New soldering iron and solder recommendations please.

[MrBungle]

They do boxes of ten rolls for £40 as well and they take offers!

[Sparks]

I bought some Ersin 60/40 solder in a local hardware shop today - same price as Ebay. It works much better than the other stuff so I'll put the new Antex on hold for now and maybe just buy a new set of bits for my cheap iron.

Thankyou again for all the suggestions and comments.

[G6Tanuki]

Soldering-iron wise - despite a few decades of using Antexes and Wellers, having recently bought a Chinese £40 temperature-controlled jobbie it really is a revelation! Heats up to the programmed temperature quickly, and responds a lot better when delivering extra heat is needed than any of the older irons did.

See https://hackaday.com/2017/07/24/revi...oldering-iron/

[Sinewave]

Has anyone suggested a £250 Oki/Metcal yet?

Sorry! Couldn't resist....

937D solder station

Much the same as mine, and cheaper.

[MrBungle]

Originally Posted by Sinewave

Has anyone suggested a £250 Oki/Metcal yet?

Sorry! Couldn't resist....

Once you metcal you don't go back!

PS900 is cheaper than a new TCP and a decent hakko as well now.

[G0HZU_JMR]

At that price range the antex is about right. Rapid electronics sell them via eBay for lowest price. Try and get the XS25 with the silicone cable.

Agreed. The version with the PVC cable will be prone to melting its own mains cable if the iron ever touches it. It might also be quite stiff and prone to moving on its own if it can store and release mechanical energy from its stiffness.

My first two irons were made by Antex and I always thought that someone clever at Antex worked out the ideal length for the cable. But then it was as if someone in accounts at Antex chopped 6 inches off that ideal cable length. Mine often seemed to be a bit short on cable length when plugged into a nearby mains socket.

I've still got one of my 15W Antex irons here and it still worked the last time I tried it. I've also got a 'new' 25W version somewhere but I've never used it. I think it is the version with the PVC cable but it must be quite a few years old now and it is still in its box somewhere.

I do recall that my 15W version used to go through tips at quite a rate. I'm not sure if this was because the tips were made from cheapo materials or if the iron tip runs very hot when left on for a long time. Therefore, if you do buy a basic mains powered Antex iron I'd recommend buying a couple of spare tips. Also, don't buy cheap solder. Buy something branded like Ersin Multicore or Loctite. When I was young I could only afford to buy solder in small amounts... I used to cycle across town and buy one or two metres of solder at a local electronics shop each time I ran out. They did pull it from a reel of decent quality solder though...

[Goldieoldie]

Apparently lidl have an iron for £9 !
German made too !!
Cheers
Pete

[Graham G3ZVT]

Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell

Much the same as mine, and cheaper.

The Chinese 937's have morphed yet again.
The first ones I saw had a knob with a temperature scale, no digital display.

Then the "D" suffix with a digital display, up/down buttons and a preset pot for calibration against an external thermocouple thermometer, if you have one.

Now the "D" models seem to have the analogue pot, and the digital readout, (plus CAL preset), this seems a good combination because it inherently has a memory.

Big Clive once demonstrated a variant of the one with up/down buttons that did remember the last temperature setting when you switched it on, I was a bit disappointed that mine didn't.

Actually his is a 936D I didn't notice that.

https://youtu.be/XrUjhFUm8OM