PE soldering

One thing to bare in mind when looking at soldering station reviews is that mostly they are written from the electronics soldering perspective, for model making we don't care if the temperature is +/- 5 degrees C at the tip.
I would like to say I personally haven't soldered PE, I have very little experience with PE, though I like the thought of soft soldering PE.
The iron I like to use for soft soldering is quite old probably 1950s or 1960s vintage it has a separate transformer that sits on the bench with a slide switch on the iron this iron heats up quite quickly and is quite a powerful iron which is good because it is able to heat up the job quickly which seems to get a better job.
There that's my ramble for the day.
 
Hi Michel,
The Hakko fx600 looks alright with 50 watts of power. Personally I would say if your budget will stretch to the first Hakko you showed with 70 watts would be better, the more heating ability the better.
The 50 watt one will be fine for smaller PE, however the 70 watt will give you more ability to solder larger things later on.
Cheers,
Stephen.
 
Fish&Chip said:
Hi,

I begin my Belem model from Artesania Latina. I have PE in this kit and it is the first time I will work with this kind of material. Wich soldering station tool can be used mostly exclusively for the Photo etch parts ? Is 60-80 buck at amazon deliver good material or should look mainly to more expensive kit ?

Thanks,

Michel
Click to expand...
What is PE?
 
Finally, I got the Hakko FX888D- 29BY at Tequipment. Thanks for all of you for your help. I do not taked Weller because I saw some recent threads on the web that told the variable quality from them recently. I do not know if it is true, I do not taked chance.

Michel
 
Hi Michel,
Personally I have tried a couple of fluxes some I bought off Ebay but the flux that seems to work the best for me is one I got from the pluming department of a hardware shop. It is something that is similar to what Paul Budzik recommends in his video, personally I would go for the one Paul recommends, living in Australia I wasn't able to get the same it might be easier for you to obtain.
As for solder it is quite economical to buy solder in bar form from the pluming department of a hardware shop, I got one bar of each of the temperature ranges.
I flatten the solder bar with a heavy hammer and snip off a short length with large side cutters and apply using tweezers.
Cheers,
Stephen.
 
No problem Michel just trying to help you avoid the mistakes I have made.
I guess the main point I was trying to make is to steer away from electronics type fluxes and go for plumbers or lead lighting fluxes.
Cheers,
Stephen.
 
Ho, Sorry if my english induced some uncomfort. You are really welcome to advise me. I just finished to browse the Hakko web site, and concluded the same observation than your last advice : no lead = oxydation increase. So I will stay with 60/40 formula wich is more cheapest in cost. This let me able to purchased more affordable Kester soldering wire.

Thanks again Stephen
 
Yes, on another forum, Kester 50/50 was proposed to me. I found 60/40 on amazon. But if i understand correctly your proposition, may be a wire without rosin in core, should be better completed by a rosin paste ? I do not know that wire with rosin in core was for electronic purpose. In fact majority of web site speak about electronic soldering. It is not easy to filter the good infos.

I verified for solder bar in hardware near me : over 1 pound and expensive for the work I will do. 1/4 pound or lower for solder roll will be better for me.

Note : viewing again the video in this thread, Paul used Nokorod "acid" flux instead of rosin. So Rosin or Organic or acid flux ?

Michel
 
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