In article , Tim Wescott
wrote:

A friend of mine is putting together a middle-school electronics lab,
and wants to get some good cheap soldering irons. I've been traumatized
by some really pitiful soldering irons so I don't just want to go price
shopping. However, since I've been using professional grade,
temperature controlled irons almost exclusively for years I can't
recommend any good cheap ones.

Can anyone recommend a soldering iron that will actually work but
doesn't cost much? I'm thinking of a rough equivalent to the Weller
WP-25, but that costs less than $20 a pop.

Thanks in advance.

Salvage sales? A lot of people at our place took home Weller temp
controlled stations as the labs switched over to Metcal, and I've seen
stacks of Weller irons at salvage places (as companies continue to go
belly-up).

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Namaste--