[Elecraft] [K2] 60W temperature controlled iron; unknown brand of solder

[Matthew D. Fuller]

On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 01:48:40PM -0700 I heard the voice of
Fred Jensen, and lo! it spake thus:
> On 4/15/2011 12:16 PM, Wayne Conrad wrote:
> 
> > I've got a new temperature controlled soldering station, but it's
> > 60W.  I ordered 60W in case I'm ever forced to use lead-free
> > solder (I understand that it takes more "oomf").  The manual says
> > that any more than 40W and I can damage the board.
> 
> I don't think you'll have a problem so long as you keep the temp set
> not less than one, not more than 3 seconds.  For my K2 using a
> Weller WES51, that turned out to be 750 deg.

Yeah, 700-750 is usually the rule of thumb.

60 watt will be fine; the temperature control is what matters.  Over
40 watt irons that _aren't_ temperature controlled can be dangerous
just because they get too hot.  With the control, it's fine; better to
be higher wattage actually, since it'll heat up and hold the desired
temp better.


-- 
Matthew Fuller, N3TZJ
<n3tzj at n3tzj.org>