"Michael Black" wrote in message
...
Joe ) writes:
I used to have an Edsyn solder station that I bought from Radio Shack
about 5 or 6 years ago for around $50.00.

It got lost in my cross-country move.

I'd like to get something of similar quality and not spend more than
around $50 or $60.

At most I solder maybe 200 connections in a year. I also have a
soldering
"gun" for heavier soldering, so the one I'm looking for will be for
components that typically mount on a PCB.

Anybody know of a solder station on special, or a favorite that fits my
needs and roughly my price range?

I've had soldering irons for 35 years, most of my life, and I've never
had anything more than just an iron. I suspect if you are making so
few connections that you can count them, there isn't a big need for
anything more than a twenty dollar iron. Just make sure the tips
can be replaced, and that they are plated (with whatever they are
commonly plated with, it's been so long since I've needed to buy
a new tip, I forget).

For most of that time, I've bought modular irons, again I forget
who makes them since much of that time I've bought them as Radio
Shack branded irons. So you can change the heating element, and
the tip, for a lot of flexibility that I've never really taken
advantage of. But changeable tips are useful if you want to do
some really fine work at times.

Toss in a stand of some sort.

At least, that's the way I'm reading your question. "Soldering
station" to me implies a fancier iron with some sort of constant
temperature control, and that is overkill for occasional use.

Michael


It depends on what exactly your "occasional" uses are. If it's just for
fixing the doorbell, or the kids' toys - the sort of stuff where a soldering
iron just hangs on the garage wall for most of the year, and is a handy tool
to have when yout neighbour pops round with two wires that need soldering
together - then I agree totally with Michael. Anything of about a 30 or 40
watt rating that feels comfortable in your hand, and has a variety of tips
available, should be fine. If, however, it is to be used for work on
commercial printed circuit boards, you might want to look at something just
a little more sophisticated. The component packaging density is very high
now, and many surface mount components are just too small and delicate to be
dealt with by a 'heated poker', as is a lot of the actual print. Also bear
in mind that the whole world is going over to lead-free solder in
production, and this requires an iron with a hotter tip, to work with
successfully. For a standard non-controlled iron, that represents a conflict
of characteristics ie small tip - hot - stays hot. In this case, you might
want to consider a 'basic' temperature controlled iron. Many are really
quite cheap now, if you don't need real precision, and day in - day out
workshop reliability.

Arfa