I do, because they come in various brands. A soldering iron. Simple. But what kind? Or how many (and what) different kinds? Any extra properties? Power? Temperature? Are the very expensive soldering stations with temperature control really worth the money? Or is it a good idea build such one yourself?

My question is very general - I have a vague idea about what -is- good. Right now I'm using very poor quality tools and I'm really mad at them. A soldering iron that randomly stops heating, a marker for drawing tracks before etching that dissolves way before the copper does etc. Soon I plan major purchase of new equipment so I'd like to hear your suggestions and ideas. I also got access to an engraving machine and I hope for some pretty precise PCBs from it, so I could start doing the right thing finally instead of spending two hours to make a simple 3-transistor board.

BTW, instead of solder mask: Coat whole board with a layer of tin, then engrave, removing both tin and copper - should leave nice pre-coated tracks, just place a SMT chip, align it with some blutac or such, then heat the pins - will it work?