What soldering iron should I get?

[FishaOfMen]

So I'm probably gonna give a GF3 vmod a shot within the next few weeks and I think I have a good handle on everything needed except the soldering iron. My only soldering experience is putting together co-axials in Nextel cell phone towers. I used 60W and 100W irons. They were pretty big and I don't think I'd want to get them near a PCB.

What do you guys use?

Also, I've been looking around and have seen some variable temperature soldering stations. What's the highest temperature I can safely use for a vmod?

[Charles Wirth]

25w ~ 30w with pistol grip is what I use, I have a very fine tip on it too.

[FishaOfMen]

Thanks for the help FUGGER. Anyone else have any ideas for me?

[sjohnson]

25-30W is too hot for my ham-hands when working on motherboards, etc. I use a 15w, pencil grip and fine-guage solder, plus additional flux...

Oh yes, I sharpen the fine tip down to almost a needle point.

[Charles Wirth]

I find the lesser watt have to sit on the contact area to heat up where the 30watt is just a tap and you are done.

Warm the iron up and place a ball of solder on the tip. position the 2 piece you want to solder together and tap the ball onto the spot and you are done. No heating up of pins or wires on the solder point needed.

Chong345 and Highwayman have both seen my work.

[Ragnarok]

Get a good quality Japanese one, I personally prefer the GOOT brand ones (funny name, but they are high quality)

[calikev]

weller 30 - 50watt...

WPTCP is a really good iron.. esd safe..

so is the WT50..

[Penguinsfan]

i use a 25W iron i got from DeVry

something from that god awful college actually came in handy...

[DaGooch]

Hako 926 E.S.D. with variable 392~896 F