Hey Jason, my series connector has not arrived yet. Can you direct me which cheap solder machine I should buy? So I can learn how to solder blop. Thanks.
I used the velleman vtss5u $26 from Frys for years. It’s a decent low cost unit. The 3 o’clock knob position is for small stuff and all the way to 5 o’clock is for bigger things like heavy wire and adding solder blobs to batteries.
I recently upgraded to a 995d soldering station. $85 on Amazon plus a 4 year warranty for $8 more. I don’t know if you want to spend that kind of money.
You’ll need 60/40 rosin core soldering wire. I got 2 small tubes of .032 diameter for $10 on ebay.
Flux is the key to good soldering. I would get a flux pen SRA #312 $8 on amazon. A dab of this on every connection before soldering makes for great results.
Keeping the tip of the iron clean is also important. Damp sponges can pull too much heat out, I like those brass shaving types of tip cleaners. I got mine for about $8.
This style of “helping hands” is also good to have. I use it a lot. Robot or human?
I also tend to use a Boruit headlight $9 to help me see what I’m doing.
Then the best thing is to watch YouTube videos on soldering to get a feel for it. Then practice yourself. It takes a little practice to get good. This guy Louis Rossmann - YouTube has a lot of videos using a microscope to show his soldering. He uses a thick flux paste, unlike the pen I recommended earlier, but the concept is the same.
So for around $50 to $60, you can solder like a pro, almost. Lol
I understand. To each his own.
I love these things and haven’t melted one yet.
NL… PM me your address & I’ll send you a couple if you wish. 
Ofcourse I want to learn how to solder blop… so I can save money by buying flat top…
Just got my first new black LittoKala 26650; very pleased. Charged to 4.19 then discharged to 3.03 and my VC2 showed exactly 5500 mah charge current back up to 4.19. Nice.
Sounds good robk…… :+1: … Thanks for sharing the info….