Draper Soldering Station + Source for good alternative tips?

[Holmes34]

So I've had my first soldering station, a Draper 40W for a little over 2 months now, and I've been getting along fine with the supplied tip which is pretty fat and some thin 0.8mm solder.

However I'd like to point out to any people who might end up buying this station, whilst it heats up pretty fast and get hot enough, it is an absolute nightmare to find replacement/variety tips for this thing! Even Draper's own website seems to only stock a single type of tip for this specific iron!

It seems to collar on the tips are a very specific length and thickness which I haven't seen in any of the other sets I've  found on the net. I think I'll probably end up buying another station with a better variety and availability of tips. Any advice for sourcing tips for a new player would be appreciated!

[nanofrog]

That's just a light dimmer + firestick, not an actual temperature controlled station.

No idea of budget, but I'd suggest a Hakko FX-888D as a bare minimum for a proper temperature controlled station (well built & has an excellent selection of tips). The link is for Batterfly in Italy (98EUR + VAT & free shipping). You'd need to change the plug or use an adapter, but that's it (EU plug & 230VAC mains).

With more information such as what you'll be doing with it and budget will allow other recommendations that may be a better fit.

[setq]

I'd recommend people grab an Antex firestick if you're going for a budget station. An XS25 is better than a lot of cheap stations and the tips last literally years.

[Gyro]

Just to point out that there's no reason why you can't add a light dimmer to a basic Antex firestick, both to drop the temperature a little and for tip-saving standby. You might even be able to fit one (Antex, that is) to the Draper base unit, assuming the Draper iron has a mains element.

[MosherIV]

Hi

That model seems to be rebadged by everyone, even Weller had a similar model.

Try this company for bits
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d01843/soldering-station-48w/dp/SD01696

Hope this helps.

[Holmes34]

Hi

That model seems to be rebadged by everyone, even Weller had a similar model.

Try this company for bits
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d01843/soldering-station-48w/dp/SD01696

Hope this helps.

Thank you! This seems to essentially solve the problem! I'll probably save more money up over time to get a better station as people have suggested, but I find this station is pretty sufficient at the moment for the through-hole stuff I'm doing.