3 ms·

I knew I was bad at soldering, I didn't know I was THAT bad. I need to take a course.

cushychicken 6y ago
Keep in mind: this stuff has to be as close to perfect as possible because lives depend on it. Unless you're sending your stuff to space, I suspect you can cut yourself a bit of slack here. :)
- konschubert 6y ago
  The fact that my components keep failing says otherwise. ;)
EarthIsHome 6y ago
"The bigger the blob, the better the job."
- mordechai9000 6y ago
  Some of my work looks like I was trying to use solder as a conformal coating.
NDizzle 6y ago
Yeah. Damn. I hope nobody at NASA looks at some of the repairs I've had to make on my riding mower. I blame the work angles of some of those jobs...
- alextheparrot 6y ago
  If it makes you feel any better, I burned my hand pretty bad when mowing the lawn as a kid when my dad’s exhaust pipe repair fell off. No harm, no foul is what I mean to say, haha.
  - NDizzle 6y ago
    I had to fix the exhaust on this one too! This mower came with the property I bought this summer. You'd be hard pressed to find something less maintained than this mower. It was missing both exhaust bolts where the exhaust connects to the manifold. I had some left over "make-a-gasket" material so I used that and some old machine screws that I had available. Seriously, half of the exhaust was just banging around, exhaust leak city with it coming straight out of the manifold.
aerostable_slug 6y ago
>course I used to work with a developer whose second job was with HP back in the 70s. He was hired as a technician building lab equipment and had to be prequalified from an educational and trades/skill perspective to be hired. Then they taught him to solder again. Their standards were apparently incredibly high.
- at_a_remove 6y ago
  This reminds me of my drafting classes (back when paper was used). I was re-taught how to make letters. One would think that it would not be necessary but for their standards, it was.
_carbyau_ 6y ago
You are not alone. I have a cheapo soldering iron with a roll of ... metal melty wire in a plastic bag that I pull out and struggle for 30mins to make a basic connection almost certainly the wrong way. But I flick the little switch and the little fan comes on and I am happy. But I should do a course. Or at least google some more. I don't even know many of the terms people are using here...

Keep in mind: this stuff has to be as close to perfect as possible because lives depend on it. Unless you're sending your stuff to space, I suspect you can cut yourself a bit of slack here. :)

konschubert 6y ago
The fact that my components keep failing says otherwise. ;)

EarthIsHome 6y ago

"The bigger the blob, the better the job."

mordechai9000 6y ago
Some of my work looks like I was trying to use solder as a conformal coating.

NDizzle 6y ago

Yeah. Damn. I hope nobody at NASA looks at some of the repairs I've had to make on my riding mower. I blame the work angles of some of those jobs...

alextheparrot 6y ago
If it makes you feel any better, I burned my hand pretty bad when mowing the lawn as a kid when my dad’s exhaust pipe repair fell off. No harm, no foul is what I mean to say, haha.
- NDizzle 6y ago
  I had to fix the exhaust on this one too! This mower came with the property I bought this summer. You'd be hard pressed to find something less maintained than this mower. It was missing both exhaust bolts where the exhaust connects to the manifold. I had some left over "make-a-gasket" material so I used that and some old machine screws that I had available. Seriously, half of the exhaust was just banging around, exhaust leak city with it coming straight out of the manifold.

aerostable_slug 6y ago

>course I used to work with a developer whose second job was with HP back in the 70s. He was hired as a technician building lab equipment and had to be prequalified from an educational and trades/skill perspective to be hired. Then they taught him to solder again. Their standards were apparently incredibly high.

at_a_remove 6y ago
This reminds me of my drafting classes (back when paper was used). I was re-taught how to make letters. One would think that it would not be necessary but for their standards, it was.

_carbyau_ 6y ago

You are not alone. I have a cheapo soldering iron with a roll of ... metal melty wire in a plastic bag that I pull out and struggle for 30mins to make a basic connection almost certainly the wrong way. But I flick the little switch and the little fan comes on and I am happy. But I should do a course. Or at least google some more. I don't even know many of the terms people are using here...