[Boatanchors] Re: Kit Horror Stories / WRL Screen Modulator

[krk@ix.netcom.com]

  My first two kits (Knight Ocean Hopper & Heath OM-3 O-scope) were built with my 
Wen 250 watt solder gun. I learned to be fast on the O-scopes PC board. BTW I still 
have the Wen. It looks & works great but not for them there electronic things 
anymore.

73 Ken kb7rgg

> > as it was my first kit I didn't have a lot of tools or even a soldering
> > iron.  When I pointed this out to my parents they bought me a pair of
> > longnose pliers (still have em), dykes, screwdrivers etc.  No soldering
> > iron as they were afraid I'd "burn the house down" I guess.
>
> As an aside, my folks bought me one of the small (100W?) Wen soldering guns for
> Christmas that year.  I guess they figured that I'd "stuck" with building that
> kit and could be trusted not to "Burn the house down" and it was only hot while
> you squeezed the trigger.  I used that little gun for many many years.  In fact,
> I think I had it right up to the time I joined the USAF but it's anybody's guess
> what happened to it.  After using that gun for so many years, using Weller guns
> in the service with their odd shapped tips seemed awkward to me.  Besides, if
> your "last tip" burned through in the middle of a project you could use a piece
> of solid 14ga wire.
>
> 73 de Phil  KO6BB