What Soldering Iron Wattage for PCB Work?

[Super TWiT]

Hi, I am new to electronics, and would like to know what wattage of soldering iron I should get for working on PCBs. Usually I don't think they would be multi-layered, but sometimes I guess they would be, like a PC motherboard. I have no soldering experience, but am going to practice on some junk boards we have lying around the house. I have a 15 watt pencil iron, but I don't know if that's big enough. I don't think I have the money right now for a soldering station.

 

[jackorocko]

15 watts won't even get you started.

 

[shrtrnd]

What you'll need to practice at, is learning to remove the solder when taking-out old
parts WITHOUT damaging the printed circuit trace on the board.
There's suction bulbs, Edsyn makes a 'Soldapullt' desoldering tool, and there's solder
wick.
Some traces are extremely easy to damage, (lifting off the boards) with excessive heat.
I'd try the desoldering tools or wick, and find which ones you like best.
Besides the excessive heat potential problem with damaging traces, you need to watch
your temperature when soldering-in the new part, so you don't damage it with excessive
heat. Practicing sounds like a good idea.

 

[davenn]

welcome to the forums

a 25W iron will do most of your needs, only occassionally you need 30W + for some larger areas of copper track that needs lots of heating to remove / install components

shrtrnd has given you excellent suggestions about practicing lots long before getting into actual projects. get hold of some old circuit boards out of some TV's VCR's etc and experiment lots with removing and resoldering in some of the components

remember solder AND soldering iron tip to the component leg and circuit board at the same time

cheers
Dave

 

[davelectronic]

RE soldering iron

I would go with 25 watts on most desecrate components on the pcb, smd's surface mount components, the tiny ones i would say 12 or 18 watts, or a soldering station adjusted for the work/temperature needed. Dave.

 

[climatex]

Normally, if the PCB I'm working with is not embeded with surface mount components, I use my 125 W solderin' gun of doom. Heats just under 2 seconds, cools down to be safe to touch under 30. And also there are several advantages like no tip cleaning and all.. However one needs to master it first, it is a completely different story than using an iron.

Just my two cents.
(I have even sold my WELLER 50W soldering station that I got as a gift, because I did not use it at all...)