Recommended TS-100 Soldering iron tips?

[nocr1]

Hey there!

I'm just starting out, and am looking for recommendations on what kinds of TS-100 compatible soldering iron tips would be most useful for desoldering and soldering components on 1970s era receivers (I have a Rotel RX-150A which I plan to use as a learning project before I graduate to my Pioneer SX-440 & SX-1000TW)

I bought a Pinecil V2 which I've been learning to use, and recently used to replace worn-out switches in my Logitech mouse (an exciting moment for me in my personal right-to-repair journey). The Pinecil V2 comes with a B2 tip, and supports both TS-100 Normal length compatible tips (TS line, ~8.0 Ω) and Pine64's own designed Short Tips (ST line, 6.2-6.5 Ω). Pine64 sells different variety 4-packs of tips in both lengths, including the Short Tip Set (Gross) which has I, C4, D24, & K tips and Short Tip Set (Fine) which has BC2, C1, ILS, & KU tips.

I've seen lots of commentary in general soldering forums and Reddit about which tip shapes are most useful. So far I've heard that the D24 & BC2 both seem to be widely used, but I'd rather not buy both packs as that doesn't seem like the best use of my budget (and they don't sell them individually). Does anyone have recommendations for which TS100 tip shapes would work best for common vintage audio repairs?

Also does anyone have recommendations for inexpensive but reliable brands and retailers for solder, flux, & wicks?

Thanks for reading!

 

[painttoad]

i would recommend a $8 ebay special before i would recommend a usb iron for repairing vintage electronics.

those things may have their place(where, i do not know) but the inside of vintage gear is not one of those places.


yup, they are still cheap. i have a few of these still kicking around for backup. it even includes a set of tips. the solder is probably unleaded so its bsically junk to me. the wick is fine if you add flux.

i use mg chemicals solder,wick and flux myself. it isn't cheap but you don't want cheap for anything that is worth doing.

 

[dlucy]

i would recommend a $8 ebay special before i would recommend a usb iron for repairing vintage electronics.

For a USB soldering iron to work well, it needs an especially-strong USB power supply... which drives the overall cost up... as far as I understand.

The T12-tip soldering stations from KSGER and Quicko work very well for the money (good power, fast heat up, good safety features, tip-based sensor, and hundreds of sources for broad catalog of T12 tips) and are available from Amazon, Banggood, AliExpress, Temu, etc.

The D16 (flat two-sided wedge or chisel shape, 1.6mm wide) is the one I use most for through hole soldering. Or D12.

I think the B2 was what came "stock" with my KSGER, it worked fine, but I got a set of replacement tips and prefer the D shape and a smaller size.

HAKKO | HAKKO Corporation

www.hakko.com

I do want to try a concave tip at some point, understand how the cutoff that better fits the sides of through hole leads works better.

 

[nocr1]

Thanks for the advice @painttoad & @dlucy! I do have a beefy USB power supply which I had bought separately for the soldering iron's use (it was recommended by the Pine64 team who made the soldering iron). I'm just starting out, and have limited space, which is why I was leaning towards a more compact setup.

I'm currently working on clearing space for a dedicated workstation for electronic repairs (and basic woodworking) in my garage, but it's taking some time as I need to downsize a lot to make room