Beginner electronics

[Sa1tama]

Hi! Recently i found myself watching electronics videos, so now i am trying to get a very cheap lab. (lower your expectations, because i will try to DIY almost everything)

First of all i need a Soldering iron, so i bought a chineese 60watt non-branded unit for 3$, then waited for an eternity for it arrive to 3rd party importer and then actually to ship to my country. Finally it arrived, i opened it up immediately and plugged  it in. As you could probably guess it couldn't even melt solder wire. I looked up on mymarket.ge (it's like craigslist) and i saw this:

 

It's only 30Gel (12USD) and it comes with 5 different tips. The most important thing is that i can test it if it really works. What do you think, should i buy it?

If you want to check it yourself here is the link:

https://www.mymarket.ge/en/product/11356663/60-ვატიანი+მრჩილავი+პაიალნიკი

 

Thanks in advance!

[Hackentosher]

If you're serious about electronics, get a soldering station. Temperature control is very important as you get more advanced, so spend the  $40-60 to get a station. If you're really serious, get a Hakko FX-88D

[Sa1tama]

2 minutes ago, Hackentosher said:

If you're serious about electronics, get a soldering station. Temperature control is very important as you get more advanced, so spend the  $40-60 to get a station. If you're really serious, get a Hakko FX-88D

My budget is minimal (I can't even afford capacitor kit). I saved up for a month and bought myself an arduino, breadboard, wires, leds, resistors and buttons. I have tons of junk electronics (broken TV and a crap ton of dead PSUs) and i am planning to disassemble them and make my own fume extractor and a DIY Soldering Station. Inspiration: GreatScott .video link:

Anyways thanks for response!

[Hackentosher]

Find some jobs, I bet you can if you try. It's so worth it to spend some money on an iron. Even get a fakko on ebay, maybe $30-40.

[Sa1tama]

8 hours ago, Hackentosher said:

Find some jobs, I bet you can if you try. It's so worth it to spend some money on an iron. Even get a fakko on ebay, maybe $30-40.

I am 14. I already searched but in my country I must be atleast 16 to start working.

[Hackentosher]

5 hours ago, _SAITAMA_ said:

I am 14. I already searched but in my country I must be atleast 16 to start working.

No I mean jobs around the neighborhood or for your parents. 

[16:9]

Hi so I know for my self how hard it is to get into electronics at such a young age I'm 15 when I started off I first went to my local Hackerspace to use their tools then I just put a Paper up wether somebody had an old soldering iron which he would sell or other tools at the end I got a heatgun and a soldering iron for 5€ basically 5$. But I'm quite sure that your iron works maybe you didn't give him enough time in the meantime why don't you start off on a breadboard works really well and doesn't take as long. Keep it up Buddy

[Cannon Lake]

It's never the gear that stopping you from getting started with electronics. I don't like breadboards that much, it will work but won't give you that feeling. When was about your age I used Lodestar 60W soldering Iron (https://www.gearbest.com/soldering-supplies/pp_313889.html?wid=1433363#goodsDetail) , it was only 3 bucks. It didn't had any fancy feature like temperature control or extra tips. But it worked surprisingly well. That soldering iron looks decent should do the job just fine.

 

[Hackentosher]

The @16:9 and @Cannon Lake are right, I jumped the gun on recommending a more serious tool. You don't need it, but it's a quality of life upgrade for sure. If you're just starting, it's not necessary, but if you get more serious about soldering and working with more serious and sensitive components, it's a necessity. Being able to control the temperature is great because if you are working on small stuff, you don't have to worry about over cooking stuff, or if you start working with some really heavy stuff (idk, 8 AWG wire or something) you can crank the heat up to give your iron more thermal momentum. 

 

There's something to be said about buying nice tools (and it's oh so worth it and satisfying) as they make your life easier, but my mentor once told me that if you learn to do something well the hard way,  you'll be really good at the easy way. 

[Lamez]

Check out this soldering station:

 

 

[SadaleNet]

I've also got the same model of soldering iron as yours. I love this one. It's cheap, and it works. However, it seems that it isn't a temperature-controlled soldering iron. It's just a power-adjustable one. Anyway it's still far better than the non-adjustable ones.

 

My main reason of picking this one isn't the price, tho. My home is crowded and I don't have any space to store a proper soldering station. That's my main reason of picking this one. Welcome to Hong Kong I guess.