15-Watt Soldering Iron with Grounded Tip

Comments about RadioShack 15-Watt Soldering Iron with Grounded Tip:

This soldering iron was designed for work on circuit boards. Since it is grounded there is little risk of static electricity getting on the circuit board from the iron. The iron supplies enough heat to safely solder small components without heat damage. Since it only has 15 watts of heat, some patience may be needed; however, some micro circuis will not be damaged because of the relatively small wattage. There are more sophisticated irons out there but for ocassional use, this is an excellent value!

Comments about RadioShack 15-Watt Soldering Iron with Grounded Tip:

I used this to unsolder with wick but as I would roll the tip would unscrew and loose heat.
TIN THIS THING FIRST and it worked great.
I did make some leds for a stereo convert
and this iron has nice pin point tip. Good heat for small jobs

Comments about RadioShack 15-Watt Soldering Iron with Grounded Tip:

I use this for soldering instrument wiring. I should have gotten the 40 watt. After using it on 3 projects it just doesn't get hot enough anymore. It worked great the first time, but takes almost 30 mins to get hot enough now.

Comments about RadioShack 15-Watt Soldering Iron with Grounded Tip:

I bought one of these irons a little over ten years ago and eventually taught myself how to solder with it.

You can buy fancier irons with heat controls and more well known names, but this little 15-watt job from RadioShack is not a bad unit to start with.

For big jobs, like large power connections, you'll want a bigger iron than this one.

In the time that has passed since I've purchased this iron, I've used it to do more repair work than I can remember. It's been called into service to repair abuse-shattered circuit boards, to reflow bad solder joints, to replace capacitors in various devices and even to do repairs on computer motherboards. I've even used it to build some electronic kits and do some minor surface-mount rework. In all of that time, it's never let me down.

To be perfectly honest, all of these years and projects later, this little iron is starting to wear out. The tip has seen better days, and the little screw that holds it in broke off a long time ago. It still works well enough and I know it'll get me through a few more jobs.

Considering the price paid and the amount of work it has done...I can't complain. I'll definitely buy another one of these.

Comments about RadioShack 15-Watt Soldering Iron with Grounded Tip:

I've used this iron for over a year now. usually on a 3-4xs a week basis and the tip is just now giving out. I have stripped circuit boards and built others from scratch with it. Keep it clean and it will reward you for your [$].

Comments about RadioShack 15-Watt Soldering Iron with Grounded Tip:

Prior guy is right: screw keeps loosening and I am going to replace w/stainless screw, [*]. Tinning it does NOT seem to hold as tip is being eaten link zincs on a boat.

Comments about RadioShack 15-Watt Soldering Iron with Grounded Tip:

Recieved as a gift from my birthday list almost a year ago. Initally, it performed very well for working on PC boards. Good heat control at just the right wattage. When it as about 5 months old I noticed the tip assembly was loose and there appeared to be a lag in re-heat time. In an attempt to tighten the phillips screw, it broke off. Iron was still usable though. In the 10th and 11th month heat control degraded more. Finally I attempted to change tips, but the original tip broke off thus ending it's useful life. In the past 11 months this iron had been used an average of once per month so it wasn't like it had been used on a daily basis.

Comments about RadioShack 15-Watt Soldering Iron with Grounded Tip:

It heated up in three minutes and didn't have any problems so far. It's a lot better than other radioshack irons. Unlike some other irons, the solder actually melts when applied to the tip.

Comments about RadioShack 15-Watt Soldering Iron with Grounded Tip:

I've been soldering like crazy with this and it's holding up really good for such a cheap iron. Only con is the poor effect, soldering thicker wires (10 gauge or so) is pretty impossible.

Comments about RadioShack 15-Watt Soldering Iron with Grounded Tip:

I paid 8 dollars for this soldering iron.... I got my 8 dollars out it... And by that time it had solder all over it and it couldn't get hot enough to ever be used again.