I recommend Weller WLC100 40-Watt Soldering Station.

I buy solder by the pound and use it to the end of the roll even if that takes many years, so I was curious about your statement regarding shelf life. I did some searching and found info on shelf life of solder with the most important data point being the un-cored solder has "infinite" shelf life. In other words, it is not the solder it self (the metal) that has a limited shelf life - it is the flux in the solder.

This relieved any concern I might have had because I always use and rely on flux other than what is in the solder

I am not very good at soldering.. but when I switched to (Kester 63 / 37 3.3% / 44 .8mm ) and used a larger flat tip on my 70w iron.. it got much easier.

I know the 63 / 37 is the tin to lead ratio but not sure what the other numbers mean, but it works great for soldering motors and battery connectors. My tips also seem to last longer, could be I am just getting things done faster so less stress on the tips.

Interesting about the shelf life, growing up my father always bought the large rolls and we would used that stuff for a long time without issues He can solder very well, used to do circuit boards as well. He knows what he is doing with it.
My current 1lb roll is stamped for Nov/10/17 as the D.O.M so I figured it should be fine for another couple years.

40 watt iron is to cool for our needs in rc..

I think that may depend on tip size, mass, and some other stuff.
I will, however, admit to using a 45 watt iron myself, not a 40. The 45 watt iron I use has a rated tip temperature of 1000 F. I generally only run it at 80% setting on the WLC-40 base.

A 40 watt iron is possible, but barely. I used to use it. I had to turn off the fan lol. And it had better be a warm day. Even then it struggles with 14 AWG, and simply cannot work on 12 AWG.

That's when I decided to upgrade to an 80 watt iron.


Somebody mentioned RoHS. Actually quite a misguided regulation. They wanted to reduce the amount of lead being disposed of, and I think prevent it leaching into water sources. The problem was something like 90% of waste lead comes from used 1:1 scale car batteries, not electronics. I believe car batteries can be recycled.

I’ve found Kester and Multicore solder to be pretty good. I have one roll of each brand, both 60/40. Both manufacturers offer different diameters of solder, as well as 63/37 solder and lead-free options.

I've been using the included tip (3.?mm) that came with my Checkpoint and Hakko soldering stations for years and never had an issue soldering anything. When I switched to the 5.2mm tip everything was much easier and faster to solder. 10 and 12 gauge are very easy to solder. Regardless of the type of solder (I'm still using some 60/40 flux core Radio Shack solder) going to a wider tip will help speed things up. I still keep the smaller tip on my Checkpoint iron just in case I need to solder smaller gauge stuff.

You all crack me up arguing solder I work for a solder manufacturing company where we make solder and other stuff related to solder lead is not going away anytime soon so no worry’s

A long, long time ago. I can still remember how... I bought a spool of 60/40 Radio Shack solder and some flux. Still have it and use it without issues. I am starting to run out on the solder, will have to replace in another year or so. I have had and used it for at least 15 years. Guess I don't solder all that much, lol.

The Health and Safety gurus are afraid people are replacing lead solder for licorice. Just like how they banned the carburetors on CRF50s because they contained a lead coating and they were afraid kids were out chewing on them.

This is the solder I use, works great. It has a very low melting point, but contains 37% lead. Just don't lick your fingers.



Here is a video of it in action.

If you're asking for the best solder, it would be gold solder. It's about $25 for 4" of it. However it's not practical. The strongest solder is silver solder and silver is a better conductor over lead. However, you will not notice enough resistance in lead to make it worth going out and getting all silver. Then again, with surface welds, you will want some strength. So going with a lead/silver mix would be the best route.

I’ve always used whatever solder was available and picked up the iron the track owner recommended (he doesn’t carry them so no dales pitch)

as long as the tip is to temp it’s been super easy

that said, does anyone prefer to use or not use flux?

and I’ve learned a lot on this thread

Always use flux. Unless if both items are very clean and utterly free from oxidation (which is never the case outside of lab settings), flux will always help.