r/soldering

Mods - For at least the last 6 months or so you have had a user in this sub, on two different accounts, sharing their own recommended item lists full of AliExpress affiliate links to new users looking for purchasing advice, and they are never transparent about those links. If you call the person out or warn others about it, the person blocks you so you can't see their comments anymore. They have been reported and complained about multiple times, including in the comments of the stickied mod search post. 4 months later, still a problem, he's just using a different account now because his last account got banned by Reddit...

Why has that user been allowed to continue doing this? If it's because there is no rule for affiliate links, then why not make one? You're not even asking posters of those links to make it clear that they are affiliate links. He continues to monetize his participation here, with a thin veil of "im helping others" applied. His posts haven't been very helpful for some time now, they've basically turned in to canned responses so he can do the bare minimum of "helping others" without getting banned for what he's actually doing.

Early on the user in question claimed that outdated stickied list is why they made their own lists, so perhaps it's time to update it? Not to mention the fact half the posts in here anymore are people asking what soldering iron or hot air station to buy, and there is still no auto-moderator set up to reply to those posts to link them to the (updated) guide.

On the topic of stickies and auto-mod replies...the joystick repair threads. A sticky with a few links to youtube video guides and the supplies needed would be a great candidate for an auto reply to threads about joystick repairs.

This sub is one of my favorites and I participate in it often, but it's feeling a bit neglected right now and I'm definitely not the first person to bring it up. There are only a couple of you and this place gets a fair amount of traffic, but you have plenty of free tools both on and off reddit available to you to make some or most of this easier to manage. If there is anything the community can do to help this place out, let us know...we don't hear from you very often.

Thank you for your time.

Hello, I currently have an usb soldering iron that i bought for really cheap and it's really bad. I have a budget of £100 and i'd like to get both a soldering iron and an hot air station because i plan on doing hdmi ports replacement and everyone i know seems to be doing the drop and forget method which would require a hot air station

I have seen a bunch of cheap 2 in 1 station (£50) it looks like a decent deal to me but i don't know if they're any good,

Another thing I've seen is cheap hot air station £30, I've seen videos where people tested them and it seemed to be decent but i can't find any cheap soldering iron that is as good as a cheap hot air station.

Many people would probably suggest to spend the £100 on a good soldering station but again I need the other station.

So yeah if you can share your experience or help me find smth good, it'd be much appreciated.

I have been eyeing a few stations including the Geeboon TC22 and the FNIRSI DWS-200, but I keep seeing concerns about earthing of the tip and potentially voltage leaks that could damage sensitive components.

Are these actual problems? It’s giving me such a headache trying to look for a budget soldering station.

Are there other good, safe recommendations? Any help is appreciated.

My first soldering iron that I still use today is a weller wlc100 (non digital version). I'm looking for an upgrade. Looking at the Hakko FX888DX. Was wondering if that's a decent upgrade. I can pick it up at Amazon for about $120. My price range is around $100-$200. I mainly do Pi Picos and similar boards. I also do stick box replacements for ps5 and Xbox controls.

Any other recommendations in that price range?