Good soldering iron for T30 memory slot repair

[cadillacmike68]

Now that I've taken my T30s out of regular duty I can finally service the fans and try to fix the ones with memory slot issues.

What's a good brand and model soldering iron for this, and for tacking wires onto mobo solder points for messing with the EEPROM? One that has changeable tips would be preferred, because a knife edge would come in handy. Not too expensive please. Thanks in advance.

[HelloKitty61]

Get a hakko and never look back.

[RealBlackStuff]

Instead of soldering wires to an EEPROM ( ), get these micro grabbers: http://www.ebay.com/itm/272155619895
For soldering I have one of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/321456079471
I've used it for SATA-mods, LED-mods and a whole slew of other things.
Easily replaceable solder tips (look for ZD98 or ZD99).

[Saucey]

I bought the cheapest Hakko soldiering station that was available at my local Fry's.
$80 worth the investment over the $35 Welch I got from home depot... though it did serve three times good.

[cadillacmike68]

Do that Stahl SSVT and the ZD99 take the same replacement / optional tips?

They are only about $1 different on ebay at present If the ZD99 is better, I'll get that but I only see tips for the SSVT, hence my question.

[RealBlackStuff]

They are all the same, get whatever you like or your budget allows...
I'd say my doing LED- and SATA-mods with it, should open the door for anyone's approval.
If you want to waste $80 or more on a Hakko, be my guest.

[cadillacmike68]

I'm going to get the Stahl one. At least I can find tips for it online. I can't get a confirm that the ZD99 takes the same tips as the Stahl SSVT, and someone on amazon said they don't interchange, but who's to say that person is correct?

[HelloKitty61]

I have never heard of the Staahl and I am sure it is great, how long have you had yours RBS?
I bought my 888 in 2008 when the weller I had before that stopped working reliably, the hakko has been great all these years, and it is not the digital model they sell now, I see the one I had which had an analog temperature knob has been discontinued for years. If the Staahl is as good as you say maybe next time i lose the iron part i will get one of those instead of a replacement iron for my 888's base

[RealBlackStuff]

I must have bought mine about 7 years ago and I'm still using the same tip.
Do an eBay search with: soldering tip (stahl,zd98,zd99)
The results look identical to me, as do the Stahl and ZD99 soldering stations.
Can't say which one is better, I'm just very happy with my Stahl (and I prefer grey over yellow ).