[R-390] soldering equipment

[mikea]

On Wed, Jan 26, 2005 at 11:11:32AM -0000, charles bolland wrote:
> Hi all,

> Boy have I ruined so many circuit boards trying to decoder!  I finally
> stumbled onto a desoldering tool that seems to work better than anything
> I've used in the past.  It's the Radio Shack desoldering iron.  Don't know
> the stock number, but it has a rubber pumping part on it which makes it easy
> to suck the hot solder off of the component.  Anyway, it has help me a lot.
> Since I don't have three hands, it is easier to control.

> I have always wanted a cheap soldering stand that will hold my iron when
> it's hot while not being used.  All the ones I have found were too light
> weight to stay on the table without toppling over.  I finally figured out a
> good stand for my soldering iron.  I use a coffee cup.  I started out using
> a regular coffee cup, but found that didn't do the trick.  Now I use one of
> those wide bottom cups that are made to stand while we are driving our
> autos.  This type of cup holds me soldering iron without falling out and
> burning me.    I am still working on a way to get another "hand" to use when
> soldering.

I'd pretty much decided to get a RatShack desoldering iron already; you
just confirmed me in my intent.

I tried a coffee cup and a glass ashtray as soldering iron holders, after
I bought the new soldering iron from RatShack: it was so tip- heavy that
I couldn't just put it down. My trusty old Ungar iron from the late 1950s
and early 1960s, which put together some dozens of kits and projects, is
handle-heavy, and so I didn't have to worry about a holder for it, but the
tip is only good for soldering about ¼-acre at a time, and so is unsuitable
for modern boards and projects.

The ashtray wasn't made of Pyrex, and broke from uneven thermal expansion.
The coffee cup wasn't Pyrex, either, but I decided that I wasn't all that
comfortable drinking from anything that had had molten Pb alloy in it,
however many times I ran it through the dishwasher.

So I bought the RatShack "third hand", which has two alligator clips on
universal joints attached to an adjustable bar, a magnifying glass[1],
*and* a good soldering iron holder. This is about the second-best thing
since girls, and not at all far in the ratings from sliced bread.

[1] I don't need a magnifying glass! I'm only 58, and my eyes work Just
	Fine, Thank _YOU_! Ohhh ... I can see what I'm working on. *Cool*!

-- 
Mike Andrews, KE5DMQ
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin