About a year ago I was doing a lot of construction and upgraded my tools. I figured that I'll be retiring in a few years so thought it would be worth getting good kit, and hopefully never need to replace them.
The old Maplin soldering station (tips unavailable as Maplin went bust) was replaced by a Hako FX-888D. Now, it is very good and replacement tips are readily available but I often feel I could have spent half as much and be no worse off, and you can now get Chinese soldering stations with the reflow hot air gun as well, for the same price or less. I've read the Chinese knock-offs of the Hako are actually quite good (and under half the price), though I've no personal experience.
I also bought a set of German-made Wera precision screwdrivers in a little holder. These were well worth it and always to hand.
I needed new pliers and side cutters and wondered about the 'best' brands like Knipex but £60 for a pair of pliers...
. Instead I bought the miniature pliers and micro cutters by the Japanese brand 'Engineer' who seem to specialise in tools for electronics. They are fantastic and I should have got them years ago. I was so impressed I bought the solder sucker they make, and it is superb too. So I am a complete convert to the Engineer brand.
The other thing I got was an illuminated head magnifier. I was 52 last birthday and I guess presbyopia is setting in!
I will say that they have made construction a lot more pleasant. I bought a 8x8x8 LED Cube (cheap kit on ebay), forgetting that this means soldering 512 LEDs, each with an anode and a cathode to solder, plus another 100+ soldered connections on the base.... Well, it was a lot easier with the right tools!
The old Maplin soldering station (tips unavailable as Maplin went bust) was replaced by a Hako FX-888D. Now, it is very good and replacement tips are readily available but I often feel I could have spent half as much and be no worse off, and you can now get Chinese soldering stations with the reflow hot air gun as well, for the same price or less. I've read the Chinese knock-offs of the Hako are actually quite good (and under half the price), though I've no personal experience.
I also bought a set of German-made Wera precision screwdrivers in a little holder. These were well worth it and always to hand.
I needed new pliers and side cutters and wondered about the 'best' brands like Knipex but £60 for a pair of pliers...
. Instead I bought the miniature pliers and micro cutters by the Japanese brand 'Engineer' who seem to specialise in tools for electronics. They are fantastic and I should have got them years ago. I was so impressed I bought the solder sucker they make, and it is superb too. So I am a complete convert to the Engineer brand.The other thing I got was an illuminated head magnifier. I was 52 last birthday and I guess presbyopia is setting in!
I will say that they have made construction a lot more pleasant. I bought a 8x8x8 LED Cube (cheap kit on ebay), forgetting that this means soldering 512 LEDs, each with an anode and a cathode to solder, plus another 100+ soldered connections on the base.... Well, it was a lot easier with the right tools!
That was the trick, small sidecutters and needle-nose pliers have arrived, now I can start with the resistors and capacitors and IC sockets...