Soldering gun

[Brad]

Hi,

Suppose I was going to be doing a bit of console modding and needed to get a new soldering gun from Maplins, which one should I get?

Cheers guys.

[MattyD]

I'd say something like this: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=4048

It's got a fine tip for precision when working directly onto chip legs and it's not too powerful so you'll be less likely to burn the PCB itself or blow components by heating them up. You will need to be very quick mind as the solder won't stay melted for long once you remove the tip.

[Brad]

Didn't see this in time and splashed out on one of the butane gas ones. Does the job nicely. Saturn 50/60hz switch almost complete (I bought a sodding toggle switch by mistake).

[samanosuke]

I would go for th 15w iron over the 12w. I bought the exact same 12w iron from Maplins and it's bloody useless as there's not enough heat in the tip to solder quickly and neatly.

[Brad]

This Solderpro 70 heats up well quick and has adjustable heat. I found that just above the lowest setting was pretty good. Came with a 1mm tip that was just about small enough for last night's work. I needed a magnifying glass to cut the leg on the graphics chip though. That was pretty hairy!

[samanosuke]

This Solderpro 70 heats up well quick and has adjustable heat. I found that just above the lowest setting was pretty good. Came with a 1mm tip that was just about small enough for last night's work. I needed a magnifying glass to cut the leg on the graphics chip though. That was pretty hairy!

Haha I did my SNES mod without a magnifying glass as I didn't have one... it made me all dizzy trying to focus my eyes on the tiny legs of the chips.

[Shinebi]

?? you cut a leg on the Saturn's chip?? What for?

Or are you talking about the DC overclock there?

[samanosuke]

According to the Maplins website that 12w iron is "ideal for SMD rework". It's good for modding Sega Mega Drives, then

[Brad]

?? you cut a leg on the Saturn's chip?? What for?

Or are you talking about the DC overclock there?

I have an original Mk 1 PAL saturn. You switch between 50 and 60Hz by applying GND or +5v to pin 79 of the graphics chip. All the instructions I found spoke about tracing where that pin (79) went to but on my machine it appeared to go nowhere lol! so i just cut it, bent it up, soldered some wire to it and tried applying GND and +5v to see what happened and it worked.

The more recent Mk 1s you can just bridge JP1 and 2 but that just gave me a made signal when I tried it.

[Shinebi]

OK, now that you mention it...
I must have had the second model MK1 then.

EDIT: Strange, bought it on launch day...

[Brad]

How did you do yours then?

[hreloaded]

Heh i just want to ask a small question so i use this thread and not making a new one. I bought a soldering iron from ebay [25w weller] for console mods etc but the seller send me a 40w, i have read that the only difference is that it justs get the iron hot quicker [if i am correct] but is it safe to use it for console stuff [modding, repairing]. I am thinking to return it if possible or else i 'll see what i might do it [plus making a very 'helpful' reputation comment for others to see]. Thanks for reading [soldering newbie here :P]

[mmmonkey]

I know you posted this days ago, and this might be too late

I wouldn't attempt it - it would be very easy to damage some of the bits you'd be soldering with a 40w, especially as you are new to soldering, it is very tempting to hold the iron on too long which with a 40w will do more damage quicker (it did for me anyway!)

Pete