Great little station. It has gone up a few dollars, but still one of the best in terms of quality.

@#1. have you used this for anything heavier than wire/components, such as copper foil stain glass work?

#2 I believe this is about a 50 watt iron. Am guessing you would much rather have a 100 watt iron for stained glass work. Also your stained glass would be less sensitive to the precise temperature than electronic components would be.

Agreed, 50W is not enough for most stained glass work, maybe miniaturized ornament type stuff but not much larger. Aim for 100W or more which is actually cheaper since it doesn't need the temperature controller base station.

Don't forget to buy something to scrub the fumes before you breathe in the nasties.

I don't have this particular model but I do own a similar Weller soldering station, and I recommend them. The specs on this station say the temperature range is 350 - 850 fahrenheit which is hot enough to do copper foil stain glass work, IF, you have a tip on it large enough for this kind of work so you would have to find out if Weller makes a tip for this model that is large enough.

^ Tip temperature range isn't the only factor that matters, any soldering iron is designed to get hot enough to solder, it's whether it can produce enough heat to sustain a high enough temp keep a larger mass of solder and foil above the solder melting point too.

For example could you stick the biggest tip that would fit on the iron in a barrel of solid solder and expect it to all melt? No, the surface area is too large. The iron would run at 100% duty cycle/power output but only keep a very small volume around it molten.

Fume scrubber isn't very important for low volume personal soldering, though it's generally good not to get down close to the work and take a deep breath the moment you vaporize the flux which would be a lot like standing a few feet away from a camp fire. The majority of the fumes are burnt pine rosin from the flux. Metal traces are trivial, you'll be exposed to more metal handling the solder or the iron or touching anything else metal in your home.

On the other hand if you're soldering a lot in a production environment, a fume scrubber is a must.

Price is now $118.50

#2 No. I use it mainly for small electronic stuff. As others have said, this is more of a hobbyist tool. You'll want to step up the wattage for that kind of work.