Cheapy Ebay ones will do. No need to get a Fluke when you have like 2 measurements each year 
.
More than good enough, yes.
I have a flux pen and some othe versions on hand. Better safe than sorry.
I mean… Part of my thought was “eh, it’s $9, and I don’t already have a stand/holder”.
Okay… So higher wattage = worse? Maybe I’m just not understanding correctly… I mean, I’m not looking to pick up a soldering station like the Hakko that Luis uses by any means, let alone a different iron, less i end up with something that just can’t do the job.
Sadly, I don’t have access to a Harbor Freight without going deeper into town then what I am able to get a ride to. For a more budget offering, what should I look for in a Multimeter? I’m actually going to WallyWorld (WalMart) today, so I may be able to check to see if they have one there.
Okay, the Yes or No seem to be where you and @MazeFrame seem to differ (if I’m understanding correctly). I wasn’t meaning to say using the rosin to remove the old solder, I get that’s what the wick is for, and I’ve seen Luis rag on the solder suckers enough to know how shit they are.
If I was going to buy another iron, I would probably go for this one for cost, and Luis really liked it.
No the lower wattage, the longer it will take to get up to the heat needed to flow solder. 35W is low, but usable if you’re patient. A 60W will hold it’s temp longer and will take less time to reheat.
Getting a slightly better one isn’t absolutely needed, but you would be better served by getting a chepar higher wattage and a $50 multimeter
It might have one, yes. I wouldn’t spend more then $15-ish on one as you aren’t going to use it for much. One without a digital display is probably fine if you’re just checking resistance.
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that’s what made more sense to me, but wanted to be sure. Again, if I would go buy one, it would probably be the TS100 I linked (though I could see how I could get easily confused with it.
I just edited, check my edit.
With this being the only real soldering job I plan on doing, I can’t see buying a better iron being that worth it if this one will get me by. I can understand a cheap multi-meter from the points y’all made about it though.
It looks like they would actually have three. All ~$15-20
Actually, in your case as you care about minute amounts of resistance, I would get the analog one out of those three.
I’d expect it to be fully analog inside, so it may be able to mesure more accurately. Cheap digitals don’t really get a good resolution for tiny readings.
None of which I just typed might be true though. As it’s made of chineseium and has walmart level quality assurance.They literally might be digital on the inside and then reconverts it to analog for the needle.
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Damn, out of stock. Found this on Amazon though, how’s it look?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00002N5EX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_hpclFbDQAJKZP
You really do want a meter.
All you really need for cables is a continuity tester, if the solder joints look good they usually are good.
Any $10 meter will probably be good enough.
I have cheap and expensive meters here, and I’ll usually use what’s nearest to me when I need it, unless I really care about the result, or don’t believe it.
A 60W Iron makes soldering connectors especially larger ones a lot easier, it’s less of an advantage on small PCB mounted components. The issue with lower power irons is the area around the joint will soak more heat because the heat has to be applied longer and is therefore less localized. That makes melting plastic parts of connectors very easy for beginners.
I prefer soldering iron tips with flat areas rather then conical ones, but YMMV.
I think solders been covered, pretty much any rosin core 60/40 is fine, do not use leadfree, and higher silver contents aren’t worth the additional cost/skill requirements for most Jobs.
I have 60/40 and some Cardas higher silver content stuff, I use the latter in audio, but only because I have it on hand and I don’t mind how it flows. If I ran out, I’d use the 60/40 and not worry about it.
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The consensus seems to be to go buy a better iron.
Depends, if your doing a couple of things or just trying things out to see if you enjoy it, use what you have.
If you see yourself doing a lot of soldering, buy a decent iron, it makes the whole thing a lot more enjoyable. I have a Hakko, I bought 20 years ago and still use, so they’re not something you go through yearly.
I just see little shit like this once in a blue moon. Even so, especially with how much Luis liked it, I’d probably get the TS100 that Luis reviewed for $70
Yup. Good for when you can’t dip/drip flux on the part in question. For wires, having a tup do dunk the ends into is nicer.
Ended up pulling the trigger on a few things…
I’m gonna stick to the iron I have right now, and I simply wasn’t comfortable pulling the trigger on solder I wasn’t totally sure on, so I ended up buying what @Hazi59 reccomended.
The multimeter was $10, but had good reviews, and was analog, something @pixelnull pointed out might be benificial (if it’s purely analog).
I snagged the stand cause it was cheap, had good reviews, Prime shipped, and had the copper coil cleaner (though y’all said it was unnecicery, I just thought it was a nice to have).
I snagged the 3.5mm connectors for the spring strain relief, price, and thought of still having a use for the stock cable.
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Sooooo… soldering sucks. Particularly without helping hands.
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Do you have any tips for soldering 2-pin terminals? I’m trying to add detachable cables to my KSC75 and with the 30AWG wire (with padding fibres), all the guides on youtube seem to be with 18AWG or more. I can just about tin the wire but getting it to stick to the pin without melting the plastic housing seems impossible.
Do you mean these here?
If your soldering iron is variable 260 to 300°C (~ 600°F).
Tin the wire and the terminal pin.
Rig up something to hold wire and pin together, heat them both and touch some solder to them.
Done.
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Here’s my last attempt. The wire is on there (whether it’s mounted to the terminal or embedded in the plastic is a matter of fervent debate), but it actually pushed the socket out. It’s not exactly clean either.
No actual headphone wires were harmed in the making of this picture.
Unless you tried soldering that with a blow torch, that has to be some exceptionally crappy plastic and insulation.
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