little help with soldering equipment, plz

[drunkenmaster]

Don't suppose you guys could help me out with what to buy. Looking to do some basic v-mod's, some soldered, maybe some with smd grabbers, but i don't know what kinda iron, solder or flux to get. Completely unfamiliar with what brand might suit me better, or what kinda solder is best, i see some lead/silver other types dunno what to do.

Basically, from what i can tell these are the main places you can buy from in the uk

www.maplin.co.uk

Meh link didn't work, direct linking times out and doesn't work, if you go to rswww.com though, and put smd test clip into the search box, there are actually a bunch of smd grabbers i found, any good? some seem useful, dual clips to make wiring it up maybe easier and a micro clip with flexible shaft bit.


Anyway, if anyone can have a quick look, or knows of specific bits to buy already(from you Uk users) i'd very much appreciate it.

I've only just realised i've got 3 dead boards sitting around doing nothing, so i got a lotta practice material :p Also, i'm one of those guys that given the choice of a perfectly working say £20 solder iron and someone telling me the £50 one they link to is way better and i should get it, don't tempt me, i have no will power :p I just need the minimum required to do the job well.

PS marci mentioned a solder sucker, what does it do, any pics off one up close? needed?

[Mrk200]

solder sucker...
http://www.hobbytron.net/product710.html

[drunkenmaster]

come on dudes, me wants to order soon. errm, if i pretend i'll send anyone that helps me some mushki nlevel 2 will i get more response's?

If so, then i'll send yo uguys some level 2 ;)

[Holst]

Sorry m8, some of us have to go to work, cant sit around soldering all day.... oh I did at work :P

In no particular order.

Soldering iron stand... put water on the spunge.
The bigger Antex one is fine

Antex soldering iron is what I use mostly at home
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Products/Module.asp?CartID=031113172743441&ModuleNo=4063&MR=N
That should be ok to start out

It might also be worth getting a very fine tip for the iron, personally I have a micro battery powered one for very small PCB stuff, (although it often goes flat)
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Products/Module.asp?CartID=031113172743441&ModuleNo=27502&MR=N

Some scraping tools and stuff would be nice
http://www.maplin.co.uk/products/module.asp?Addon=Y&CartID=031113172743441&moduleno=34099

Get a desoldering pump (solder sucker) I use one with a rubber tip, but maplin dont sell them (got mine from farnell) but id recomend getting a good one not a cheapo one (as the cheap ones might not work well).

A pair of doublle A tweesers are a great idea, as well as gome long nose pliers.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/products/module.asp?CartID=031113172743441&moduleno=11898&Products=1

Standard solder is all you need 22awg is fine. your not gona eat it so you dont need lead free.

Thats pretty much all your ever likely to need, as a minimum get the iron, solder and tweesers.
A good bench/reading light is a good idea.

[drunkenmaster]

cool, cheers holst, nice link too, most of the stuff i need listed as extras \o/

was looking through rswww earlier http://rswww.com and found this, throw 775-704 that into search box in top left, a micro grabber looks good, though i'm not really sure withotu any experience, which of the grabbers look good size wise for your average vmodding.

Anyway, cheers holst. Though yet again i'm thinking of changing my plans :p I decided to downgrade max 3 to a p4p so i could have a bit more cash to get my ath 64 system going. still gonna mod that and a 9800 pro and 5900. But i don't really like the p4p, lack of pat with 5:4 and i think with 1:1 above 200? So gonna get something cheap caterwoody i hope. Still not sure whats best ic7, p4c, i have a msi here too i could sell or use, but no real ram adjustments(they don't really do anything) and various strange bugs, though when i was using it , well, it did impress me, very fast, clocked pretty far, great voltages.

[Holst]

That grabber should be OK, but I still think they are dangerous to use for anything other than testing.

[Slickthellama]

ive got some grabbers i can sell.