Quote Originally Posted by ecat View Post
I have one of those Maplin irons, they work quite well but it's worth noting that the dial does not control the tip temperature rather it controls the power applied to the tip.
Yes I was aware of that, but still does a good job for £20.. good for PCB stuff, not so good for big power cabling or big stuff to a ground plane (e.g. heatsink tags)

Quote Originally Posted by ecat View Post
I also have one of these

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Weller-Solderi...item1c173c6f91
Funnily enough so do I, tho mine is an older 80W version I think... still use the original tip - must be 30y old now. Only used for the bigger jobs...