Atten Soldering Iron

[centenary]

I tend to find many hobby suppliers sell the same item, often with a ridiculous (imho) mark up compared to the OEM item.

DCC Concepts are no exception. They currently sell a 65 watt digitally controlled soldering iron, ST2065D for £49.95. I did some digging on the net as I frequently do in these situations and, this is actually an Atten ST2065D soldering iron.

This can be bought new from Maplins for £19.98 or Amazon for £19.99. P&P is an extra £2 from Maplins. It's not clear from DCC if their cost included P&P.

Atten do a range of soldering irons and soldering stations whichcan also bebought for good prices if you search the net.

[End2end]

Just be warned, cheap soldiering iron tips can erode. I had that happen to me before I bought my Weller iron.

Also make sure you use a stand for the iron. NEVER leave it just lying down.
Thanks
End2end

[Bufferstop]

I've always stuck to Antex for the small fiddly wiring jobs and Weller for ones that need some "beef" Spare tips are readily available for either.
I use both with 60/40 lead/tin alloy resin cored older. There are two situations where I would use unleaded, i) Soldering water fittings, unlikey I'll be doing any. ii) if I was employing someone to do the soldering where lead free is a legal requirement. If a shop or supplier tries to tell you that leaded solder is illegal, put them down as "don't know what they are talking about" and take your custom elsewhere.

[centenary]

Ive got a Weller 80w soldering gun and an Antex 80w. Neither tips on these are what Id call small enough to solder wires to a DCC chip solder tags.The Antex (blue handled) version I have doesnt seem to have a fine point tip available from the manufacturers which is reasonable seeing as it's 80w!

Not sure whether the Atten iron qualifies as cheap though as it depends whom you buy it from!

[Bufferstop]

For working around chips and PCBs it's useful to have a 15W-30W iron with a small tip, temperature controlled is a luxury you can manage without at that size. You may still need something around 60W for jobs like remove switches and potentiometers that have been soldered into the board. A desoldering pump or a reel of solder wick is also very useful when it comes to removing things.

[kevin sharpe]

When i had my tv repair shop i only had 3 soldering irons 15 /25 watt antex and a big 100 watt solder gun so on the railway only use the 25 one just change the tip a desolder pump is useful

[jameslandry]

Merece 65-watt is a good soldering station for professional use and beginners alike, particularly those looking for an uncomplicated setup. It is easy to use, especially when navigating the temperature settings.

[RAF96]

Antex 15w with 0.5mm ultra-fine tip for SMD work or 2.1mm chisel tip for general work such as inside locos, etc with Lidl temp controlled soldering station with an iron with a taper tip (which I do not like) for rail wiring work. I also have a hot air soldering gun for some SMD work and a smaller hot air gun for heat-shrink tubing, which is much better than scorching with the soldering iron. Horses for courses.