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Soldering Tool Recommendations

hamamihamami
in Hardware
I'm new to DIY hardware and don't have any soldering experience. I'm wondering if anyone here would have recommendation on the proper set of tools for the MetaWear board. e.g. which type of solder, which type of iron tip etc. I'm considering getting these:

Comments

  • rafatuitarafatuita
    I'm also no hardware expert but just bought this kit

    low cost and seems to work well, just hope I made the right decision :)
  • randyctworandyctwo

    Hamami,

    Your choices look very good for getting started with DIY soldering. As you might imagine try and get a soldering tip that is very pointed.  In the future you if you solder more you may want to buy some 'tip cleaning paste' in a small metal can - seems to help make good connections.  Solder wick is really only going to be needed when you go to dis-assemble something that has already been soldered - or you end up putting on too much solder when you're assembling some components - and you need to soak(wick) it up to remove the excess solder. 

    Don't forget about using a hot glue gun for creating support for the wires right where you've soldered them onto the board.  The wires are pretty small - battery is relatively heavy compared to the size of the wires.  If you're going to put the board directly into a plastic enclosure you probably have less of a need to add hot glue to support the wires at the board.

    Rafatuita,

    The reviews of the Elenco kit on Amazon there are looking semi-sketchy...   some complaints.

    The description of the soldering kit doesn't even tell you what 'wattage' the soldering iron is.  The comments mention two different wattages - maybe they change which soldering iron(wattage) is in the kit from month to month.


  • LauraLaura
    Hey hamami,

    My personal favorite is the AOYUE 968A and the HAKKO 936. I can do SMT soldering and rework with my naked eye (even BGAs) using those tools!

    I find these are fairly priced:
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