Five years ago I upgraded my home shop from a $200 soldering station to a $1200 one - night and day difference on boards with large ground planes.

I work on old arcade boards and they have huge ground pours that just suck the heat out. My old iron would take like 30 seconds to get a joint hot enough. After I got a JBC station with the C245 tips, I can do a joint in maybe 3 seconds. The handle is warmer too, weirdly, but it helps. The real kicker was how much cleaner my work looks now with no cold joints. Anyone else see a big jump when they moved up in soldering gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_zara16d ago

You ever look at a cold joint and think, "Wow, I did that on purpose as part of my 'artisanal soldering' phase?" I had the same deal with my Weller WES51, which I loved for normal stuff, but throw it at a big ground plane on a 1980s arcade board and the thing would hold a bead on the iron for ten seconds while I prayed it would flow. I finally splurged on a used Metcal with the RF tips last year, and it's like going from a rusty hammer to a laser scalpel. Now I feel like I almost know what I'm doing when I'm not melting plastic connectors by accident. The handle being warm is just a bonus reminder that you're not supposed to hold it like a comic book heat ray.

skyler4316d ago

I used to be one of those guys who said "a good iron is a good iron, you're just paying for the name." Then I spent a weekend fighting with a 1985 Pac-Man board that had this massive ground plane and my Hakko 936 just couldn't push enough heat through it. I was reheating joints three or four times, still getting that cloudy look. After a buddy let me borrow his JBC for one session, I ordered one that night. The difference on thick ground pours is so huge it's almost embarrassing how stubborn I was before. Now I just wish I hadn't wasted two years of my life on cold joints.