You don’t really need that expensive of a soldering station to do the type of soldering that is required for this. Just get a cheap 60w iron and that should be good enough for most of the soldering tasks you’ll need to do for esk8.
I’m sorry to tell you this but the Weller WES51 is a High end product for Weller, and in my opinion is not worth it. If you really want a good quality soldering station you should turn yourself to Metcal or OKI (these are the toughest Soldering station I ever seen and also use in many production line because the heat is control by the tips and not the station, so you can live it open for a day without damaging the tips), or High end Hakko product like the FM-202. ( when you buy Hakko product you need to look at the kind of tips they use, like the T7 series)
And also for everyone who soldering for the first time, the most important trick a can give, is always use a tips that is larger than the area you need to solder, exemple for 10awg wire it better to use a 5mm tips.
Why would you want something where the tip controls the heat? if you need to adjust your temperature you have to switch out the tips which takes 100x longer than just turning a knob or just pressing some buttons.
I think we all need to remember and think about the title of this post “HOW TO SOLDER For Beginners”
Beginners don’t need fancy soldering stations. a cheap $10-20 plug in, non variable iron will work just fine. It won’t be the best looking soldering job, but it will work.
Hell, that’s what i learned on, and i bet most of you started with something similar.
the beauty is you dont need to change the tips (it’s call smartheat technology)… and also your right you dont need a fancy soldering station 10-20 dollar will do the job, but they are not really safe to use and the tips burn and disintegrate fast, so sometime it better to upgrade the quality of your iron and buy a station.
And yes it Soldering for Beginners, but it always better to start on the right foot.
I agree with starting off with a good station rather than a $15 iron. it will make your learning curve easier and improve your joins.
I am yet to use one of the Chinese hakko clones but they seem like a cheap starting point for beginners that will no doubt be better than a $15 iron.
It appears all the soldering iron links are outdated.
Would this be a good option?
I know it’s not a name brand but it has thousands of great reviews, is feature rich, and only $35, and they’re are a ton of other brands making similar products at similar prices with similar reviews.