Soldering for beginners?

[Koop]

Saw a thread on here that made me want to ask this. Once upon a time I took an electronics class in high school and did some very basic soldering which I did terrible with.

It's been many many years since then but I'd really like to learn how to Solder properly so I can take a crack eventually at some simple consoles mods (gamecube region switch?).

1) Any recommendation for what to buy equipment wise and where? I'd want to be able to eventually use the same equipment for work on consoles.
2) Any recommendations on kits to practice with? Where to buy them?
3) Any recommendations on tutorials out there?

I promise in a two month I won't try to sell my console mods.

[CkRtech]

I would watch this short, 3 part video series from the eevblog - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Sb21qbpEQ

[korpse413]

^ this. Gotta love Dave Jones.

[Guspaz]

I bought an Elenco learn-to-solder kit, which included everything you need to get started (including a super cheap budget-bin soldering iron), and then bought some of their other projects, and those were good to practice the basics. But the stuff included was super duper low quality.

At this point I've got a Hakko FX-888D, which go for a hundred bucks, and seems to be a pretty darned nice soldering station for occasional work. It seems to be extremely popular among people who are looking to upgrade from their dollarstore soldering stations, or who just want to start on a good one. Most of the consumables that I'm using are from MG Chemicals, primarily because it's the most prevalent good quality manufacturer of such things available on Amazon Canada (as opposed to noname stuff imported from far away).

[accaris]

If you're in the U.S., then Home Depot sells a Hakko 40w soldering kit that is an excellent choice for a beginner at a really low price:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Hakko-40-Wat ... lsrc=aw.ds
Definitely a lot better than the cheap garbage you can find at Wal-Mart or Harbor Freight.

[prateekgupta]

I bought an Elenco learn-to-solder kit, which included everything you need to get started including a super cheap budget-bin soldering iron, and then bought some of their other projects, and those were good to practice the basics. But the stuff included was super duper low quality.