A
Thank you!
I was sad to find the "setup and tips" section empty. Do you anticipate expanding that section soon?
I'll be building my first Eggtimer kits soon. I think I need a new soldering iron for it and I'm not sure what would be well-suited and affordable.
Apologies - I had all kinds of intentions this Fall to work on my website, but life got away from me with work and family things. Hoping to find some time over the holidays.
Agree with all the sentiments above!
If you search for "soldering station" on Amazon, you will find a whole bunch of options, including the excellent Weller station mentioned above. In the $50 range, you can probably find a decent station that comes with multiple tips and adjustable temps. Many of these are not perfect and the temps will most likely be off a bit from what is shown on the dial, but they will be close enough. I use Hakko stations at my home desk and in my shop. They are good and they are expensive, but I would hesitate to call them "professional". Probably "prosumer". Way overkill for Eggtimer boards, though.
For temps, for the solder that comes with the Eggtimer kits, I start out with my iron set at 680 F (360 C) and adjust from there. If you see that you are having a hard time getting the solder to flow (i.e. - it is taking more than 1-2 seconds for the solder to melt and flow), dial up the temp a bit until it flows nicely. If the solder is melting immediately or starts spitting/popping/spalling and sending small drops of solder flying, the iron is too hot - dial it down and wait a bit and try again. Also, if your tip keeps getting black almost as soon as you touch the solder, it is probably too hot. If you use different solder (not recommended), you need to know the melting point of that solder and adjust.
The Weller machines should maintain a fairly even temp, but be aware that a lot of the cheap stations on Amazon don't have robust temp control, so the board/component itself will cool down the tip quite a bit during each solder, so you should wait a good 5-10 seconds between each joint to ensure your tip comes back up to temp.
Clean your tip after every single joint. I am not a fan of the wet sponge method. I personally prefer brass wool for tip cleaning. Something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Soldering-Iron-Tip-Cleaner-Non-slip/dp/B08SLBSLK4
If you use the solder Eggtimer provides, you don't have to prep the board, use any extra flux, or clean the board afterwards. You can do all of those things, but I would recommend not doing any of that until you get some more experience. Using a decent iron and the supplied solder is all you need to make the board work.
Some kind of loupe to inspect the joints is a good idea, but I (like many folks on TRF
) have a bit of a hard time seeing things close up, so I use a lighted magnifying glass attached to the side of my desk, like this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019R1FDEA. That model is not strong enough to inspect joints (get a 10x loupe), but it is great for doing the actual soldering.
You probably will mess up a joint or 7 in your first try (practice boards for the win) - don't let it get you frustrated! Get some solder wick like this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0195UVWJ8 and all you do is put the wick on the solder you want to clean up, heat the wick with your iron and it will suck up all the solder. You can then start over. Easy day!
Practice kits are really an awesome way to start and can be fun!
Here is a practice kit for surface mounted parts:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HPSRXJ0
And here is a fun kit for through hole parts:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0142H2HBQ
There are people on TRF who do this for a living that are WAY more knowledgeable than I am. Ask questions and I am sure you will get awesome answers here! As for me, I will do my best to update my website. Good luck, have fun and enjoy the super awesome Eggtimer products that will now be available to you!