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ElectroMan wrote:

Jealous of your tool, mate. Did you get it off Amazon? It looks to me every time someone's buying a soldering iron - it is this exact model. Might be an average, but the crap available locally around me must be coming off the same bush-league Chinese plant for half a buck a piece.

I was a part of a soldering circle back in mid school years, though never really understood electronics well enough. Guess I will have to catch up after all, those 90s toys are not getting younger.

Wish you well in your soldering endeavors! The calming effect is certainly there, it's akin to knitting for dudes 😵.

Knitting for Dudes, I like that wording.

Yeah, got it off Amazon. And ironincally, I only had a basic understanding of what I was getting into based on having seen it done enough times from guys the likes of the 8-bit Guy on his restoration vids.

I've never used a soldering iron, but I'm not too shy to learn (been watching youtube vids). Is the hakko station good for "baby's first soldering iron"? Right now I only need to fix a few caps and barrel batteries, but I could see myself doing all kinds of projects that I never have been able to do before, so I might as well get some good gear. There's no sense buying something cheap that pisses me off and makes me not want to bother and possibly ruins some components.

A solder station, some solder, desoldering wick, anything else to look for? I have the reading glasses and headlamp already 😀

I'd say it's a bit overkill for a first iron, actually.

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RetroGamingNovice wrote:

I'd say it's a bit overkill for a first iron, actually.

ElectroMan wrote:

Well, I would say you could go as little or as wide as you wish/need/can afford. You could grab a few old broken circuit boards and try and desolder some elements to get the taste of the process and familiarize yourself with instruments, so probably dumping a lot of money into equipment without prior experience might not be a good idea. Some people love it, some hate it, others are on the fence. Soldering station is not a requirement - could try it with a simple iron and decide for yourself.

Just try not to touch (or lick 😉 big capacitors without discharging them first, ask questions when in doubts and you'll be just fine.

Thanks to both of you. I'm going to pick up a cheap kit at a local store tomorrow and do exactly as you suggest - practice on scrap mainboards. If I outgrow the kit, I'll upgrade.

Hakkos are known to last, and good temperature control will help make soldering a lot easier, more consistent, and reliable. If you're uncomfortable buying an iron like the -888, you can always go for one of the -936 clones from China. They're not as good as the genuine thing, but much better than a non temperature controlled iron for a fraction of the cost of a real Hakko.

You can also see if an iron from Pace, Weller, or Hakko can be found used. As I mentioned, quality gear tends to last. Metcal also makes amazing equipment, but I don't recommend them for casual or hobby work due to the way each tip has a fixed temperature.

Just my two cents for people starting out for self projects who are put off by expensive irons..

I used a basic Weller iron for more years than I care to count for little jobs like through hole resistors (surface mount is pretty easy too) and caps or things like solder connectors (DB25, etc) or reconnecting leads on speakers or mice wheels and other junk. Just your basic fire stick, no temperature control. I think I paid around $15 for the iron and maybe 10 for a couple extra tips. Zero complaints. Get yourself a wick and a desoldering tool/pump as well as a container of flux and you're good to go for learning. Practice on some scrap so you get used to it before you put it to something important.

Get some bread board and some LEDs or make a covox speech thing and you're well on your way..

I always make sure the tips are tinned before doing a project with it and have never had grief. Best tip I can ever pass along, tin your tips and keep them clean and they wont be junk after only a use or two. You can buy a $100 station and still waste the tips then turn around and leave a bad review. You don't NEED an expensive station to get started until this is something you want to do regularly or until you care for nice joints or have some tough SMD job, or if you just want to be sure it lasts for years.

I recently ordered a cheap "YiHua" 937D+ station from ebay for $25 or so that's supposedly temperature controlled and ESD safe, haven't gotten around to trying the bugger yet though 🤣 .

Mentioned up above regarding discharging capacitors. I just looked at a mainboard with caps rated at 6.3 volts. Do these required discharging? I watched videos of people discharging large capacitors with 75+ volts with quite the spark.

The lower voltage caps probably won't be a risk. Remember, the energy in the cap is Ec=1/2 * C * V^2. Also, it's not voltage or current that kills, it's energy.

The safest way to discharge a cap is by discharging across it's poles with a resistor (say about 1k). I usually clip an alligator lead between the negative point and one lead of the cap, and then I contact a multimeter in current measurement between the other resistor lead and the positive pole.

Eg. from my understanding, screwing with filter caps on tube amps without discharging, can and will kill you.

cliffclaven wrote:

I've never used a soldering iron, but I'm not too shy to learn (been watching youtube vids). Is the hakko station good for "baby's first soldering iron"? Right now I only need to fix a few caps and barrel batteries, but I could see myself doing all kinds of projects that I never have been able to do before, so I might as well get some good gear. There's no sense buying something cheap that pisses me off and makes me not want to bother and possibly ruins some components.

A solder station, some solder, desoldering wick, anything else to look for? I have the reading glasses and headlamp already 😀

You know I never used an iron or station my self ether, I always used a small soldering torch my self. I like snap on's myself. like this one
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IK3wkpOSdDk/maxresdefault.jpg

That being sad the best tip I can give you as a beginner, get really thin solder. To thick and it will just gob up all over the place.

gdjacobs wrote:

Also, it's not voltage or current that kills, it's energy.

This.
I use a screwdriver with a wire wrapped around the shaft covered in vinyl tape with the other end ran to ground to short out caps. Like the ones folks make to short the fly back in TV's.

RetroGamingNovice wrote:

Eg. from my understanding, screwing with filter caps on tube amps without discharging, can and will kill you.

Tube amps run at a very high voltage, so they should rightly be discharged prior to work. The same with mains connected capacitors.

Tube amps run at a very high voltage, so they should rightly be discharged prior to work. The same with mains connected capacitors.

Usually yes, though there are also battery tubes like the 6К8П/EF97/6ES6.
I think there once was a schematic of a DIY head-phones amp that was based around a 5654 tube.

Excellent choice of soldering iron. Very good value for money, and good tools make learning a much better experience.