Which soldering iron/station to pick?

[tryonziess]

I did a little wondering through the circuit specialists website. They have some nice stuff.

Tad

[maurycy]

Just wanted to write an update after receiving the soldering station and using it number of times.

The soldering station came double boxed and shipping was fast. I have no way to compare with original Hakko or Weller but the quality for $40 ss is great. I like the aluminum enclosure and I am glad I have picked it over the $30 plastic one. The soldering iron is great comparing to my aging and cheap Radio Shack iron. Heats up fast and the cord is very flexible so it doesn't get in a way. The included tip is very fine so it may not be suitable for anything else than precise PCB work. I had trouble heating up speaker sockets with it. But that's not a real con.

Overall, I am very happy with my purchase. Would definitely recommend it to anyone on a budget that never had soldering station and still uses plain old RS or any other cheap soldering iron.

[enginhear]

Hey, I stumbled across this thread while searching for info on getting replacement tips for my blackjack solderwerks bk2000. It is the first soldering iron that I've owned and it has been very solid, but I need to replace the tip. Going back to circuitspecialists.com would cost me $12+ in shipping, which is hard to justify for a less than $10 in gear, so I was wondering if there is some compatibility standard among soldering irons for tips. I took my current tip off and it looks very similar to ones I see online at amazon or electronics-related vendors such as digikey or sparkfun, but I can't find any documentation on whether there are standard sizes for iron tips and if physical dimensions are the only compatibility issue or whether there is something else to consider as well.

Basically, I'd like to know if I can just get any old iron tip that will fit and use it or if I have to go back to the source and pay the extra shipping (not a huge amount of money, I realize, but it seems quite wasteful). Any info that people have would be greatly appreciated.