Greetings.

I hope this message finds you well.

This may sound like a dumb question, but have you tinned the tip of your
soldering iron?

-W Gray


"Antony Gelberg" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I know this should be simple but isn't. I need to resolder a DC power
connector on a laptop, due to dry joints.

I can't find my old, rarely used soldering iron, so I went to Maplin and
bought their cheapo 30W soldering iron.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?...32909&doy=13m6

I would have thought that is good enough for PCB soldering, but I can
barely
get the old solder on the board to melt, let alone re-solder the joint. I
can't work like this, I'm going to arse about for hours and still not get
it
done properly. Is the problem likely to be the fine point nib that it
came
with? I have always used flat-tip bits in the past. Or is the Maplin
iron
crap, and should I have bought the Antek 30W instead -
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...ce=14&doy=13m6 ?

All advice appreciated.

I should mention that I also tried my 100W soldering gun, like this one:
http://tinyurl.com/2z8ehn .

No luck here, but then I have always hated this tool and never been able
to
use it effectively. It's rated for 12 seconds use in a minute (don't know
what happens if you go above that), but takes about 9 seconds to even get
hot
enough to melt solder. Are these crap, or am I not using the thing
properly?

Antony