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Comment by Etheryte | Hacker News Reader

I don't think this is a good idea at all. This is like saying you should buy lifting shoes, a belt, a pair of gloves and bands before you go to the gym for the first time. Literally any setup that does the job is fine when you're just getting into it — you don't know what you don't know and having a cheap entry point is a good way to figure out if you like it at all, what kind of a workflow works for you, etc.

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Absolutely. I can personally attest to the fact that $5 soldering iron is good enough for most common (non-smd) jobs. I've seen people do smd soldering with a big chisel tip, even a soldering gun, but it takes training. But I get OP's point. It's extremely frustrating if not impossible to do the job if the iron is super bad, if the flux or soldrr is bad etc.

For a beginner, a soldering station or a high-tech iron is absolutely not necessary. You just need a non-garbage iron, some decent quality lead-rosin solder and a decent amount of flux (cheap rosin would do). Nevertheless, having high-end tools will make things much, much easier and simpler. But at the same time, I believe you'll get a great training if you learn things the hard way.

Back in the day, one of my friends built a Spectrum-compatible computer from parts, using a piece of laminate board without foil, some thin wires, and a 60W soldering iron, in a college dorm room.

The fact that it can be done does not make it particularly convenient or easy, especially for a novice (my friend was pretty experienced with electronic assembly by then).

Maybe when you recommend a $20 Saturday night special to a newcomer, they get it, think soldering is hard, and then hate it?

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803576447342.html

This blows everything sold at Microcenter or at this price point out of the water - ~$100 is a pretty cheap entrypoint compared to the FX888 that has been touted for decades.

/Metcal owner

Except you can get remarkably good ones for cheap now. It's no longer that you have to spend $60+ to get something good

> This is like saying you should buy lifting shoes, a belt, a pair of gloves and bands before you go to the gym for the first time.

No, that's like saying "buy the gear that doesn't crush your genitals for cycling first".

I don't think you understand just how shitty experience is with the cheapest soldering irons

Using a cheap soldering iron is not even remotely as dramatic as you make it out to be though? If you're working with expensive parts, sure you want your equipment to match, but a beginner won't be doing that. A beginner will have a 555, a few resistors and two airwires and honestly you could solder that with practically anything.

I think there are some people in this thread which started soldering before soldering irons with temperature control were the norm. It makes a huge difference indeed, but now practically all have it and they are cheap.

And since I didn't see it mentioned I recommend starting with leaded solder (and good ventilation always).

> Literally any setup that does the job is fine when you're just getting into it — you don't know what you don't know and having a cheap entry point is a good way to figure out if you like it at all, what kind of a workflow works for you, etc.

Lifting isn't a good analogy. Learning guitar is a better analogy.

Sure, you can learn on a $100 guitar, but it's gonna suck. And, it's going to impair learning to play guitar. The action is going to be high and stiff. The frets are liklely to be finished badly and the fret ends are going to be sharp. The pickups are going to be crappy. The finish is going to either be thick or non-existent. The tuners will probably not hold tune through a single song. Strings will buzz because alignment is off.

A $500 guitar, however, likely won't have any of those issues. The action will be lower. The frets will be finished properly and the fret ends will be filed off. The tuners will hold tune for weeks--your strings stretching will be your only tuning issue.

The difference between a $100 and a $500 guitar is like night and day. The guitar becomes enjoyable rather than something to be worked around.

You can get one with a plenty good enough action for $150-$200. The important part is to know what you are looking for.

Is this based on experience? I've taught soldering to a number of people, and a certain level of equipment really makes it go better. Especially with lead free solder. The basic setup is not exorbitant.

Well, if you get something cheaper and of less quality, there's a higher chance that if you mess up, as a newbie, it'll be harder to figure out what the problem is.

It could be just faulty, or it could be a mistake on your end.

Edit: Reading the other comments, it seems I'm mistaken about this.

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