Soldering Irons
Burn Hazard
Don't touch the hot end of the stick.Smoke Hazard
This equipment produces toxic smoke. Use the extractor when solderingSafety
Please clear up solder splashes/drops and wire clippings after soldering; that will reduce the chance of detritus causing shorts in equipment or projects, especially in other people's projects.
Never use a soldering iron on equipment that is connected to the mains - always disconnect it first. To minimise the chance of a static charge damaging a circuit, the iron's tip is connected to mains protective earth. Hence touching a node that isn't at that potential can cause large and damaging currents to flow.
Never “float an iron” by disconnecting the protective mains earth.
* The TS100 and similar irons are floated by default. TBH, it's basically become common practice to float the earth on 'smart' soldering irons, so I'd suggest changing this to: Never assume an iron isn't floated.
Is it really necessary to state that one end is dangerously hot, and that molten solder splashing onto skin will cause scarring?
Soldering produces toxic smoke. Don't breath this in. How toxic the smoke is depends on what time of flux you're using, but it's never healthy. We have a solder fume extractor – use it! (and make sure it's positioned so that it's actually extracting the smoke).
Temperature
Some of our soldering irons have adjustable temperature. Remember that temperatures over 400 C can rapidly degrade the tip, so should only be used sparingly if at all.
The Precision Gold A55KJ
This iron has a small conical tip that is suitable for soldering fine-pitch surface mount devices (SMD) and small through-hole components on PCBs. It is not suitable where large amounts of heat have to be dumped into the solder/components, for example a BNC or SMA connector, particularly if there is also a ground plane.
Location: shelves above soldering bench. The manual is in the “bankers box” also on those shelves.
Metcal
This iron uses magnets to set the temperature. It makes it very accurate and good at holding temp, BUT the temperature cannot be adjusted. The tip we have is a low temperature tip, so may not be suitable for use with higher-temperature solder (such as lead free).
Antex XS25
This takes a while to get up to temperature, but has a lot of punch and is a great choice for beginners, especially with through-hole components.
Standard Irons
We have a wide selection of traditional “red hot poker” irons, typically 15W or 25W. These are suitable for through-hole components on PCBs, or where larger amounts of heat have to be quickly dumped into the components, e.g. large metal connectors, or ground planes
Location: crate on shelves by external wall.