OK, could someone please help me figure out what I should buy (eg. using the products on a this store as a guide, or whichever storefront you prefer). So I gather that apart from the Soldering Iron/Station, I'll also need to buy some braid, and a coil of solder (leaded or unleaded?). And also a solder sucker pump. Do I need to buy spare tips as well? What about this Chip Quik stuff - it's affordable and it claims to make removing stuff from PCBs easier - is it of any relevance?
While I'm at it, maybe I can improve the stabilisers on my modifier keys - they seem very wobbly, and when I bottom out it feels almost like a rubber dome. The guy on the video I linked to earlier mentioned he applied some tape to them to firm them up - what sort of tape?
Also, will one of my daughters' cheap, small size art & craft paintbrushes do for lubing?
I have heard good things about
this desoldering pump, if you were going with a cheap manual one. I have never had one, but I would try to get one that has one of those silicone sleeves for the nozzle (or make one). I couldn't find any of the manual pumps on your website.
MG Chemicals Rosin Flux works well, but I'm still using an old tub of Radioshack paste flux at home that must be like 10 or more years old now. It literally resembles melted fruit snacks now, it does the job all the same. I can't comment on anything on your website. I know Kester is a good brand, in general. There's debate over no-clean vs regular flux and paste vs liquid. I don't think it really matters. Either way, it gets everywhere once you apply heat. Unless I'm feeling particularly lazy, I usually clean up all of the flux residue with some
Goo Gone (also helpful for removing old/crappy thermal paste) and clean up the Goo Gone with some 70%+ isopropyl alcohol.
I like the
X-tronic irons partly because of the Hakko tip compatibility, generous wire length, digital temperature display, included sponge, tip cleaner and that little rod on the left you can use to put your solder and braid spools on and because they go to sleep automatically if you walk away (or fiddle with something else) for an extended period of time. Everyone will recommend something different. The most important things are Hakko tip compatibility and temperature control, if you ask me. I couldn't comment on any of the ones on your website.
I have used the same brass tip cleaner for years but they're available for cheap
on their own or
in a holder if you get an iron/station without a spot for one. I couldn't find any on your website offhand. You can use a regular sponge too. I like to use both. A damp sponge is maybe a little better for getting flux and contaminants off than brass, but with brass you can just stick the tip in there a few times and it scrapes just about everything off from every angle.
If you're only doing one board, spare tips don't matter. If you plan on maybe doing more in the future and/or maybe some finer soldering work (like individual SMD LEDs, diodes, etc) you might want to get a
pack of finer tips either way if your iron has Hakko compatibility and doesn't come with a particularly fine tip in the box. The tips I linked are for Hakko 900 series irons. I'm sure the Hakko brand tips on your site are fine, so any of those should be good based on what you feel you need. I wouldn't know about the rest myself.
For desoldering braid/wick, Chemtronics works well. I like
this one because I can mount the spool on my irons.
Your website doesn't have any meant to be mounted like that, unfortunately.
You always want leaded solder. It is a lot easier to work with than lead free. 60/40 is often regarded as the best for electronics. You can also get solder with or without a rosin flux core. If you get it without, that just means you might need to apply more of your own flux manually. This
Kester 60/40 solder should do the job well. Or
this, on your website. I wouldn't get picky about that either. I still have some ancient rosin core Radioshack solder as well. You just don't want to get it thicker than you need it, because then you're applying more heat than you would otherwise need to melt it. If you go too small, then you just need to feed more of the spool in than you would otherwise (the preferable disparity in my mind).
That Chip Quik stuff looks like it is just flux of some kind. I have never used it. I can't imagine it does things significantly better or worse than any other decent flux. It has good reviews on Amazon. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I can't help with the stabilizers. I don't bother modding them and prefer Costar anyway.