Recommend a soldering iron?

[kaphc]

Can anyone recommend a decent soldering iron? This will be for sorting out a dodgy power connector on a laptop

 

Not by me I add but I need to get the soldering iron to do the job.

 

Also, have read that you need one soldering iron to desolder and a separate one to re-solder. Is this accurate?

[LosOjos]

Can anyone recommend a decent soldering iron? This will be for sorting out a dodgy power connector on a laptop

 

For electrical appliance jobs, you only want a low powered one (a high powered one can damage the components far too easily). Something like this would do: 15W Miniature Soldering Iron Type C : Mains Soldering Irons : Maplin

 

Also, have read that you need one soldering iron to desolder and a separate one to re-solder. Is this accurate?

 

That'd just be a waste of money, though I would recommend either a solder pump or some de-soldering braid (braid is cheaper, pump is easier)

[crt404]

Anything over about 25W should be okay, anything under this will struggle to pump heat into a large solder joint and take ages to heat up.

 

With regards to solder removal, in the perfect world, you would buy a separate 'desoldering iron' - this is a hollow tipped sodlering iron with a small vacuum pump attached. In the real world, where desoldering isn't a constant task, a desolder pump from Maplin should do the trick. I've never tried the braid so can't comment on this.

[mjs_mjs]

I personally use a 25w antex iorn with a thin tip, my brother uses the same iorn but with the fatter (3-4mm)tip. While working on cables (mains) recently soldering socapex and speakon8's i was using a 45w iorn with a seperate transformer and tempreture controlled tip. the 45w is the best for cable work, and the small tipped 25w i find ideal for pcb work.

 

25w antex 25W Soldering Iron Type XS : Mains Soldering Irons : Maplin

 

a newer version of the 45w weller

Amazon.com: Weller WESD51 Digital Soldering Station: Home Improvement

 

For this task i would personally use the 25w with the thin tip and a de-solder pump.

 

If you'r not doing it; Who is? Most people who are comfortable working on laptop PCB's will have their own iron.

[robk]

Must admit I have always liked the Antex XS's they seem "industry standard" I did also have a smaller 15w iron for soldering ics etc. For a psu connector etc 25w should be fine.

 

Desolder braid does work, but the components can get quite hot, which is not good for laptops. solder sucker might be better.

[kaphc]

Thanks for the suggestions ... willl go and see what i can buy. Will look at between 15w and 25w.

[Oaktech]

antex gets my vote... on my desk and on, as we speak.