What kind of tools do you guys use?

[Dr4g0n]

Hey, just starting to get into the field of hardware and electronics. I've been doing a little bit of research into what soldering iron I should buy. I was thinking of getting the Hakko FX888D because I have been told it is a very high quality soldering iron. I'm a hobbyist, not planning on making a career or anything out of it. What kind of irons do you guys use? What kind of tools in general do you use?

[Darkvision]

hakko's are well known, been reliable for yeaaaars. Id certainly say its a top choice, and they have some cheaper models that dont break the bank, or you can go for one of their higher end ones that cost 300$ or so.

[Dr4g0n]

hakko's are well known, been reliable for yeaaaars. Id certainly say its a top choice, and they have some cheaper models that dont break the bank, or you can go for one of their higher end ones that cost 300$ or so.

Well, I was looking at one on amazon that is affordable. About $92, comes with a wire cutter. Also, where do you get your parts from? I heard most people get them from ebay, which from personal research is really cheap.

[wopr]

Depends on your budget of course and how much your soldering but HAKKO's are great all the newer models have the fisher-price color theme going on (YELLOW and BLUE) if your searching via ebay.

if you need something cheap and good AOYUE has been pretty good ( I myself usually buy these first if i use it enough i'll ebay it and grab a HAKKO version )

I'd stay away from xtronics brand i'm sure i'll get some flame on this but their build quality vs aoyue seems soooooo much crappier for the same price.

[xor]

I have a crappy iron from a local electronics store, but I look after it well, so it continues to work.
Just remember a couple of things when soldering:

1. A chisel tip is often better than a fine point, even for surface mount soldering.
2. Drag soldering is your friend.
3. Flux is your BEST friend.
4. Tin your tip after you use it, no.. really. If you don't, even a $300 iron wont work well.
5. DO NOT BUY COMPONENT BAGS / BINS. Unless you're looking for a bunch of crap to practice solder. You will not get any use out of most of the components.
6. Have an idea in your head of what you want to make, buy the components just for that project. Sure it might be nice having a parts bin sometimes, but you end up having a bunch of stuff you don't know how to use, or what to do with.
7. Salvaging is not worth your time unless you want to practice desoldering. If the chip is in a removable socket, go for it, that's a few seconds for a potentially useful 555 timer or RS232 chip.
8. If you are doing resoldering (reseating / replacing a component), a hot air gun is your friend.
9. Solder from smallest to largest component to avoid them getting in your way.

-- xor

[Dr4g0n]

Depends on your budget of course and how much your soldering but HAKKO's are great all the newer models have the fisher-price color theme going on (YELLOW and BLUE) if your searching via ebay.

if you need something cheap and good AOYUE has been pretty good ( I myself usually buy these first if i use it enough i'll ebay it and grab a HAKKO version )

I'd stay away from xtronics brand i'm sure i'll get some flame on this but their build quality vs aoyue seems soooooo much crappier for the same price.

I've never heard of AOYUE before, was looking around on ebay and found a 60 watt for about $30.

[Darkvision]

as far as parts go, most parts stores(with the main exception of frys) are absurdly expensive and tend to have not so great selection. That said a lot of times your going to need to order from the internet.

[Tinker]

5. DO NOT BUY COMPONENT BAGS / BINS. Unless you're looking for a bunch of crap to practice solder. You will not get any use out of most of the components.
6. Have an idea in your head of what you want to make, buy the components just for that project. Sure it might be nice having a parts bin sometimes, but you end up having a bunch of stuff you don't know how to use, or what to do with.
7. Salvaging is not worth your time unless you want to practice desoldering. If the chip is in a removable socket, go for it, that's a few seconds for a potentially useful 555 timer or RS232 chip.

I see bad advices. Few days ago, I saw a guy in a local shop buying 27 LEDs, And I feel so bad I didn't warn him that he will mess up that matrix cube he's building. If components are cheap, always buy a bit more than you need, because missing a single resistor (or similar) to complete a project, that's just agony. Also, salvaging can be quite lucrative if you know where to look. E.g., desoledering 4-6 pins of a relay is much better than giving 3$. And you'll often find some great looking proprietary components to include in your projects, components that you won't find in your local shop. Old printers and CRT TVs are my favorites.

At least that's my arrogant opinion.

[Insanity]

When I had a soldering iron,
it was usually used for making circuits after them being tested on a breadboard.
It was a generic no-name cheap brand soldering station, if I remember correctly,
and it worked well for my dumb little experiments with electronics in my electric guitar or on my boards.
It kinda depends on what you want to use the iron for too, in my opinion.
Like, if you're going to use silver solder wire a lot you might want to make sure you get one that will work out for that.
Hakko seems pretty reliable, though,
so you probably can't go wrong with that.

[Xires]

Mind powers and minions are my tools.