On Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:00:21 GMT, qrk wrote:

On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:08:32 +0100, Allus Smith
wrote:

All this talk about soldering irons makes me think how crummy too
much American industrial design is.

Some US industrial design looks great but some looks downright,
well, Russian.

Sure you can see crap-looking design in western Europe too but
there's a lot less of it than in the US.

Take soldering irons for example. An ordinary soldering iron in
the US with unregulated temperature still has great big mofo screws
holding the tip.

By comparison, my 30 year old British-made basic Antex is a sleek
looking baby and those Antexes are not particularly expensive.

Don't start me on the looks of cars!

If you expect something from a $10 hardware store soldering iron
that's made in China, you shouldn't be in electronics. The only people
who use those are kids starting out in tronics and people who don't
know anything about electronics.

If you want a good iron, get a Metcal (now OK). Metcal has soldering
irons for under $200 which work very well for SMT and thruhole. My
only gripe about the cheap Metcals is the tip temperature only goes up
to 750 deg F. Gotta use my 20+ year old Weller iron for melting
isulation off of magnet wire.

If you really want to see a classic soldering iron, get your hands on
an American Beauty! You'll drop your shorts when you get your hands on
that one.

My dad had one, 150 W i think. It would solder 12 Ga. sheet metal.