number of soldering irons

[chrisatpsu]

anybody use more than one soldering iron at a time?

i saw the post on the tip, and it reminded me of having two soldering irons running while working on a board (i use pencil irons)

the purpose for me it to have a different tip ready to just use if i encounter a different need, like to help with a heatsink, or fuse holder.

it doesn't run the whole time, just when i'm getting close to that part and i don't want to wait to cool down an iron to replace a tip.

i have about 5 pencil irons, but i use 2 mainly

[tbone321]

I have and use 3.  Two are solder stations.  The newest one has a full temp control and a small tip.  It is used for general circuit board work, especially where the space is limited.  The second one is one my father built and has three temp settings and a wide tip.  It works well in situations were more heat is required such as triacs and heat sinks.  the third is a pencil iron and tends to be more abused than used.  With that one whrn I need a LOT of heat, I warm it up with my tourch and use it that way.  Many times I don't even bother to plug it in.  I also have an older Weller soldering gun (back when they made them well) that I use for soldering wires together and oter high heat applicatins.