this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
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Soldering

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I bought a $15.88 soldering iron at Walmart. How does it compare of my Weller and Hakko soldering stations? (youtu.be)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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In this video I go back to the beginning of my more than 45 years of experience soldering and buy a $15.88 Chinese soldering iron from my local Walmart store and compare it to a Weller PES51 pencil iron connected to my WESD51 soldering station and a Hakko FM-2027 connected to my FM-203.

I have said that you can use the cheapest soldering iron to solder SMD devices like SOIC-8s and QFP-32s. In subsequent videos I will attempt to solder pin headers, a DS1307 real time clock in a SOIC-8 package and a LGT8F328P MCU in a QFP-32 package.

The goal of these videos is to make clear that even beginners can solder modern SMD devices using basic soldering equipment that is readily available locally to most people.

Hakko FM-2023 station with MF2027 handle and T15-D16 tip

Weller WESD51 with PES51 handle and ETA tip

Workpro CA310 (Hangzhou Greatstar Industrial GS-30W)

Unknown Chinese solder

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Havnt watched it yet, but I'm going to guess, not well.

There are some really good, TR-10 tyle soldering irons at amazing prices online.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

It isn't even close to the better irons but I manage to solder with it. In subsequent videos I'll show how I can solder 2.54 mm header strips, a SOIC-8, and a QFP-32.

The point is that you don't need expensive equipment to solder even fairly small, modern SMDs. It's WAY easier with better equipment but a beginner with cheap equipment can do it.