Recommended Soldering Iron

[revolutionnoob43]

PINECIL – Smart Mini Portable Soldering Iron (Version 2) - PINE STORE

A smart and affordable soldering iron running on a RISC-V SoC and featuring an open-source firmware. Portable and powerful, $25.99

pine64.com

I got lost going through some threads here and found someone explaining a good soldering iron, the Pinecil, but is it something I (anyone for that matter) should use for building a full portable? If not, what’s ideal?

https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/built-own-ashida-portable-but-lack-of-experience.5590/

Thanks

 

[Stitches]

A legit Pinecil is plenty good enough to build a whole portable with. Just get a stand with it, a power supply, grab a can of tip tinner dust, and take care of the tip

 

[revolutionnoob43]

Thanks for replying pretty quickly!
> Just get a stand with it
For leaving it when not using it? Sorry if I sound ignorant i’ve just never used a soldering iron
> power supply
I’ve seen that the iron has USB C, but would I power it with just a standard high power usb c input or an actual soldering iron power supply?

 

[Minystreem]

if you want a ready to go soldering iron out of the box, I'd recomend the Hakko FX 888D

 

[Stitches]

Thanks for replying pretty quickly!
> Just get a stand with it
For leaving it when not using it? Sorry if I sound ignorant i’ve just never used a soldering iron
> power supply
I’ve seen that the iron has USB C, but would I power it with just a standard high power usb c input or an actual soldering iron power supply?

The iron gets very hot during use, so you don't want to leave it sitting on a table or other surface for safety reasons. The Pine64 site sells a stand for the Pinecil to hold the tip up away from the work surface, and prevent the possibility of it rolling off the side/into your skin.

For the power supply, yeah you want either a reliable high wattage USB-C supply, or a 24v 4A DC supply like this one. Pine64 has a high wattage USB-C power supply module that you can buy with the Pinecil as well.

 

[fix-it-lackey]

I'm not familiar with this brand but reading through the page it seems good enough. What exactly are you looking for in a soldering iron?

 

[revolutionnoob43]

I'm not familiar with this brand but reading through the page it seems good enough. What exactly are you looking for in a soldering iron?

Something that’s easy and simple enough for working on a portable Wii.