My tips:
Buy a GOOD, expensive iron, such as a weller soldering station. I have had a decent amount of experience with a weller soldering station (cant recall what model it is, will look when i get home) and a cheap dick smith iron.
The dick smith iron had me on the verge of tears all the time, i hate it so bad, that its going in the bin….no wait…..i’ll find a use for it!
The good irons operate on 12-24v, for sensitive components (they have their own transformer), usually have silicone insulated wire (this makes work about 5x easier, as with a cheap iron you are constantly fighting the stiff cable, as it never wants to bend the way you want!)
Also they are usually temperature controlled, or adjustable. And the tips are TOP quality.
NEVER buy a cheap crap iron, an expensive one will last for a very long time and is a joy to use!!
Right, buy yourself a couple of kits and practice, also practice stripping and tinning wire, generally you will do alot of this.
Soldering is really easy, SMD soldering is a degree harder, as everything is miniscule, i do a bit of SMD, and it’s still challenging, especially with a big conical tip!
