Can anyone recommend some good supplies for a good price? I finally pulled the trigger on a soldering iron and hot plate. Now I think I need soldering wire at the bare minimum. Flux maybe? I am going to watch some tutorials later.
What I ordered:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FCLXRDBT
Stay far away from the mystery Chinese leaded solder on AliExpress/eBay/scAmazon, I’ve had awful experience in trying to use it, the joints were never shiney and the texture of the molten solder would be “mushy”.
I’m still on my original tube of Mechanic branded solder paste I bought a decade ago, it’s in a syringe which I think goes some way to explain the longevity, I don’t have access to my gear right now, but it looks similar to the XGZ40 stuff on AliExpress.
My last mods also used Mechanic solder wire for the first time as I’ve misplaced my “audiophile grade” silver solder which worked very nicely (but expensive). I think I’ve got the TY-V866 which behaved very nicely, I’d go for a larger diameter than 0.6mm though.
It was also my first time using the mechanic copper solder braid, I found it far more effective than generic stuff I’ve previously bought.
Edit to add, as part of my Mechanic binge purchasing, I bought some KA-11 tweezers, these things are very sharp and excellent for manipulating small components.
In case you’re fine with ordering from Ali:
Solder wire: Mechanic TY-V866 (Sn63Pb37)
Solder paste: Kellyshun K-735B (Sn63Pb37)
Flux: Kellyshun KL-558
Great choices. Those are the exact same items I recently bought and I’ve been loving them.
Flux is a must have. I bought this for reflowing pcbs etc, but I’ve been using it lately with the iron as well, with good success. I also use it to reflow mcpcbs, if needed. You’ll only need the 10ml size, but the 30ml is way better value.
AMTECH NC-559-V2 Flux.
Good solder is a must have. I like Kester 245 No Clean 63/37 Alloy. You’ll probably want 0.6mm or close to that. I got 0.8mm and it is a little too big for small stuff.
This would be a decent alternative.
SainSmart 0.6mm Solder Wire 63/37 Tin/Lead Sn63Pb37 with Flux Rosin Core
For solder paste, I’ve been using Chip Quik SMD291AX50T3 Solder Paste
That’s actually a decent price for it on Amazon, especially with free shipping.
I would also get some solder wick. 2mm is a good size to have on hand. Mechanic brand works well, and you can get it on Ali Express.
You may also want some Hemostats. I like the 5" size. Straight and curved for holding wires, especially when soldering wires to mcpcbs into deep pockets, like on the convoy c8 and m21a.
I use 8" hemostats a LOT for placing and picking pcbs and mcpcbs off the hot plate. I find straight works the best there.
ETA: These are the best tweezers I’ve used to date. I find I use straight 90% of the time. The tips are fragile, since they are so fine and ceramic. I chipped mine when brushing them against the metal edge of my table. I smoothed them out with a dremel sanding drum.
Mijing Ceramic tweezers
I can’t disagree 
The stuff I linked I use personally and it works very well. But there also were purchases that went to the trash the moment I tried them.
Interestingly, of the 3 links, I can only see the flux item, the other two give “this product not available in your location” errors, used VPN with UK, Spanish and USA servers makes no difference 
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Pb-based solder is a little hard to find in reasonable quantities due to the phase out in EU/UK, so I wonder if it’s related to that…
Yes, both soldering products are leaded, so you are probably right.
I really like the Hakko 951 (if you have the budget) or the TS100 if you don’t. They both use the same type of tips - with the heating element and thermocouple INSIDE the actual tip, rather than surrounding it. You get much better responsiveness this way - no iron “lag”, where the iron takes a few seconds to catch up, and then often overshoots the set temperature when it is used to make a joint.
I really like Delta Qualitek 37-63 with RA300 flux. Flows well, strong flux that comes off relatively easily.
I have been using a “T12” Quicko station for almost 6 years now, the one with the Oled screen. It doesn’t have the internal power supply though (those are super sketchy, not UL approved and could burn your house down or worse). I run it off an old 95 watt HP laptop power supply (18.5 volts, 4.7 amps). I uae the T12 tips from AE and have had awesome luck with it. It’s built lots of stuff.
Solder, I use solder paste from Amazon, a good off brand. I only use good solder, Kester 44, the eutectic stuff (leaded). Solder braid I use Mechanic. I have two helping hands, one with a magnifier, and i use bamboo skewers shaped into forks or points for holding wires, etc. Fine tweezers and also hemostats are in my kit also (straight and curved).
Bottom line some stuff you can cheap out on, some just cry once buy omce.
On the page for the Flux, there are several different model numbers. 558, 559, 500. What’s the difference? This is one of the weaknesses of Aliexpress in my experience–getting specific product info if you don’t already know the model you want.
@fjfj765 @Sirstinky I already ordered an iron, that ship has sailed! (see original post) Just looking for the consumable materials now.
@savagemann Yep! I bookmarked your post because I liked the look of your choices. I got the iron for $125 which was a “special price” for Prime users. Naturally I waited until Amazon offered me a week of Prime for $2 and then I took advantage.
I have no idea. They all seem to be halogen free and “no clean”, so I just picked not the cheapest one and not the hyped (and widely counterfeited) 559 one. Now I notice the description mentions thickness. The KL-558 is indeed thick. After a while it had dried inside the needle so I could no longer use syringe. Now I apply it with a toothpick. Maybe pick a thinner option if you want to use syringe.
The good thing about my KL-558 is that it does not oxidize copper. I applied it and “Kingbo RMA218 from AliX” on a brass plate (didn’t have pure copper plate back then): one spot of heated (activated) flux and one spot of cold flux each. After a week both RMA218 spots turned green while both KL-558 ones remained clear yellow.
I’m not a huge fan of no-clean flux. It’s not super effective. I prefer RA flux. I feel like it is easier to clean up the residue too.
Speaking as an Electronics Technician going for his J-Standard re-qualification, get some learn to solder kits and practice.
I have a non-functional mechanical keyboard I was going to monkey with first but I’ll look into kits too.
If you’re dealing with removing TH (though-hole) components I recommend a solder sucker like this Engineer SS03I use a cheap generic one I found off aliexpress and so far it works great. If you’re dealing with a lot of de-soldering work for TH components like a mech keyboard with soldered keys an electronic solder suckers like 929D-V might be a better choice if you’re on a budget
Kester solder prices has become ridiculous.
Has anyone tried AIM Solder 63-37 solder ?
Either you buy the proper tools for a job or you buy tools and then ask yourself what you can do with them.
Without specific tasks it’s hard to recommend something. Of course, there are some tools that can do a lot of things and that should be part of your basic tool kit. But often it becomes easier (or even possible) with specialized tools.
The main plan is to be able to swap emitters, swap drivers, and assemble working flashlights from bare hosts. I also have the first mechanical keyboard I bought which has the switches soldered in and needs some replaced. Currently there are no plans to do board-level repair but maybe some day. Other than that, just odds and ends like swapping cords on wired headphones and other small stuff.