Beginners Tutorial + will this soldering iron do the trick?

[Planetos]

Hey everyone,

A few weeks ago I was on http://www.ladyada.net and found a really good beginners electronics tutorial- it had most of the basics from resistors and capacitors and so on. Does anyone know where it went or is? Or perhaps recommend another one?

In addition, I managed to get a soldering station for Christmas- it's a "Mastercraft Dual Heat 20/40W ( http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6/Tools/WeldingSoldering/Soldering/PRD~0586301P/Mastercraft%2BSolder%2BStation.jsp. Do you think this would be sufficient for any soldering I may be doing in the near future?

Thanks!

[adafruit]

looks like a good iron, i like the holder with sponge & onoff switch. itll take you pretty far

[brian4120]

I also bought this soldering iron that was re-branded for radioshack!

I ended up returning it before I even plugged it in (received a decent temperature controlled station the day after )

[GeorgeFrick]

Hey everyone,

A few weeks ago I was on http://www.ladyada.net and found a really good beginners electronics tutorial- it had most of the basics from resistors and capacitors and so on. Does anyone know where it went or is? Or perhaps recommend another one?

In addition, I managed to get a soldering station for Christmas- it's a "Mastercraft Dual Heat 20/40W ( http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6/Tools/WeldingSoldering/Soldering/PRD~0586301P/Mastercraft%2BSolder%2BStation.jsp. Do you think this would be sufficient for any soldering I may be doing in the near future?

Thanks!

I have the exact iron without the on-off button. It's worked great for me. I've stripped down a few boards out of old toys (for practice), built a protoshield and motorshield; as well as doing all the soldering for my motors/batteries/etc. It can sometimes it really hot and you have to move your
hands back along the handle off the grip for a while.

[grante]

I *have* that iron. Two of them actually. I don't recommend them. Temperature control is a wonderful thing. Those irons heat up constantly, and can get too hot. They also have a relatively large tip for finer work.

Get it if that's all you can afford or you don't to much soldering, but I'd strongly recommend getting a proper soldering station. I got mine for about CAD$85 on ebay. It has immensely improved my soldering abilities using my new iron vs. the canadian tire one.