses out on the short lead, long grip-to-tip distance, and having it's heater cartridge comparatively far away from (ie; not built into) the tip. It's old tech.

Hmm... I do like the form factor.

I’m having a hard time not just going with a $15 shitty 60W soldering iron to do this work though... is this a terrible idea?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01712N5C4/?tag=thewire06-20&linkCode=xm2&ascsubtag=AwEAAAAAAAAAAV5q

I just bought a cheap one off amazon for 30$ it had 1mm 60% tin 38%lead 2% flux solder included and it worked fine. Best temp is 400*C. Here’s the link since they lowered the price https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01712N5C4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_HYKOEb931EK14

I'm actually a stay-at-home dad, and yes, my wife does realize I'm the guy who gets stuff done. That's why I'm with the kids!

When I had to use the jigsaw to cut the foam, I used the shopvac, and that really helped cut down on the foam scraps, but yes, that stuff makes a huge mess.

As for the hot-wire, I actually used the gun style, like this. Iron

I took out the tip, and bent a section of copper wire to the shape I wanted, and put it in the gun. The fumes weren't great, and I definitely tried to only do it outside, or at least have the garage door open. I wouldn't want to do it inside the house, for sure.

So, I'm going to offer my 2 cents on this one, It's a not a cleaning issue. OP, you're NOT going to solder that with a 30W iron, and you'll have a problem soldering it with a $200 80W hakko iron too.

There's too much metal in that area to heat it to the 300C that you need to solder, The only way you're going to be able to solder that is to use a high power soldering gun such as this https://www.amazon.com/Weller-D650-Industrial-Soldering-Gun/dp/B000JEGEC0 you can probably find one at a harbor freight that'll do the job too for half that price. you'll want 150W or more.

you could either try to flow into the previous joint, if there's still solder left on the brass ring, or get some sandpaper and sand it and try to flow solder onto the brass ring, then try to solder the wire to it.

​

edit; I'd actually reassemble it and put it on the vape shelf.. I just noticed the inductor inside the device is badly damaged too, it might work if you fix it, but it won't live a long life.

I think this makes sense to me . I realize it’s probably not best but will this iron be good enough. https://www.amazon.com/Vastar-Soldering-Iron-Full-Welding/dp/B01712N5C4/ref=sr_1_10?crid=2XVCDL8OL5RBA&keywords=guitar+solder&qid=1563930976&s=gateway&sprefix=guitar+solder%2Caps%2C140&sr=8-10

So I will first try to resolder all the connections and hopefully that works. If not I will get a little practice using the iron and buy new components. Other than the iron, are there any other materials I will need to buy. Can I reuse the attached wiring?