Anybody have a favorite and reliable soldering iron they'd recommend? I've gone through several pencil irons in the past couple years and am tired of buying one and then soon thereafter tossing it out. They may work well at first then soon either quit completely or work intermittently which is worse.
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Get a Hakko soldering station. Can't be beat. I have been using one professionally for several years. I am still on the original tip. Just keep it tinned and the tip will last a long time. Heats up really fast, light weight pencil and burn resistant light cord. A real joy to use.
I love my Hakko soldering station. It's not cheap and is total overkill for CBG work but I find it really pleasant to use:
http://www.amazon.com/Hakko-FX888D-23BY-Digital-Soldering-FX-888D/d...
I can't really comment on other soldering stations because, before this, I used cheap and nasty irons which had a mission in life to fall on things and melt or burn them.
Edited to add - don't be put off by the fact that it looks like a toy 'my first soldering set'. It's not.
I have a cheepie no-name pencil iron I got from a flea market, came with solder tips, woodburning tips, and an xacto blade holder. 20 years later it is still working great. One thing I have learned is that no matter how well you treat the tips, occasionally you need to take a file to them and remove the crud down to a shiny new metal gleam. it's amazing how much hotter/faster it works right after that.
Thanks for the recommendations guys...looks like I may find one of these under the tree soon!
I looks like the first one Wayfinder recommended is the same as the first one I recommended but the site I linked to offers replacement heating elements for the iron for $9.00:
http://www.sra-solder.com/c011-heating-element-for-soldering-iron-f...
I recommend this Aoyue:
http://www.sra-solder.com/aoyue-469-60-watt-soldering-station
I have had an older model similar to it for several years now and I am very happy with it.
As an alternative, the following is a soldering station that a lot of people on another forum I visit use and recommend:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__19240__Soldering_Station...
Both of these use soldering tips that are 100% compatible with Hakko soldering tips. Hakko is a high end brand of soldering stations.