Subject: Soldering Iron

From: "TeoZ" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri Jul 25 15:48:00 2003

I need a precision soldering iron (long needle like tip) for electronics use,
any suggestions?

I found one made by GOOT a CS-30 in an old radio shack catalog but they no
longer have them and I cant find a website in the US that still sells them.

I have an scsi chip on an amiga addon board that got wacked in shipping and a
few of the pins have broken off from their solder pads (its a surface mount
chip and none of the pins are broke just desoldered). My current 23 watt
soldering iron has a tip thats just too big for this kind of work.

Thanks for any help (I assume one can be found for around $20)

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From: Mail List <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri Jul 25 16:17:00 2003

When I had to solder on some surface mount chips, I took a file and
filed down one of the larger tips I already had. Tapered it down to a
nice small ended tip that did the job well.

Best Regards

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From: [email-masked] (Tony Duell)
Date: Fri Jul 25 16:33:00 2003

> I need a precision soldering iron (long needle like tip) for electronics use,

There was a small and cheap Weller (I think it was a 12W element, and 
certainly not temperature controlled) that had a very find (0.25mm) 
needle bit available. I have no idea if this iron was ever sold in the US 
(the one I saw was 240V), but it was useable for SMD work.

> soldering iron has a tip thats just too big for this kind of work.

Well, oftem you can use an iron that's too large if you're careful. 
Resolder all the pins, don't worry too much about bridges. Then clean up 
the bridges and blobs with desolder braid (soldamop, whatever you call 
it). Make sure there are no shorts before applying power.

Are you sure the pins are desoldered? Often this sort of damage rips the 
pads off the board, which means you have a much worse repair.

-tony

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From: "J.C. Wren" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri Jul 25 16:39:00 2003

Someone else may have posted this before, I don't remember.

http://wandel.ca/ibm5100/index.html

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri Jul 25 16:51:00 2003

Weller is good.  Metcal is better.

Peace...  Sridhar

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From: [email-masked] (Tony Duell)
Date: Fri Jul 25 17:46:00 2003

> Weller is good.  Metcal is better.

Agreed. I doubt, though, that you'll find a good (temperature-controlled) 
Weller or any Metcal for $20...

-tony

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From: David Comley <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun Jul 27 06:06:00 2003

> tip) for electronics use,

Try:

http://www.circuitspecialists.com

They sell a temperature-controlled unit and an
assortment of bits that run down to 0.5mm. I bought
one last year when I was building an HF transceiver
kit and paid $39.00 for it.

Regards,
Dave