Condensed original post, a few questions/concerns in reply to thread.
I ended up getting this soldering station.
Solder wire
Helping hands
Braid for spring mods and such
Paste Flux
MCM sells that same soldering station frequently for $19.99 and they often have $5 shipping specials. In fact, it's in the "Big Fall Sale" flyer found on this page (page 61). I bought the Hobby King one awhile ago (shipped from US Warehouse). You could probably get by with a decent hand held iron and cheap stand. I use an old Ungar 25w one for about 95% of my work and it does just fine. Stay away from supper cheap irons, look for brand names or at least very good reviews. For solder I believe 63/37 mix has been claimed as best. Stay away from cheap chinese solder too.
EDIT - Another online US supplier I use is PartsExpress.
-Garry
If you’re only soldering leads you don’t need a temperature controlled station, but if you might be modding drivers (stacking 7135s etc.) then it would be a good investment rather than finding you need to upgrade later.
I was hoping FastTech would stock these stations because of the shipping charges. ;_;
I’m always tempted to go the hyper cheap route J&L 60Watt
Is 60 watts too much for small jobs?
I really need to win the lottery. $50-70 to solder $15 worth of componentry onto a $17 flashlight. 
It’s not really even that much. I am just so dang indecisive.
I had an iron like that once and the tip quickly fell apart. :~ Can you find any Antex irons cheap?
:lol: I’m spending more than a flashlight on parts just to upgrade it. Silly really, but it’s fun.
I have one of those, and it’s ok, but the handle gets VERY hot if left plugged in, and the tip that it comes with is huge. Also, I haven’t been able to find replacement tips.
It may be a bit much for most things we do…
I bought the really cheap Tenma brand one from MCM for $2.99, but I haven't used it yet.
-Garry
Alright… hmm. I think I’ll cave and probably invest in the station from hobbyking/MCM (MCM is on backorder till December 
).
The Yihua 936 and the Tenma are both clones of the Hakko 936 right? So replacement tips for Hakko 936 will work for either?
have decent deals.
also spend over $50 and get a free Multimeter or other things. Check the free gift section.
apparently they have a blog and are willing to answer questions about anything electronics and do it with video answers.
I have bought from them a couple of times and not had any issues.
I posted here once before in another thread…I think scaru may have ordered one from them ???
maybe
I bought my bench supply from them and got the set of pliers for the free gift…
IMO the iron does not need to have many advanced features, a basic iron with a fine tip from a good brand will do almost everything and last for years.
In my case it is a 15W Antex, no temperature settings, no exchangable tip, no stand. I bridge nanjg stars with it, solder springs, wires from drivers to led boards, stack 7135's etc. Heats up fast after plugging in, works fine every time, the handle never gets hot.
I was looking over the Desoldering braid, curious if they’re all basically treated the same? (Main use would likely be spring mods)
30 ft various widths from china $9
http://www.ebay.com/itm/5pcs-Desoldering-Braid-Solder-Remover-Wick-CP1515-CP2015-CP2515-CP3015-CP3515-/221204452864?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3380d01600
5ft unknown width $4.50
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Desoldering-Braid-2160657-/400589221117?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d44fa6cfd
Other than that I think I’m pretty well set, just need my dang flashlight parts to restock. 
Sounds like a good choice! Nice price and good reviews! Since you are already paying shipping to get the solder station, go ahead and throw in other small items (solder, solder wick, etc ) which hopefully you won't pay any additional shipping for. Did you do a search for Parts Express coupon codes?
And I have to say that I really like the self-locking tweezers that ohaya posted about elsewhere. Got 'em on Amazon for a couple bucks along with foreceps (which I hardly use). They really help with holding wires during soldering.
-Garry
After having a few cheaper pencil soldering irons I finally “splurged” and bought the Hakko clone from HobbyKing for about $20 shipped. I also bought a $7 set of 10 tips from Amazon. The temperature control is nice, but I’ve found that for me the biggest advantage is really the interchangeable tips. Having the right tip for the job makes all the difference for me.
Just a heads up, ‘SAVE5’ gives $5 off $25+ orders at Parts Express.
I was at $24 and added their helping hands for $6, final price at $25. Their helping hands looks to be the same exact thing as Amazon’s linked above.
Thanks for the suggestions, tips, and pointers everyone! I really appreciate it. 
This is one of several. I made the enclosure as I had a 36’ Pexto shear and a 24” Pexto box and pan brake at the time. The tube that holds the iron is once again, electrical conduit pipe. Metal this time. Inside, connected to the switch is a simple diode that allows me to switch to half power. The other side has another switch so that I can run 2 irons at a time. 1 on full and the other on half. The panel lights are old school Neon. I made this 45 years ago.
I also have a Weller soldering gun, several large irons and a Black and Decker iron and station.
EDIT: The lettering was rubbed on one letter at a time from sheets that you could buy, I think in art supply stores. I have forgotten what it was called. I used it for everything, from labeling cassettes to electronic equipment. Life was hard in those days!
I just remembered, it was Letraset lettering.
Great solderstation dchomak! And I see you managed to touch the mains cord only twice in 45 years 
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So the iron arrived a few days ago. So far I used it to detach star, braid to spring and reattach dedomed star and emitter.
I noticed the tip… of the tip… about half of the iron plated part that gets tinned barely gets hot. In order to melt solder blobs I have to almost lay the iron on its side and touch the blob with the upper (thicker) portion of the tip. Holding just the end of the tinned pencil tip on the solder melts almost nothing even after prolonged placement (tried this on a blob on the table to avoid burning any parts up.
Is this normal or is there a defect?
I’m going to try a blunt(er) tip for the next little project, or to clean up the solder on the spring to see if it makes a difference compared to the pencil tip.
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Edit: it wont let me post a reply (2 posts per min max? I havent posted in 20+ minutes…)
I cranked it to the midway point on the final section (section is labeled 450C on mine), at max it makes constant lead fumes from the 63/37 solder.
Hmm, a good tip should get hot at the very tip too. Have you tried turning up the heat?