Need some advice from some of the modders

[GohanX]

This isn't technically modding, but I figured this was as good a place as any since I want advice from the other tech heads.

I bought a house a few weeks ago and have been renovating it (hence me not being here or in chat much) and one of the bedrooms I am going to use as a work room. In my old house, I am using a large L shaped desk as both computer desk, TV stand, and soldering work table, and frankly, it doesn't work too well.

What do you guys use for a work area for soldering work? I'm trying to get some ideas for setting up a good work area, then buying some better equipment so I can do things more efficiently and toss all my amateur Radio Shack crap. So far I've started by buying that Hakko soldering station Beemer has been recommending for months.

[Game-Tech.US]

Check out EEVblog's vids, lots of advice on lab setup and equipment.

[ProfessorProfessorson]

I use a mini fold up multipurpose table. I don't use a normal soldering station. I have a couple of different irons and spare soldering tips, and also a hot de-soldering pump (iron with sucker). I keep a wet sponge in a small plastic bowl for cleaning the tips, and a metal prop to lay the irons on when need be. I also keep a bight led flash light on hand, and a magnifying glass, in order to check my work better, along with soem other things for cleanup and scraping off residue. When I get done with everything, I just put all the tools back up in a box and put it away, and the table goes back to be used for whatever else I need to use it for. It has adjustable height and all and works quite well.

[Keith Courage]

as far as equipment I use basically the cheapest soldering iron you can buy. A cheap 30w soldering iron is small and can get into tigher spaces when working around capacitors. I then buy reacement tips for it when they go bad at 2 a pop on ebay. I also have two PC fans attached together to suck all the solder fumes away from my face. The pc fans blow the fumes right to a window that's right behing my work desk. I also have a big fan in the window to blow the fumes the rest of the way out of my room.   

[SignOfZeta]

I have a basement work room (don't have a basement? Sell the house.) in which there is a work bench where I do most of my busy body stuff, soldering, model making, etc. There is a door on this room and the table is used for nothing else and this is important. You need to be able to leave a half finished job without fear if needing to keep the table clean for some other purpose, or having to worry about other family members or pets or whatever trashing stuff.

If you can't leave the job at any moment that means that you will only work on projects when you can plan out time for completion and cleanup in the same session and that's simply not possible with the more serious projects. You need to be able to walk away from a job for days and then pick it up right where you left off. This is fundamental.

The equipment thing is up to you.  Use garbage until it pisses you off so much you buy something better. A Harbor Freight soldering iron is less than the tax on some of the more fancy ones. If that junk is good enough for you to get quality results then by all means keep using it.   

[Fidde_se]

Lets not forget to get the workstation ESD safe, like ESD mat, connected to a water running radiator or a special ground mains adaptor,
even a connector to be able to connect a wristband for extra safety.

Maybe something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/400421799529
or http://www.ebay.com/itm/120803897831

And this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/390525252903

Or lets go for the Full Monty http://www.ebay.com/itm/111019040456 =)

Some like to clean their soldering tips with wet sponges and some with metallic sponges.
Some like like lead solder (PB) because it's tried working for the last 100 years and gives the nicest solderings
but it can be bad for you and the enviroment and some like the RoHS solder, it's starting to get almost as nice
as leaded and contains (usually) e few procent silver, but it will never give as sparkling solder joints as leaded.
and all retro consoles are leaded, and nothing bad happens if you mix them, the law to use it for 95% of everything
to be sold in Europe came around 2006 (life sustainable products/military equipment excluded), China didn't have too
but began before the law in 2005, there are no restrictions in the US as I know, but as China wants to sell
everywhere there are still lot of modern stuff with RoHS in the US, XBOX360 was the first console to use
RoHS/PB Free, the handheld market is a little unknown...

A real microscope is always good too, but expensive and a little over the top maybe, and most people dont need it,
but for real delicate work it's good to have, and don't forget not a real microscope (1000x)
but stereo one with 10-20x with light illuminated from above and not threw/below, big difference,
here it's called (roughly translated) stereo magnifier but the rest of the world just calls it a microscope.

And as Professorson said a desolder is just a must have... good ones are very expensive thou..
You usually don't see the difference until you hit one of those holes that are connected to ground with 16 layers PCB,
when you hit that You'll know the difference between an expensive and a cheapo one.
It's not in the temparature but in how much heat it can transfer.

Desolder Wick s good to have around too.

Solder cleaner paste can be good to have around too, when that junk on the tip just won't come off, but it shortens the tips life...

Extra flux can be useful..

And stay away from the fumes, there are two major professional ways, either a big hose above the workstation (10")
or the small ones attached to the solder iron that just sucks away it at the tip, but Keiths way is much easier and cheaper.