For board soldering you’re after two things: low wattage, and a small tip. At work we pretty much only use Weller irons. I’ve got a non-Weller at home, and like it a lot, too. (I think that company is out of business, though, and I can’t remember the name off the top of my head.) Here’s a discussion on various soldering irons on Make:
makezine.com/blog/archive/20 … ing_i.html
A couple of points get mentioned in that article that I’ll repeat here: Keep your tip clean! I use a wet sponge, which is pretty universal. Someone on that thread mentioned a brass shavings tip cleaner. I can see that would work well, but I haven’t felt the need to go that route.
When shopping for a new iron, get the best one you can afford. I’ve had mine for over fifteen years. It’s not one of those tools that tends to wear out (unless the heating element goes.) Get a fine tip. Get low power, or better yet a temperature controlled iron. Get one from a company that will be around when you need to replace the heating element or the handpiece. And by all means get good, fine solder for doing board soldering. The thick stuff that’s sold at hardware stores is ok for plumbing, terrible for board soldering.
Congratulations on your project. Great to see stuff move like it’s supposed to.
Tom