Hi Harvey
I am a French Engineer in electronics and I kept my Weller soldering iron (Germany) from the 1980s and is still working fine with temperature regulation.
Mine comes with spare tips that I purchased as spares 30 years after the purchase also in China. I have also a sucction tip to remove solder before extracting a components.
In this day and age, you must later be prepared to process SMDs (Surface Mounted Devices) as all modern electronics has.

One important thing is to watch for replacement tips.
Weller tips have become and standard. Normally soldering tips have a metal surface treatement that make them last for a huge period of time However:
you must change tips on occasions depending on the work you are doing.

Temperature adjustement and other tips
- always start at low temperature (that starts melting your electronic-grade soldering) From 260 to 320°C
- if solder forms rapidly little balls, this means you temperature is too high.
- remember that overheating a PCB will destroy it (unglue the copper from its glass substrate).
- always start with clean surfaces to apply solder to. This is especially important with rails (no paint, no oil, no chemical treatment
- never, EVER use the soldering tip to do ANYTHING ELSE than soldering
- when soldering on stainless steel, use soldering water
- if you fail soldering something, clean thouroughly the surfaces to solder and start again
- remember that with solder, there is a "product" caller flux to help soldering so as soon as you melt new solder, you mudst rapidely start soldering before all the flux is gone

Cheers
Jean

Both, thank you for the input. I have copied this to save so as to remind me of safe soldering techniques.

Regards
Harvey

I also have a Hakko which is great and I am sure you have made a good choice.

David

See my post above. Hakko is great for me.

Hi Harvey and Märklineers,

Harvey, In reply to your original query regarding what temperature for soldering - you can find a confusing array of answers.
For lead solder soldering I am very comfortable with 340 -350 degree centigrade, as has been suggested on this group.
The same has been proposed for silver soldering by electric soldering iron but WBT silver solder (which I have now settled on) says 290 deg centigrade however a diverse range of temperatures can be found on the web for silver soldering.

I have been following this thread because I recently had a fit of enthusiasm for silver soldering. IIRC (don't you just love acronyms) I was first enlightened on the subject in a thread on this great forum in the past.

My joys with silver soldering have lead me to re-explore various soldering temperature recommendations, soldering irons, silver and other solder makeup etc , particularly with the advice found on this group.

Hitherto I kept my humble head down, thinking that my el cheapo temperature-controlled soldering iron was unmentionable. It has however served me extremely well in the last 10 years since I nicked it off my youngest son, an audio engineer, after I realised I needed a temperature controlled soldering iron. I have been waiting for it to fail or become unsatisfactory so I might acquire one from the topshelf recommended here - but to no avail !

Along the way I have re-read all the old soldering threads on our group, so imagine my surprise when I found I was not alone in running my antiquated Dick Smith Electronics machine after I found a compatriot-user in no lesser user-group antipodean stalwart than Bigdaddynz :
https://www.marklin-user...ing-iron.aspx#post90163.

here is the vintage brute :



and in the midst of a digital age, I view a humble meter ! :




So, I guess what works for you works for you, particularly if it is temperature controlled.

Happy Soldering,

PJ

https://www.marklin-user...8-Continuous-Welded-Rail

Silver soldering, hard 780°C, medium 750°C easy 720°C solders. You will need to use a propane torch. Many years ago I did silver jewellery.

Also in addition to the Jaycar "Stay Brite" I am using WBT, which I prefer (both show on original image posted)

I have two Goot PX-335 85 - 120 watt soldering irons from Jaycar. Really nice for the smaller soldering jobs.

For the larger jobs, drill a hole in a block of wood & stand up 175 amp Anderson lug & 2/3 fill lug with solder. I use a Bosch heat gun, & simply set it to 630°C.


Don't use tin only solder. Apart from more of a pest to solder, you get tin solder whiskers.

P.S. Heat gun at lower temperature is great for shrinking heatshrink tube.