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LEB = Low End Box!
DIY MI Electronics: Pedals, Preamps, Amps, Speaker Cabs, etc.
- Thread starter NSYMCE
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Jim C
Royal Corn
Good to know.My buddy Marco has burned through so many cheeseball knockoffs, he's lucky not to have burned down his house too. I'd probably go with this if cheap and cheerful is the game: https://www.amazon.com/Weller-WLC100-40-Watt-Soldering-Station/dp/B000AS28UC
Or buy once cry once with a Hakko 888 and never look back.
I have two Weller soldering stations from the 80's that continue to work safely and didn't realize the low cost stuff was used to start house fires.
If only I could remember where I put the 2nd one....
Andyman
Royal Repurposer
My boss bought a couple of those "cheapies" just to see....
I am surprised, but they actually work. for occasional light duty work go for it, just be careful about the temp readout, one of ours gets too hot and burnt the tip the 1st or second use. Its still useable, but solder wont stick to it any longer.
I am surprised, but they actually work. for occasional light duty work go for it, just be careful about the temp readout, one of ours gets too hot and burnt the tip the 1st or second use. Its still useable, but solder wont stick to it any longer.
Andyman
Royal Repurposer
but for jobsite use, my co worker 3D printed a base that clips on to an 18v drill battery, got a digital iron that works on 18-20 volts, and no 120v cord needed.
I'm on my way to work in a few, ill post a pic.
armyadarkness
Royal Corn
I LOVE mine. I just used it for about 12 hours of plastic welding!
Andyman
Royal Repurposer
"Cordless" soldering station.
There was one Hakko clone called the Aoyue 936 that had a really good rep, but naturally various slimey clones and counterfeits of it flooded the market and I by now I wouldn't trust anything not bought from the factory store. Old Weller WTCP stations can be rebuilt multiple times and parts are still readily available. I had an old beater that was surplussed from the Fluke factory that a former GF picked up when she worked there during their ytearly employee yard sale. I got about 20 more years out of it, but when another rebuild became imminent I moved on to Hakko, which were all still made in Japan at that time.Good to know.
I have two Weller soldering stations from the 80's that continue to work safely and didn't realize the low cost stuff was used to start house fires.
If only I could remember where I put the 2nd one....
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Jim C
Royal Corn
Just occurred to me to double check wattage.
Other than electronics work, I will some times solder as much as 3 pieces of #18 stranded wire.
Is 40 watts enough for that or should I be headed toward 60+ watts?
Here's that same brand but no idea if it's decent. I suppose I could always unplug when not in use.
Other than electronics work, I will some times solder as much as 3 pieces of #18 stranded wire.
Is 40 watts enough for that or should I be headed toward 60+ watts?
Here's that same brand but no idea if it's decent. I suppose I could always unplug when not in use.
How long are the wires? 40 is probably enough if you buy the correct tip for the job (3-4mm screwdriver style would be my choice), but when I upgraded from a 40 watt Hakko to a 60 watt one I found I needed to change tips a bit less often. I'd recommend passing on a bundle with a bunch of cheap ass tips, especially since real Hakko tips will apparently fit.
Andyman
Royal Repurposer
Something really cool for you guys not in the electronic field, is the solder sleeve. Strip the insulation, add a small piece of wire (some come with), heat with a heat gun, instant shield ground.
I like those. Makes a lot of auto jobs easier.
armyadarkness
Royal Corn
I LOVE high heat. Typically the low heat stuff takes a much longer, and that's a lot worse for the parts.
Jim C
Royal Corn
+1
Don't be cookin' on the parts!
Learned this the hard way on a copper pipe, chilled water HVAC job...
But some of the tiny traces on a PC board are just looking to fail if it too hot.
Like the 3 bears...
Don't be cookin' on the parts!
Learned this the hard way on a copper pipe, chilled water HVAC job...
But some of the tiny traces on a PC board are just looking to fail if it too hot.
Like the 3 bears...
My 8 year old 500 watt DIY head redux, finally upgraded the preamp section with some tweaks aimed at five string fretted bass happiness:
The original version was already pretty danged good sounding IMNSFHO, but over the years I've refined control feel and interactivity a lot and since I already had a spare set of circuit boards it just made sense to modify this build rather than build a whole new amp from scratch.
The original version was already pretty danged good sounding IMNSFHO, but over the years I've refined control feel and interactivity a lot and since I already had a spare set of circuit boards it just made sense to modify this build rather than build a whole new amp from scratch.
ficelles
Unicorn Ninja
Guess what I did in lockdown...
Jim C
Royal Corn
Label pedals?
ficelles
Unicorn Ninja
I knew I forgot something...
Are you rolling your own boards and/or designs, or...?
Nice to see you here BTW. I'm still on TB under the usual moniker, no idea how I've avoided even a warning in 19 years over there. It used to be a lot easier to get away with stuff back whan I first joined in any case.
ficelles
Unicorn Ninja
All PCBs from FuzzDog, PedalPCB, MusicPCB, DeadEndFX and Parasit Studio. And amazingly almost all sold now!
Cool. I'll probably be trying a few PPCB builds soon, as he will most likely be offering one of my open source designs in pedal friendly form and we both like the barter system. I very rarely do clone builds of anything though, I'm just not wired that way for whatever reason. I really enjoy doing board layouts too, but I reckon that's a personal problem!
Is anyone in the UK offering inexpensive UV printing a la Tayda Electronics or Amplifyfun? AF is nearly local to me and just a joy to deal with logistically, and everything they've done for me so far has been pretty sweet.