ladyada’s toolbox
Nov 18, 2008 Hobby
Over at ladyada’s ranting, lady ada has a list of her suggested tools to get you started in electronics. Here are a few of her suggestions:
- Panavise Jr - PCB holder and general purpose 360 degree mini-vise. I use mine every day, they are the best thing for holding your circuit board steady, and the soft jaws are not conductive so you can do power tests at the same time.
- Diagonal cutters (model Xcelite 170M) - the best diagonal cutters, these are comfortable to use and have strong nippers for perfect trimming of wires and leads. I’ve used my pair every day for years. (I need to get myself one of these)
- 30W adjustable temperature soldering iron (Model XY258) - with a temperature control on the side and indicator LED so you can go from standard to lead-free to silver solder. Comes with a 1/16? tip which is good for through hole and some larger surface mount assembly. (Don’t underestimate the usefulness of a good soldering iron)
There are a few other tools she recommends and she actually sells her kit in the adafruit store. The only thing I would add to that list would be a little fan to blow/suck the solder fumes away. Of course that could always be your first project.
What would you add?
Tags: adafruit, electronics, ladyada, multimeter, solder, tools
So you think you can solder?
Jul 31, 2008 Video
IEEE Spectrum has a video from the NYC Soldering championship held earlier this year. The kit to be built is the TV-B-Gone which turns off all TVs in its range (which can get quite annoying at times). Here’s a video of it in action:
The people participating in the NYC Soldering championship race to build their kits against time. It’s quite awesome to see them in action. Check out the video here.
A guide to lead-free soldering
May 26, 2008 Hobby
Hack a Day has a great post about using lead-free solder. It explains why leaded solder is dangerous, the options you have when choosing a lead-free solder, gives some general soldering tips and downsides of using solder without lead.