soldering iron & GND plane

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harps

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hello

i recently made a PCB. The ground plane is large and my old iron has no power to stay hot, it seems.

i havent much money and need something substantial. : / can anyone sugest a model of iron?

Would this model of iron below 'maintain/stay hot?' Or is that just a temperature control to select a tempertaure?

**broken link removed**

or should i buy a second hand weller iron station?

thanks for help.
 
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Tough question, not knowing any more particulars about your soldering needs.

50W is a pretty high wattage iron, which should be able to heat enough of a ground plane area to allow the solder to flow. Especially since it's a PCB (the ground plane can't represent that much mass).

Temp control, while analog (nothing wrong with that), should help keep the iron temp up for larger heat sinking jobs.

Price seems fair. Good feedback for the vendor.
 
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What iron do you have now and what tip do you use? The one you linked to is 50W and that should be enough, but usually the problem with soldering large ground planes is in using a wrong tip for the job.
You can also try using a heatgun to preheat the board before you do the ground planes.
 
hello the one i have is just a old cheap maplin soldering iron ( no station) not sure of the wattage?

the real problem area i had was soldering a regualtor middle pin. the regualor is attached to a large heatsink and the ground plane too.

ive just found this iron on ebay too an atten AT937B £30 in total..

might be better as it was once for sale on sprakfun.

**broken link removed**
 
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I prefer a 60W iron and electronic temperature control, the 40W irons just don't seem to cut it for fast/serious soldering. 50W might be ok but if you are setting out to buy an iron to last the distance you should consider a 60W unit (in my opinion).
 
Ground plane & PCB's....

This is something that I work with almost on a daily basis. You can read about the best & most expensive soldering equipment out there and still have issues with insufficient heat while dealing with ground planes that behave as a heatsink to rapidly cool down the soldering tip.
Based on my experience over the years, while there are a number of reputable names out there, Metcal products are the ultimate in my opinion. Main reason being that it is RF based and different from anything else in the market---and of course rather pricey. (you can even read about the patent of the person who designed it). Very unique & effective in quick tip heath & recovery.
However, the trick to work with ground plane is to utilize a board heater first. Depending on your application and board density, you'd want to pre-heat the entire PCB. There are several PCB board heaters available that will do wonders when trying to work with ground planes.
 
I had a maplin one, I think its just the same as the first one you linked us to on ebay, I wasnt happy with it at all and sold it on ebay, I'd advise you dont get it.
The second one you linked to I've never seen before so cant comment.
Instead of buying a station look at getting a straight plug in iron, you should be able to get something reasonable not having to pay for the base station as well.
I have a xytronic XY9, I've had it nearly 20 years and its great, you can still get them however they might be out of your price range, they're about triple what we've been talking about.
 
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There is always the option of preheating in an oven - even getting the board up to 80-90 degrees C will help a lot. I have a small oven/grill in the workshop that I bought from Aldi for £30 for preheating and drying stuff out.
 
That soldering iron is most likely not temperature controlled at all. I bought a cheap one from Jaycar labelled as such and took it back as soon as I tested it and found out it was just an adjustable phase triggered triac control (varied the power, but didn't regulate temperature).

It'll have the same issues as an adjustable firestick iron.
 
I have a heat gun (ie for doing heatshink tubing) always handy at the soldering bench, besides heatshink tubing it can be used for preheating boards or an area of a board. Still, using a 60W iron fixes most groundplane heat issues unless you are working with really thick cabling or something.
 
nightmare. I bought this in the end

60w precicion gold.

**broken link removed**

But it does not stay hot at all. I went all the way up and set it at 450 C ( C not f) put it in a wet sponge and hardly any steam or hissing noise appears , i am still trying to fix this regulator, I unscrewed the heatsink to try and lessen the cooling effect., but still this iron will not melt the solder on the pins. . its utter crap. : ( the pins have now joined in a blobby mess, even with a nice solder mask I cant melt the solder hot enough to suck it off with a solder sucker gun.

wish i had a thermometer to test the temp of this tip. but its going back tomorrow.

Maplin are not known for easy refunds either.

I fear to buy a second hand weller. i can only aford around 40- maybe 50 pounds.

: (
 
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harps said:
I went all the way up and set it at 450 C ( C not f) put it in a wet sponge and hardly any steam or hissing noise appears
Click to expand...
Sounds pretty faulty. Contact Maplin -- there's no harm in trying, right?
 
Maplin are not known for easy refunds either.
Click to expand...

If you bought it on-line, write a letter to them first before actually sending the faulty item.

If you bought it in a shop, just take it back.

In either case, do not lose your cool, just tell them the problem (it does not get hot) and state that you are rejecting the good as being faulty and that you want your money back as you are entitled to under the "Sale of Goods Act".

If they start playing hard ball (a USA expression?) you could refer it to the Credit Card company (if you paid by CC), or to the local Trading Standards Office.

Regarding "good" soldering irons, Weller is not the only manufacturer.
Have a look at the RS website:
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/tools/soldering-desoldering-tools/soldering-irons/
more soldering irons than you can shake a stick at!

JimB
 
Best iron I ever used for big stuff was a 1930's (?) one you had to heat with a blow-torch. Big copper chunk tapered to a small tip on the end of a steel bar, with a wooden handle. Brilliant, honestly! Even used it to solder ic pins when my regular iron went on the blink.
 

that sounds amazing i bet that iron would eat my heat sinks for breaklfast LOL.
 
harps said:
nightmare. I bought this in the end

60w precicion gold.

**broken link removed**

But it does not stay hot at all. I went all the way up and set it at 450 C ( C not f) ...
...
Click to expand...

It's just faulty, sorry to say.

I run my temp controlled 60W iron at about 290 degrees C and it has absolutely tons of power for general soldering including ground planes. I crank it up to maybe 320'C for some special tasks and can't imagine going higher than that.
 
As above - just take it back and ask for another one - they aren't bad irons and it sounds like you just have a faulty one.

I've never had any problems with Maplin for returns - I took a CCTV system back to them for repair a couple of days ago and they couldn't be more helpful.

Something else to conside is the gas powered soldering iron (Toolstation / Maplin / Screwfix for £20 ish depending on what is on offer) - these pack a fair punch and while are a little "primative" can be good for working on higher thermal mass. I see Maplin have the solderpro 70 gas iron on offer at £14

I use a 100w "brutal" old iron for heavy duty stuff, a cheapo £10 Maplin 50w variable power station for everyday soldering (I use them as disposable soldering irons and buy them in bulk when they are on sale) and a gas powered soldering iron when I'm out in the field or working on cars. I'm also building my own temperature controlled soldering station based on the spare irons Maplin sell for their stations.
 
I used to have a satday job at maplin when I was a kid, the store I was at wasnt that bad for customer service, dont know about the mail order system though.
I had a 10 quid special solder station from them a couple of years back, like I said I ebayed it similar issue wouldnt melt chocolate.
That station you have I've seen under other names, and for a similar price so you didnt pay over the top.
I'd be looking for a refund first then go and buy a second hand weller, if they wont do that (and they are sposed to according to consumer law) then just get a replacement.

If yo do happen to end up stuck with it then I'd be looking at whatever feeds back the temp to the controller in the iron, probably wasnt put together proper at the plant.
 
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dr pepper said:
...
If yo do happen to end up stuck with it then I'd be looking at whatever feeds back the temp to the controller in the iron, probably wasnt put together proper at the plant.
Click to expand...

It's common to get bad connections on the heater power wires, they usually use a low voltage and quite a few amps for the heater, so any high resistance connection will really reduce the heater power. Those plug in handles can be an issue at the plug.
 
There you go, somewhere to start.
Mine is a 60w and its 24v, so theres going to be 2.5a or so going through the little cb radio mic connector, I'm sure they where never intended to carry so much current.
 
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