The WES51 is excellent soldering iron that is designed and manufactured by famous Weller company. It is perfect for all kinds of soldering projects including repairs, rework, industrial manufacturing, etc. Its economical price makes it also a good soldering iron for occasional users such as hobbyist or home electronics enthusiast. The WES51 is best-selling soldering iron on Amazon.
And Weller has been around for many generations. Weller has started designing and manufacturing soldering irons in 1940s. Even though Cooper Tools acquired Weller Soldering in 1970s, the Weller brand name is well-respected and recognized throughout the world as a best manufacturer of soldering equipment.
When you buy the WES51 Weller soldering station, you will receive the main power unit, the pencil, the pencil stand and a sponge attached to the pencil stand that you can use to clean the tip of the soldering iron. All of those tools combined into the soldering station setup, provide you everything that you need to start your soldering project.
Some of features of WES51 Weller station:
50 watt iron is is perfect for most soldering tasks
Temperature range at the tip of iron is adjustable from 350 to 850 degrees Fahrenheit
Non-burnable cord made of silicon rubber (cord length 4 ft.)
Temperature lockout control so you do not burn up your circuit board with a careless mistake
Easily switch between Fahrenheit and Celsius readouts
Electronic temperature control is accurate to within 9 degrees Fahrenheit
Station automatically powers down after 99 minutes of inactivity
Static proof so you do not destroy delicate circuit boards
Fast heat up of iron from cold to hot, even with bigger tips
The WES51 comes with PES51 soldering pencil that has a comfortable foam grip that improves the ease of use and reduces heat transfer from the iron into your fingers. I found the soldering pencil to be really quite comfortable to grip for extended periods. It features a stainless steel heating element which extends the soldering iron's life by minimizing corrosion. Soldering pencil PES51 uses ET series tips - Weller has a huge range of tips in ET series to suit all kinds of soldering jobs.
Main problem with most of soldering irons is that you need to wait for them to heat up from cold stage to ready-for-soldering stage, not only when you start using them, but also in between jobs if you leave them alone for a long period of time. For example, one of my soldering stations automatically powers down after 15 minutes of inactivity. Unfortunately, this particular setting is not adjustable so you can not customize it for your needs. In other words, you can not increase this time if you do little bit of soldering with a long periods of time between two soldering jobs. WES51 has a built-in activator that allows it to automatically powers down after 99 minutes of inactivity. That is right setting of this shut down time - you have enough time even if you have some longer interval between two soldering jobs.
Another great characteristic of the WES51 Weller soldering iron is that it has very accurate electronic temperature control. Temperature of iron can be adjusted with the front panel temperature control knob - you can precisely control the temperature of iron to within 9 degrees Fahrenheit. Electronic temperature control means you'll always know if the tip of the iron is hot enough for the material you are soldering. It makes your soldering task a whole lot easier. In addition, electronic temperature control allows precise control of the heat level at the tip of the iron. This means that you can rest assured that your iron is hot enough and ready for soldering, and at same time you know that it is not too hot to burn some temperature-sensitive components on circuit board. If you do not pay attention on temperature of iron's tip you can accidentally damage or ruin your soldering project by applying too much heat. For every soldering task you need enough heat to quickly and reliably melt the solder and apply it to soldering joints, but you do not want too much heat that can burn or melt delicate electronic components or circuit boards.
In conclusion, WES51 Weller soldering iron is solidly built, it has a very durable design and you can count on using one for many years with no problems. It comes in well known Weller-blue color. It is very comfortable to use this Weller soldering iron, even if you spend several hours of continuous soldering on your soldering task.
Weller WES51 analog soldering iron is very similar to Weller WESD51 soldering iron but does not have a digital display (digital display shows current temperature of iron's tip during operation or set-up).
Weller soldering iron WES51 is an excellent low cost soldering iron. It is one of the best soldering irons on market that can be found under 0. I give 4 out of 5 stars for this soldering station, as it lacks a digital readout.
