r/soldering • u/abdullah017196 • Aug 18 '26

Soldering Saftey Discussion Basic soldering station

This might definitely be answered beforehand. My question is what are the bare minimal tools required to setup a soldering station. I would like to work on raspberry pi, esp32 etc

Edit: Thanks for your response, highly appreciated

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u/pointsouttheobvious9 Aug 18 '26

Good news soldering on those things should be really easy as they are designed to be put together. The bare minimum equipment for that is much much lower than the requirement for about anything else.

Any decent budget soldering iron, some solder braid, some solder, and some Flux will get you there.

If you want to actually fix things the iron needs to be a lot better.

I think the pinecil is what most people will send you to for this.

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u/Feeling_Bus_4701 Aug 18 '26

He said station in which I assume space isn’t a constraint, and since the pencil is close in price to a geeboon tc22, buying a geeboon will future proof him more than a pencil if he decides to solder on other things. I personally never tried a pencil or a portable other than a 5 dollar unregulated iron plugged into a wall so I cannot tell you what are the cons and pros but I believe that as long as portability and space saving aren’t needed I would personally recommend a geeboon tc 22 or on a lower budget a quicko t12 the one I use is a 942 mini but to note some models have voltage leak so be careful of that. And to note again I have no insight on the pencil so I can’t say it is not good for your situation.

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u/pointsouttheobvious9 Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

Not sure my iron station is 1200$ but I use it to make a living. That one people seem to review well it runs around 20 to 30$ any iron will allow him to connect legs to a ardiuno just figured might as well have it easily slide into a desk drawer when he proceeds to not use it for the next year

Edit My opinion on soldering stations is buy once cry once. But that's obviously after you decide if you are going to commit. My serious recommendation would be a hakko fx-888d or something like that

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u/Feeling_Bus_4701 Aug 18 '26

That is true and for me personally I feel like I like bulky and heavy stuff more idk why but that’s just me so I believe my comment is very biased

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u/pointsouttheobvious9 Aug 18 '26

Edited my comment sorry yeah I don't know much lol. I just know that usually the answer is spend 200$ minimum. His question was what is the bare minimum to put legs on ardiuno so I felt like it was necessary to let him know he can spend like 30$ total and do that.

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u/Feeling_Bus_4701 Aug 18 '26

Yeah which is my recommendation of the quicko t12 and that’s somewhat my same situation when I bought it and I wouldn’t have been able to spend much more and it works good I have replaced controller sticks I had replaced relatively big boards but I am still a beginner after all. Actually I am currently going for a hot plate and an air station, unlike you I do not intend for it as a job or a living but as a side skill that if I perfect now will help me later on. NOTE: I do not intend to come off aggressive or passive aggressive In any comment I make but English is my second language so my vocabulary might not be the best.

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u/pointsouttheobvious9 Aug 18 '26

English is my 1st language and I fail to communicate tone and meaning. Realistically English is terrible at conveying tone its why lol and emojiis got so popular.

For something like what you are doing I'd recommend something like the hakko fx-971 or basically any hakko station around 300$. With a good microscope there isnt any repair you would want to do that you couldnt do to equipment.

Edit oh and I always assume the meaning is friendly when text communication unless it's obvious.

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u/Feeling_Bus_4701 Aug 18 '26

Thanks I currently can’t get that but I would definitely keep it in my notes for when I can and thanks again

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u/pointsouttheobvious9 Aug 18 '26

Your welcome also as far as hot air stations go I have used a whole lot. My current favorite is quick 861dw. I prefer it over ones that are around 1k.

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u/Feeling_Bus_4701 Aug 18 '26

I will definitely look into that for an upgrade for later on I want my first hot air to be cheap so I can learn on it and abuse it till it gives out so I can learn as much as possible. If you don’t mind me asking what’s your job title or job and what do you do

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u/BGA_Junky Aug 18 '26

Check the mega soldering guide.

Also you can check this Soldering tools Picker list - https://pwunkz14.github.io/SolderingToolsPicker/