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Weller WE1010NA Digital Soldering Station?
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16 reviews of this product found across Reddit:
For any sort of board work you should have a decent digital iron and they should definitely be better than 15-25 watts. Weller WE1010NA Digital Soldering Station [link] something like that. I run a $120 china rework station with a soldering iron with digital heat control. I use the angled tip that guy for bigger pads and a haako micropencil for the real small stuff.
You could buy a super super cheap soldering iron online or you could get a moderately cheap one and save yourself a LOT of frustration. Trust me. Get the moderately cheap one. Weller is a good brand.
I use a Weller station. Best to buy quality. I’ve had different irons but this has been the best I’ve used.
Weller WE1010NA Digital Soldering Station [link]
You won’t get good results if your temperature control is goofing off. You’re going it right but your equipment sounds like it might need a time out.
Weller is a great brand. There’s one that I bought of Amazon for 110$. It’s a little tank! I’ve used it a lot and we use them for work as well.
Weller WE1010NA Digital Soldering Station [link]
Is this the one you're talking about? They have an 8 piece set as well that comes with solder. Should i go for that one? [link]
I've dabbled in soldering for the past year. I like The Current Source on Youtube for some basics to get started. Motherboards are mostly SMT (surface mount) rather than through hole components. SMT is more challenging to get started with than through hole. You can do some of it with a soldering iron but for most you'll want a hot air setup and/or a reflow table.
I'd recommend starting with some through hole hobby kits to start getting a feel for the basics and if you haven't done a lot of electronics work before it's a good way to learn the concepts and circuit designs with larger components before moving to SMT parts.
I bought this Weller iron, a former coworker who is did prototyping and rework professionally said it was his rec for DIY and hobbyist soldering. You can definitely start out spending less, though. Digital control is definitely optional, but trying to start with one of those $5-10 irons will just lead to bad results and frustration (I tried these the first couple times I tried soldering and just quit).
This analog setup should be perfectly adequate to get started with on a tighter budget.
Start with a few cheap kits to practice before you work on anything of value.
This calculator was a fun build and is actually useful for looking up resistor values.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076SBY7DG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This LED ferris wheel is pretty cool, but requires some patience in seating and soldering a couple hundred LEDs.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QFPW2PX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Single quantities are of course available!
I work at an engineering firm and we apply and rework SMD parts all the time including capacitors and they are products we ship to commercial and government customers. An adjustable soldering iron that can take small tips would be ideal, however even a cheap hobby one should work.
Key is to just make sure you don't get things too hot and pull up the traces. Worst case OP breaks it again and really has to toss it out.
There are much cheaper Weller products whose names start with "1010", than whichever variant you found that costs US$238. e.g. the 1010NA for $140.
Hakko is good, but if you are not into the Fisher-Price look of it check out their main competitor, Weller. The replacement tips are super easy to find and are available pretty much anywhere. I have had great experience with Weller customer service too.
Some more info that could be useful for you:
You also want to get a good tip cleaner/tinner. This will help to keep your tips from burning up and needing replacement. Each time you power up the station, just dab the tip into the tinner to clean/tin the tip, and when you are done. It has a sticky pad on it so you can stick it right to your iron station base.
The sponge tip cleaner is also super useful. You can use the sponge that comes with the station, but I prefer the metal sponge pinked below.
Lastly, don't buy the cheap, China solder. It is terrible. Stick to known brand, highly recommend is Kester, and even Radio Shack is better than most you'll find online. 60/40 solder melts around 370degF, so you don't need to have the heat on full.
Weller WE1010NA Digital Soldering Station
| Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weller WE1010NA Digital Soldering Station | $102.98 | $102.98 | 4.6/5.0 |
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Buying a soldering iron and heat gun is something people put off not knowing how valuable they can be.
Here are the essentials;
1) A good soldering iron; you don't usually need a full fledged Weller soldering station, but you will be glad you have one.
2) Rosin core solder; a spool will last you a very long time.
3) Heat gun. Everyone tries using a match or lighter, but a heat gun is a perfect match for heat shrink tubing.
4) An assortment of heat shrink tubing. Once you use this approach, you will rarely resort to electrical tape.
Buy a better, temperature controlled soldering iron. You will be glad you did. This one is really popular: https://www.amazon.ca/Weller-WE1010NA-Digital-Soldering-Station/dp/B077JDGY1J/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=soldering+iron+weller&qid=1614135644&sr=8-1 The price is worth it
Next, buy leaded solder (63/37 lead/tin). Solderig with lead-free required a higher temperature and is much more difficult.
Check out EEVBlog/Dave Jones. One of the most knowledgeable electronics guys on youtube.
As for IPS GBA kits, I got this one and it is great. It is a clone of the FunnyPlaying one (or maybe just rebadged) and is very high quality and works great. The pre-cut shell was key. I am pretty well versed in all this, lmk if you have any questions.
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I wanted to buy in bulk because I plan on making much more. A majority of the things can be purchased off AliExpress, however, some of the things, I ended up sourcing from other websites. One, because of quality, and two, because they still haven't arrived.
​
-Ali Express...
--USB A
--USB C
-- I also bought heat shrink and paracord but they are taking much longer to ship
-Non-AliExpress
-Wire (This company is great, heavily recommend them)
-Paracord was from wally world
-heat shrink was from Advanced Auto Parts. I went to like 5 different stores. Do not buy marine heat shrink. It has a massive amount of glue which is very annoying. I also recommend buying 3:1 heat shrink at 12mm or 1/2". That way you don't have seems like mine. On future cables, I am buying my heat shrink and tech flex (not on this cable) from Wirecare.com
-I initially had purchased a $20 soldering iron from home depot (Weller) but it was like pulling teeth so I invested in a digital soldering iron station off Amazon (Weller WE1010NA). This is my number 1 recommendation if you plan on making cables so far.
​
I recommend buying from a small business if you want to make just one or two. It is significantly cheaper!