RadioShack® DSL-050 Selectable Wattage Soldering Iron

Comments about RadioShack® DSL-050 Selectable Wattage Soldering Iron:

Bought in store several months ago; wish I had read reviews. I can echo what others have said before: iron itself is fine, but the tip wears down very quickly and is hard to keep clean. Replacement tips are NOT available in retail stores.

I will probably replace with a better iron rather than track down and replace poor tips from the website while paying shipping. For now, I've screwed in a tip from another iron. It is working, but certainly not ideal. I got lucky that the tip I had was close enough in size, but it is not a long-term solution.

Comments about RadioShack® DSL-050 Selectable Wattage Soldering Iron:

I've had this iron for some time after my trusty 30 watt bit the dust after solid use for just shy of 6 years and purchased this one as having a variable wattage iron has become a must for me since I do radio repair work.

The adjustable wattage works nicely and I've come to notice that the knob has solid stops at 30 and 40 watts which is nice when adjusting on the fly.

One problem I've come to notice is that the provided and replacement tips seem to be made of a rather soft metal similar to pot metal and tend to be eaten away or erode rather fast if you do a lot of solder work like I do, which I find unacceptable. I'm considering fabricating my own tips out of a harder or different type of metal to counter this problem.

Otherwise it's a good iron for almost any soldering job.

Comments about RadioShack® DSL-050 Selectable Wattage Soldering Iron:

Okay iron, but label behind dial wraps about 300 degrees while knob only turns about 100 degrees. Also, it comes with cone tip instead of the more commonly used chisel tip. Cost for replacement chisel tips (with shipping, since they don't keep them in stock) is unacceptable. I would recommend to others, but with caveats.

Comments about RadioShack® DSL-050 Selectable Wattage Soldering Iron:

Heats fast, reliable. Selectable wattage helps in a lot of situations, sometimes you need to control the heat in order not to melt the isolation, etc.

I was afraid not to be able to find tips, but the reviews here helped. Thanks a lot. -AG

Comments about RadioShack® DSL-050 Selectable Wattage Soldering Iron:

Purchased this iron about 7 months ago. I will say that it's a good iron. Heats up fast and gives good steady heat throughout the time you use it. I also like the softer handle which is a little more confortable that most irons.

Here's the deal on the tips...Before I boutht this, I read all the reveiews and realized that replacement tips were not going to be easy to find. I went into the local RS and asked about that before the purchase. The salesman was not able to find them on the shelf (no surprise) but did find it available online. He wrote down the catalog number for the 3 differnt tips...they are:
640-0115 - Cone Tip
640-0116 - Fine Tip
640-0117 - Chisel Tip

The fact that RS doesn't stock these in their local stores is dumb. The fact that you can't find them online unless you know the exact cat. # is even dumber. And the fact that some of their own sales associate don't know how to find them (As others have mentioned)is the dumbest of all! Hey RS...train your sales associates on something other than selling phones! Stocking the replacement tips for the soldering irons you sell isn't a bad idea either!

Anyway...If you don't mind buying the tips and paying shipping for them $6 min., this is a good iron to have.

Comments about RadioShack® DSL-050 Selectable Wattage Soldering Iron:

Had this iron about a year or so, and do motherboard soldering in my computer repair business. Worked fine until tip started wearing down. Went to local RS store and they said replacement tips weren't available. Went online and initially found the same to be true. But I happened on a Google search page (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12088450&clickid=prod_cs)and found 3 tips available from guess where - Radio Shack. They advertise a cone, chisel, and fine point tip for this model (DSL-050) with Radio Shack catalog numbers of 64-115 (cone), 64-117 (chisel), and 64-116 (fine-point). They cost [$], but if you have them shipped then the shipping ($6) is more than the tip cost. I'm going to see if my local store can get one.

Comments about RadioShack® DSL-050 Selectable Wattage Soldering Iron:

Long tip is unavailable. Salesman claims he asked Corporate several times for tips. No excuse for this. Right now I'm filing teh tip down to a point (It's quite long), but the day will soon come where there's no tip left or there's so little tip inside that it either heats poorly or burns the heating element out.

Comments about RadioShack® DSL-050 Selectable Wattage Soldering Iron:

The tip measures as follows:

3 inches long, 6mm in diameter.

There are NO THREADS on the tip. It simply slides in and is tightened by the two screws on the iron.

I hope this will help anybody looking for tips.

Comments about RadioShack® DSL-050 Selectable Wattage Soldering Iron:

As stated by previous reviewers, the tool works but there are no tips available, and the tip it comes with sucks big time.

I am throwing it right now and will buy a Weller.

Comments about RadioShack® DSL-050 Selectable Wattage Soldering Iron:

I like the unit. I absolutely hate the tip. Until they get a readily available replacement tip or til I can find a good replacement one from someplace else, forgettAboutIt! The tip wares out constantly. Cannot keep it clean.