why is there no :soldering_iron: emoji
apparently people are much less opposed to cheap hardware store irons than i'd expected
-F
@Felthry I'm only opposed to *repeated use* of cheap hardware store soldering irons. One-off use when you've got nothing else to work with? That's fine.
@LexYeen i mean if it's your only option and you need to solder something by all means, but do get a proper one as soon as you can
you don't even have to go with a $100 one (which is still a fairly cheap iron, these get expensive if you want the highest quality); hakko sells the FX-901 for $30, though it's a battery-operated iron with all that that entails, and there are only two tips available for it. it is temperature controlled though
-F
@Felthry Yup, that's exactly my stance on it too! If you need to solder something Now and you have no other tools, do your best with what you have and get better tools ASAP.
@Felthry I'd be operating on the assumption that, if one has a sudden urgent need to solder things and lacks the proper tools, there's likely going to be a need to do more soldering under better conditions in the future. ;)