Anyone have any recommendations on a soldering iron. Planning on starting my COP build and leaning towards a MS

 

if I were just doing those projects then a $7 45 watt one from radio shack....

 

I bought a Weller WES51 for my MS project. It works great. I mainly used the tip that came with the kit, but there are a few areas which require a smaller tip. The best price I found at the time was from Amazon.com.
It was about 85.00.

Probably overkill, but that's how I roll.

 

Werd . Your run of the mill radioshack iron will serve you just fine for those projects.

 

My radioshack iron has made it through 2 megasquirts and 2 tips in the process. At this point, I cannot replace the tips anymroe. The set screw seized and broke off.

I think at this point i'm going to upgrade. I'm doing lots of soldering these days.

Edit, something nice about this little iron is the ease at which I can solder things in tight areas like under the dash.

 

Serious? That was always a big hick up for me wen thinking about a MS build. I've soldered before and I'd be cursing my soldering iron half the time. Maybe a better question would be what kind of solder everyone uses.

 

I'll build it for you if you pay for the parts

 

Mine has lasted over 50 MS builds. lolz.

 

Alright, i'll just buy another radio shack iron to replace the broken one i have now. You've convinced me

 

Thanks everyone. Low cost is bueno

I'm threadjacking my own thread if that's possible.

What gauge wire is everyone using when building their COP harness?

 

im not saying it's great by any means. I used good ones. Im just too cheap to buy a real one. It serves it's purpose.

 

It's honestly hard to believe that unit running my car was one of 50 made with a cheap iron.

I was just out there starting my COPS harness as well...and nearly put the iron into the wall pointy end first. Good grief I hate soldering.

If I could make solders like Scott I'd be seriously happy...and there wouldn't be so many damn crimp connectors on my car.

 

I go through a **** ton of tips however and try my best to keep them clean. I pretty much just learned how to solder by doing it. I have no idea if I'm doing it good, let alone correctly.

 

I really dont know how you guys get so frustrated by soldering. It's like zen for me.

 

They look like shiny dabs of syrup of an electronic pancake.

To me that's good.

 

Thing is...I used to be really good at it. Back when I did car audio, I was young and didn't care...and soldered EVERYTHING and it was beautiful.

I don't know what happened, but I can't do it anymore. I did get married in the meantime...I'm sure that's got something to do with it. Now every time I'm out in the garage I live in constant fear that the door is about to open and I'm gonna get to hear some more nagging.

I wish soldering was Zen for me.



I also used to have a really high quality iron that was handed down to me. It would wick up the perfect sized dab of solder and spread it like butter.

 

Someone mentioned solder, what is everyone having the best luck with? I have some right now and I am going to blame it for my bad soldering.

 

I'm going to attempt a pnp setup with a spare ignitor. However, I think it will be very easy to convince myself that I will never go back to stock and just splice int to the existing ignitor.

 

I use .032" 60/40 Rosin-core solder.

 

Yea but the chicks really dig my expensive soldering iron.