Just ordered my Hakko 936-12

[skydog]

Thanks to the many recommendations on this site, I hopefully have just ordered the be all and end all soldering iron. I'm more excited waiting for this than most guitars! I've struggled with a Weller for years, then bought a Radio Shack 40 watt that would be best served as an electric cheese slicer. Are there any sites with soldering tips, my skills have to come up to the quality of the tool now!:bow

[zzmoore]

Hey Skydog -
Can you shed some light on these Hakko's ? I have seen them in catalogs, but have never used one. What kind of troubles are you having with the Weller ?
Thanks

[dick wiewy]

I personally love my HAKO and believe it brought my soldering skills to a much higher level.

I would recommend doing a search for the Air Force or NASA's (Aerospace) PDF file for acceptable methods of wiring, soldering and terminating electrical connections. I only have the chapter on lacing and the pages don't indicate the title of the manual they were extracted from.

Briefly:
The solder joint should remain shiny when cooled. It shouldn't be a blob shape, i.e. use just enough heat & solder to flow through the wire and it's termination. Tinning the wire first aids in any soldering task!

Tinning your new tip prior to use and before shutting it off will help it last much longer. So will using a quality solder with a flux incorporated at the factory.(crappy solder has caused pitting on my tips!) I only use additional flux when de-soldering old components. It helps "wet" the solder for pickup if your using that braid stuff or a sucker.

[skydog]

Hey Skydog -
Can you shed some light on these Hakko's ? I have seen them in catalogs, but have never used one. What kind of troubles are you having with the Weller ?
Thanks
I haven't got it yet, but I sure will. The Weller just never seemed to heat right. The tips are expensive and didn't seem very durable. I had the gun type that you had to continually squeeze the trigger to maintain heat. I grew to hate that gun due to the frustration level.

[mageerc]

You will love the Hakko... it's a fine piece of equipment. You will especially appreciate the pencil rather than the huge gun you were previously using. I think you made a good choice...

[57special]

Carey,
I made the switch from a Weller about 4 years ago and haven't looked back. I still use the Weller for heating up frets, but otherwise the hakko is "it".

[GDS Racing]

Congrats. I understand the Hakko is a good station. I use a JBC 2700 which is an amazing solder station.

For lots of good info on soldering, check out http://www.soldering.jp/ for some good info.

Also, this is a very good resource. Look way down for the drawings to show correct techniques. http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/doctree/NS87393.pdf