My most useful soldering tools are one of those Wahl
cordless soldering guns with the smallest tip available.  When
the battery is good, it heats up fast and hot which is what you
want when soldering.

        For bigger stuff, I use a Weller duel-temperature
soldering gun.  As with all soldering irons, you need to keep the
tip clean and make sure the contact points where it attaches are
also clean and free of corrosion.

        I have used a regular soldering iron that stays hot all
the time it is plugged in, but you certainly don't get much
chance to correct your aim if you happen to brush it against
something plastic or insulated wires, etc.  Your nose will tell
you very quickly that you have just melted something.

        When I have had to use one of those type irons, I guid it
in by flicking my finger very rapidly to more or less tap the tip
as it is possible to do that for a tiny fraction of a second
without burning yourself.  It is kind of similar to flicking your
finger through a candle flame.  You sure don't want to do that
for very long.

        I think that another thing which would be helpful and
which I have not spent much time trying to perfect might be a
holding jig for the iron that has a second device that shows you
where the hot tip will land.  You could position your work with
the cold fake tip and then move it out of the way and replace it
with the real thing.

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK
OSU Center for Computing and Information Services Network Operations Group