Oversize packaging for the win…
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Something like this is super useful for electronics, too.
The ratchet handle is flex head and can convert to a T-bar.
The standard Facom set (without the bicycle branding) is £67 on Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B01GVF5KPC/
Fantastic, I bought 6… feeling inadequate.
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Don’t feel inadequate, buy big, buy once.
This solder. It’s very easy to use, very easy to remove, and still has a decently high tin / silver content. Does leave Rosin behind so… . . .
IPA in a spray bottle. For cleaning. Which you must do.
Servisol De-Flux - for removing really stubborn soldering crud. Pricey, but IPA removes 95% of crap, so you’ll only need this occasionally.
Also get some cotton-wool buds for use with the above, and some PCB swabs which leave no fibres, and an old toothbrush for scrubbing those blobby joints.
Jewellery scratch brushes are really useful - both for cleaning surfaces to be soldered, and for cleaning solder joints afterwards.
I find a couple of old chem-lab retort stands and some cheap artery forceps (bit of high-temp silicone tube over the jaws) to be the most useful work-holders going.
Quality pair of curved tweezers for handling/placing/manipulating small components are vital imo.
Plenty of slim and wide masking tape - again good for temporary holding of stuff - heat will melt the glue or even burn thru, so some label-remover to cleanup after is useful.
One minor tip - use a bit of household anionic surfactant (e.g. ‘Mr Muscle’ cleaner spray) in the water you wet the soldering sponge with to clean the iron tip - keeps it cleaner and freer of oily burned rosin &c. Wire-brush the tip occasionally.
You can never have too much light, so a couple of extra spotlamps/anglepoise might be a good idea, or a head-torch. Or both.
Fume extractor is something we should all use (and mostly don’t), at least keep the door open/window open/fan going. Don’t breathe that shit in.
And FFS Practice your soldering on some cheap kits - sort of stuff Maplins used to sell.
Cheers, i have sme old populated pcbs from work. Can desolder and solder to my hearts content, will be doing lots of that.
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That’s a really good idea.
Btw, if you’re buying Wera, this place is the cheapest for most things:
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Use my wera selection box tools a fair bit.
Lovely quality
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My old mains-powered hot-melt gun finally died, and so this -
I was all ready to send it back if it was bollocks, but it really isn’t, even heats-up much faster 
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I regret buying Facom screwdrivers. They’ll last me forever and means I cannot justify buying Wera ones.
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What’s wrong with both? “Justify”…sheesh.
You also need Vessel and PB Swiss. Probably Wiha, too.
Of course now you need the hex versions. And the Torx.
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Probably the best song about tool addiction
I actually have a couple (actually three, I think) of those wallets spare since I put mine into the benchtop holders.
Happy to send them out to folks who want them for a small donation to the forum.
I bought the set of nut runners that don’t come with a wallet but they may be too big for those.
Can you save me one untill they arrive and I will check if they go in the wallet I have?
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