Soldering Tools & Supplies

Soldering Irons:
Important note:

Be careful when buying any soldering stations/irons online. If it's expensive, there will be fakes/clones of it that will not be nearly as good. Buy from reputable dealers, and be suspicious of low prices.

All of the Amazon links below are trustworthy.

Budget irons -
1. $25 EiDevo digital soldering pencil

The EiDevo is a great beginner iron and is a steal for the price. I highly recommend this if you are brand new to soldering and want to give it a try, as it also comes with a lot of tools you will need to solder correctly.

Middle end irons/stations -
1. $65 UY CHAN TS100

2. $95 Hakko 888D

High end stations -
1. $225 Hakko FX951

The EiDevo and TS100 are both soldering pencils, not stations. Stations generally have more comfortable hand pieces, and can stay hot for longer. Pencils are more portable, but generally perform slightly worse than stations. Portability is great as a controller modder though, as it is very simple to pack these up to bring to a tournament and get some work done. If you are soldering as a side hobby, and not having to solder for extensive periods of time, then soldering pencils will perform just as good as a station.

If you are just beginning to solder, I highly suggest starting with a digital soldering iron. These let you set the temperatures with a digital interface instead of having to figure out how hot your iron is. It will save you a lot of headaches, and possibly some broken boards. All of the soldering irons/stations listed above are digital.

For the difference in price tiers, the main differences you are going to see between the irons are:
 * Faster heat up time


 * More accurate & consistent temperatures


 * Wider variety of soldering tips (Does not matter too much unless you are often working with other electronics)


 * Some bells & whistles for convenience of use


 * Micro-soldering hand piece(FX951 only)

Tip Cleaner:
Some stations/irons come with a wire tip cleaner. I prefer using these over sponge cleaners as they seem to work better, and you don't need to get water to clean your tip.

1. Hakko Wire Tip Cleaner

Solder:
Do not buy lead free solder. It is better for the environment, but worse for your mental health. It requires higher temperatures to melt(Increases chance to burn pads/boards), does not flow as easily, and will take more work to get a good, clean solder joint.

Any 60/40 ~.5mm rosin core leaded solder works, but paying a little bit extra for brand name/reputable solder could save you some headaches in the future.

High quality solder -
1. Kester 63/37 .5mm Rosin Core

Cheaper solder -
1. WYCTIN 60/40 .6mm Rosin Core

2. Uxcell 63/37 .5mm Rosin Core

Flux:
Many people do not use flux when they solder. Please use flux when you solder. It makes everything easier by removing oxides that build up on PCBs over time, and stopping oxidation during the soldering process. This will make your solder melt, and flow painlessly.

Buy no-clean fluxes, with a syringe/pump style container to make application easier.

1. ChipQuik No Clean Tacky Flux

2. AMTECH No Clean Tacky Rosin Flux (generally considered to be some of the best flux you can buy)

Solder Pump/Desoldering Wick:
Solder pumps and desoldering wicks are used to remove solder from the board. Either work, and it's up to preference on which you want to use. Pumps are easier to use, but I've yet to find a solid one that doesn't get jammed, or breaks from use. Wick takes more work, but is reliable. A general rule of thumb is to use pumps on big stuff, and wick on small stuff.

Pump:
1. Engineer SS-02 Solder Sucker (Expensive, but works well and looks cool)

2. Tabiger Solder Sucker

Desoldering wick:
1. MG Chemicals Desoldering Wick

When using either to desolder, especially with desoldering wick, you need to use flux to get the solder flowing. This isn't always required with a pump, but is always needed when using wick.

Wire Stripper:
You really can't go wrong when buying a wire stripper, you can pay for fancy auto-adjustment or a bit better build quality, but generally they all get the job done

Cheap wire strippers:

1. Eclipse Tools Wire Stripper

Circuit Board Holder:
The Aven PCB holder is perfectly sized for GameCube controllers. Probably the best $10 I've spent for working on GCC, and if you have $10 to throw at one I highly suggest it.

1. Aven 17010

Nitrile Gloves:
Nitrile gloves are nice to use when soldering to stop flux, or isopropyl alcohol from getting onto your hands. Can also prevent getting burnt from a hot iron if you accidentally tap it

1. SKINTX Nitrile Gloves

Get them in black so you look cool

99.9% Isoprobyl Alcohol:
Isoprobyl alcohol makes cleaning PCBs, and shells very easy. It's non-conductive, evaporates quickly, and gets all the gunk on the board off. I mainly use this to clean flux off the board, as it's usually pretty sticky/nasty and you don't want to leave it for the next person to open the controller up. Use a toothbrush/cleaning brush to apply, and blast it with compressed air, or carefully wipe with a paper towel when done to get a nice shiny clean.

A bottle will last you a very long time, and only costs a couple of bucks. It's generally cheaper to go to a pharmacy, or any general retail store(Walmart, Meijer, etc) to buy this.

Wire Cutters:
1. CHP-170 Cutters

ESD-safe tweezers:
1. PIXNOR 7 Pack ESD-Safe Tweezers