Weller ST7 ST Series Conical Solder Tip Hobbyist for WP25, WP30 and WP35 Irons, 0.31"

I love my Weller WLC100 iron and the variety of tips they offer. I'm a major electronics hobbyist and work in the tech industry. I started off soldering on a rework line, so I've worked with everything from Weller to Metcal professionally and Radio Shack to Weller at home. For the price, the Weller products are far superior to anything I've worked with. Would I love to have an $800 Metcal digital instant-on station at my house? Sure, but I'd much prefer to have $760 to put towards other purchases. These tips are perfect for working with smaller components and pads. They transfer heat fast, even on ground plane pads that seem to take other irons forever. I keep my iron on 3/5 for nearly everything. If I'm removing smaller metal transmitter/receiver covers, I bump it up to 4/5. But, during all my soldering, I do not change tips. I can solder wire joins, smt parts, wave solder legs of SMT chips (with a good amount of flux), and large RC connectors (XT60s), all with the same tip on my iron. The smaller size also allows me to get in between wires and other components easily, without that "Oh crap, I guess I'll be replacing that connector/wire/plastic bit also" feeling.

I ordered this tip Jan 30, 2010... it arrived today, Feb 4, 2010. Very reasonable shipping time! As soon as I discovered it was in my mailbox, I rushed out to try it out... the old one easily came out, and the new one slid right now. Tightened it down.. then tried it out. With the bigger tip that the WLC100 came with, I had to use a heat setting of about 4, and it was a little bulky for soldering connections on circuit boards, etc. This new tip is absolutely fantastic... DAY AND NIGHT DIFFERENCE in the ease of use. If you need a more precise tip for circuit boards, etc... I highly recommend this tip, it makes soldering those delicate, tighter connections much, much easier. I was hesitant to order this tip because of another reviewer saying it did not fit his WLC100 station... but it does indeed fit perfectly and works great. I used a heat setting of 3 instead of 4 with this new tip, and it works perfectly.

Used to un-solder and replace the light bulbs and stepper motors in my Silverado instrument cluster. The tip had a fine enough point to do the job. It was much better than the tip that came with the Weller WLC 100 -40 watt soldering iron. Both made the job easier with no damage to the circuit board if you have some experience. Since this is the only job I have done with the tip so far I can't say how long it will last, but I can say this is the tip to use on that specific task.

I accidentally bought this thinking it was the right size to slide onto my soldering guns heating element, had to drill it to make it fit, but after it id, it works amazingly, i probably have about 20-30 minutes total time with the heat up and still no sign of any wear, all the solder and tinner i have used so far stuck to the tip without having to wrestle it around on the solder pad like some junker tips ive bought before. I would say lesson learned is make sure you read the product description carefully before buying, but then again, i ended up with a tip that works better than the ones i was previously buying!

If you're buying the Weller soldering station that comes with the screwdriver style tip and you're planning on doing much circuit board work, you'll definitely want to get this tip too. It has a fine point, ideal for those .1 inch spacing solder pads. The default screwdriver style tip, while useful for many things, is just too clumbsy on a tight board. I worried about the point being too fine, that maybe it wouldn't transfer enough heat to the joint. But, so far, I haven't had problems with it when driven by the 40 watt soldering station (adjustable) and given enough time to come all the way up to temperature.

Perfect for what I needed

Yes, this review category may be in the wrong section, but only somewhat. This Weller TL7 tip is used for the Weller WLC100 soldering station which is marketed as a hobby item, not a professional one. Pro models have removable cords and temperature control feedback to assure a constant temperature. None the less, this is a great, if not the best, soldering pencil an electronics hobbyist can get. I bought this TL7 conical (fine and pointy) tip because I think the provided TL6 chisel tip is too big and awkward for all general electronics work - hobbyist and pro. This tip works great when the temp control dial is set to "2". If I'm desoldering a lead on a ground plane, then I might have to temporarily crank the dial up to "3" or "4".

Recently, on my car alarm fob, the 'lock' function stopped working. all other functions still worked fine. When I investigated, it turned out that the micro switch had popped off the small circuit board...Well, car fobs are not cheap, so i thought I'll try and fix that..However, the contacts for the micro switch are smaller than micro (smaller than a pin head). I have soldering equipment, but nothing that small. So I ordered this to do the job..I performed well. it was the right size, and with a pin-size drop of flux, it took me about 10 mins to fix the fob.