Re: [PLUG] Electronics gear

On Mon, May 20, 2019 at 3:45 PM Paul Walker <starsinmypockets@gmail.com> wrote:

All great tips. I want to get started with some repairs to musical equipment and I have a couple kits that I want to build as well. Definitely want general practice making circuits, basic soldering, etc. Something I am concerned about is dust? I have a lot of basement space but it is quite dirty / dusty. I'm sure I could keep the station clean and keep things in boxes but it is a far from clean environment? Should I be setting this up in bedroom or a cleaner area?

On Mon, May 20, 2019 at 3:21 PM John Kreno <john.kreno@gmail.com> wrote:
The hot air stations can be very cheap now, but unless you are specifically doing re-work, for the most part, you might not want to focus on it just yet. If you've never soldered previously, I would highly recommend this kit to practice surface mount soldering, which can be done with an iron and a pair of tweezers.

https://www.amazon.com/Gikfun-Welding-Practice-Soldering-Training/dp/B00VWB8F8K/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=surface+mount+practice+kit&qid=1558379974&s=gateway&sr=8-6

On Mon, May 20, 2019 at 3:09 PM Steven Grunza <steven.grunza@gmail.com> wrote:
Consider getting a hot air soldering station. It has a very small nozzle out of which hot air is blown to melt solder connections on really small SMT parts. Very useful for soldering QFP and fine pitch SMT stuff. Make sure to hold the part down with a pick or tweezers for the first few solder joints or you'll be looking for it on the floor.

On Mon, May 20, 2019 at 2:30 PM Chris Knowles <cknowles2112@gmail.com> wrote:
What Rich said - get some stuff together, use it until destruction and then upgrade if you found it useful.

For soldering/meter sake - I got the adafruit soldering kit many *many* moons ago. https://www.adafruit.com/product/136

It's got enough stuff that you can do simple stuff. I upgraded the iron eventually, and switched over to a lead free solder - but this will get you started. I think the only piece I still have is the meter actually.

CJK

On Mon, May 20, 2019 at 1:09 PM Rich Freeman <r-plug@thefreemanclan.net> wrote:
On Mon, May 20, 2019 at 1:00 PM John Kreno <john.kreno@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> When it comes to what grade of what to acquire, you need to right size. So figure out what your goal is. If it's just to fool around with no real goal. Harbor Frieght cheapy meters and whatever hot stick you can get will work fine as a soldering iron.
>
> If you have a goal, then like I said, right size.

This has always been my attitude towards tools and it has worked well for me.

I bought a ton of super-cheap tools when I was much younger. It
didn't cost me much, and it meant that when I had to do something I
probably had an appropriate tool at hand so I wasn't trying to fix
every problem with a hammer and a screwdriver that wasn't quite the
right size.

Now, those tools would wear out very quickly, and when they did I'd
replace them with tools of significantly higher quality, but only as
needed. That means that the tools I use the most are high quality,
and I still have some oddball tools of harbor-freight tier at hand.
I'll still buy tools there if it is something I don't know I'll need
frequently.

--
Rich
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___________________________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________________
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--
John Kreno

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___________________________________________________________________________
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