[Boatanchors] OT A BIT....What Do You Solder With?

[Rodger Singley]

I have a couple of mil surplus Weller WTCPK military kits I bought maybe 20 years ago from Fair that are my main irons.  These are the irons that are temperature controlled using the Curie effect via a magnet in the tip which allows you to choose different temperatures.  I like the TCP irons because they are very reliable, light, and well balanced.  The military kit has the solder sucker along with a lot of different tips including those for IC use.



For heavy stuff I have a Chinese knockoff of an American beauty that I picked up at the Baton Rouge hamfest in the early 1990s.  It works great for when you need to solder heavy connections to a chassis or install big connectors however it is large, heavy, and looks like an instrument of torture.  Backup to this is a mid size iron designed for stained glass that is controlled via a motor speed controller to set heat; this is for jobs that are too big for the smaller Weller irons but where the big Chinese iron doesn’t fit well.



I have a Weller gun that gets used maybe a few times a year.



A couple of years ago I bought a station designed for rework/SMD/etc. and I have used it a little but for regular soldering I am too used to my Weller irons to want to switch.



One iron I have but have never used is the one that came with the NOS Chinese knockoff of the AN/GRC-9 set.  It looks like a small hatchet and is meant to be heated in coals or a fire prior to use ??  The included Simpson VOM knockoff is a little more practical and the screwdrivers look remarkably similar to those sold by Harbor Freight.



Rodger WQ9E



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From: Don Merz via Boatanchors<mailto:boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, July 7, 2016 9:46 AM
To: ARC-5 List<mailto:arc5 at mailman.qth.net>; MilSurplus QSLNet<mailto:milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>; Boatanchors Mail List<mailto:boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [Boatanchors] OT A BIT....What Do You Solder With?



Seems a simple question. Maybe not.
I recently became disenchanted with my old Tenma soldering station. I also have a box of all the usual old soldering irons and such I could use (but don't). I started thinking that maybe for the next 10 years I should just buy something good and be done with it.
A friend of mine swears by the Metcal soldering stations. They are not cheap, but maybe a good investment.
What do you use that you like?
73, Don Merz, N3RHT
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