Good value soldering iron please ?

greenstiles

Old School Grand Master
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After 20 plus years mine has given up, so i thought, just go out and buy one......what crap they sell now as soldering irons, the one i got worked great for 2 days, then, after the shiny tip went dull won't pick up solder or get hot enough to melt solder.....utter crap.
 
Antex.

The maplins brand look like low quality shite (and probably are), I have 2 but still prefer my antex.
 
As an aside, what solder are you using?

Some solder, especially this new fangled lead free stuff is a right pain to work with, it has a higher melting point and doesn't flow as well as good old lead solder.

For audio stuff I like to use WBT Silver Solder: http://www.audiospares.com/product.php?productid=1416, I bought a big reel of it a while back because I was worried that ROHS might mean leaded solder became unavailable. Whether it sounds better than ordinary leaded solder I don't know, but it's lovely to work with, melts and flows really easily and gives nice shiny joints. Because it melts at a low temperature there's less risk of overheating delicate components, or melting the plastic/insulation of audio connectors etc..
 
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I use an RS soldering station, which is actually a Siemans job with an RS sticker on the front. It's survived 23 years of use (I'm a radio amateur), still going strong. Soldering stations are a bit longer lived, have a bit more oomph when dealing with lead free rubbish, though I've got several kilos of olde fashioned solder left, enough to last the rest of my life.
 
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