15 ms·

Setting up an electronics workshop

292 points by saeedesmaili 4y ago

gswdh 4y ago
As an electronic engineer of 10 years, one of the most useful things in my lab is blue tac[1]. It's so useful and versatile as a third hand for soldering or keep things from moving around attached to cables etc. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu_Tack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu_Tack
- jolmg 4y ago
  I don't see why this was flagged.
- unxdfa 4y ago
  Good advice. It's also cheaper than a Panavise :)
  - amelius 4y ago
    I'm still tempted to buy one of these stations with flexible arms: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832787531236.html https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832787531236.html Anyone having good/bad experience with this kind of tool?
    - djmips 4y ago
      They can be useful but often the cheap ones are not that good / fall apart. You can also just build your own with heavier wire like used in home wiring and some quality crocodile clips. Attach to a heavy base. I also recommend the blue tack on top of the crocodile clip positioners.
    - zrobotics 4y ago
      I tried one of those and was sorely disappointed, at least the model I had the arms were way too flimsy. It's super easy to build one that is better, Lowe's sells wire by the foot. Get either 12 or 10 AWG wire, crimp alligator clips on it, and attach the other end to a piece of plywood with 2 screws, looping the wire first around one then the other for stability. This works way better, and if you find the arms are either too flimsy or not sturdy enough it's super easy to modify. I attached mine with machine screws and have 14awg and 10awg arms that I swap between depending on how heavy the thing I'm holding is. Eventually the copper wire will work harden and break, but I haven't had an arm snap in the 6 years I've been using this. Probably would cost 15 bucks total and the only tool you need to build it is a drill (assuming you have electronics tools already).
    - unxdfa 4y ago
      Any tentacle monsters tend to just get in the way I have found.
    - benhurmarcel 4y ago
      I like that one. https://omnifixo.com/ https://omnifixo.com/
- ta988 4y ago
  That's hear stable? I would not have thought thanks for the tip.
the__alchemist 4y ago
The recommendations here are surprising. Some examples: - No mention of hot air - No mention of fume extractors/fan - Recommendation of a point tip vice chisel - No mention of solder paste - No mention of different flux application methods - No mention of braid/wick - No mention of hot plate or oven - No mention of tweezers - Mentions scope, but not logic analyzer - No mention of copper etc tip cleaner
- jrockway 4y ago
  He seems to be mostly interested in building through-hole designs, which avoids the need for a lot of that specialist equipment. I do think you need a good desoldering solution for through-hole work, though, and he should talk about that a little. (For me, solder braid is always ... a relief? You struggle for a while and it does finally work once you are frustrated enough. Solder suckers are nice when they work, though!) I kind of see where he's coming from but on the other hand, if you have some budget for hand tools, surface mount work is not as hard as you think. The Universe wants it to work; you heat up a board with surface mount components and solder paste on it, and entropy pulls the components to their correct position. So instead of waging war with the laws of physics, they're there to help you. A light touch and magnification are all you need. I don't have a hot air station (or reflow oven) and I'm perfectly happy building surface mount designs. There are some things I can't do -- super small passives, BGA chips, etc. That's easier to design around than through-hole only. My tip for the send-to-fab-and-wait workflow is to get someone to "code review" your design. Maybe they will find a dumb mistake and save you a week for a new revision.
  - ofalkaed 4y ago
    >Solder suckers are nice when they work, though! They are great things once you learn their quirks. Cut a notch in the nozzle that is slightly smaller than your iron's tip, a few uses will mold that notch to your iron's tip so you can keep the iron on the joint when sucking without affecting the seal. Add more solder to the joint before sucking, this will help get a good seal as the sucker's tip will sit in that solder. The sucker will have no issues getting the excess. Don't force sucked solder out through the nozzle, if the piston is more difficult than normal to depress than unscrew the end to clear the solder, forcing it through will only distort the nozzle and shorten its life. Take the time to clean and lubricate at the end of the day. Bits of solder which get trapped in the sucker chew up the o-rings and ruins the vacuum. Take it apart, run a small stiff bottle brush through the body a few times to remove any solder, remove any solder in the nozzle, clean the plunger. Apply petroleum jelly to all threads and the plunger, reassemble. If function quickly degrades after cleaning/lubricating than your o-rings are worn, replace them. O-rings are cheap, keep a supply on hand.
KaiserPro 4y ago
My only tip, and this is super basic, is spend the money on silver solder. It handles much more like lead solder, and flows freely, it'll make learning to solder a fucktonne easier. its about twice as expensive, but will make your life easier as you don't need to apply as much heat. So you'll save in fried delicate components.
- unxdfa 4y ago
  I wouldn't bother. I use silver solder for special occasions (Felder stuff) but it's too expensive to use all the time. You're probably fine with 60/40 loctite multicore. Just keep your parts, iron and boards clean and it's no harder.
  - twawaaay 4y ago
    Seconded. Silver is expensive and really doesn't do anything useful for an amateur. Decent soldering station + correct and well taken care of soldering tip + thin multicore 60/40 + tools and supplies to clean your board + a bit of soldering training. There is lots of really good instructional videos on YouTube which is how I learned to solder.
    - jacquesm 4y ago
      > doesn't do anything useful for an amateur It really depends on what you are building. If you're building a HAM transmitter then it is very useful.
      - unxdfa 4y ago
        I’ve built a couple of fairly hefty transmitters without silver solder. I don’t get your point. The main use cases are certain alloy joints. I’ve seen it quoted as having better mechanical strength but that’s not what’s solder is for!
        jacquesm 4y ago
        > I’ve seen it quoted as having better mechanical strength but that’s not what’s solder is for! That depends. Back in the day when I did this work large end stages were built pretty much 'in the air' and in the stuff I worked on there were trimmers and coils that were pretty heavy and that were only supported by the solder. So we used silver for those joints, and they held up pretty good. Hefty => 1KW and up... As for the skin effect, that is the reason we did it in the first place, but I never had access to the kind of gear that would have allowed me to test in practice what the difference was and I've long ago stopped doing this sort of thing.
peatfreak 4y ago
I'd be interested in seeing other "setting up an electronics workshop" articles by other engineers. Luke Gorrie, for example, has an article here: https://github.com/lukego/soldering https://github.com/lukego/soldering
- mindcrime 4y ago
  It's a video, not an article, but here's Dave "EEVblog" Jones on "How to set up an electronics lab". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_PbjbRaO2E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_PbjbRaO2E
  - bmitc 4y ago
    I haven't watched that particular video, but I would exercise caution with his videos. He can often exercise some rather strong opinions due to: (1) he's right, (2) he misunderstands the product or a feature but claims it's an issue, or (3) some arbitrary reason based upon the name printed on the product. And (2) is often coupled with (3). This caution is probably advised on many electronics videos, especially from old heads because their American made or Japanese made gear from 30 years ago is better, which is often unhelpful because that gear isn't available anymore and is subjective anyway. Or entry level gear is compared to their $1,000+ soldering iron or $5,000+ oscilloscope. I have been doing a lot of research lately for some entry level gear that will last and suit my needs without breaking the bank, and it's very difficult to sort through inaccuracies and biases against certain gear.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - mindcrime 4y ago
      He can often exercise some rather strong opinions due to: (1) he's right, (2) he misunderstands the product or a feature but claims it's an issue, or (3) some arbitrary reason based upon the name printed on the product. That's fair, although I would say the same is true for most (if not all) people commenting on this topic! Myself included as far as that goes. I am, for example, a fan of Hakko kit (I use a Hakko soldering station as well as the aforementioned FR-301 desoldering gun) and am an unabashed Rigol fanboi when it comes to test equipment. Rigol made my oscilloscope, bench multimeter, lab power supply, programmable load, signal generator, and spectrum analyzer. Outside of Rigol I'm also a fanboi for old HPAK (HP/Agilent/Keysight) kit. I have an HPAK logic analyzer, modulation domain analyzer, frequency counter, and dynamic signal analyzer. And I'm still lusting after an HP 3458a one of these days. That said, I try to avoid falling into complete fanboy'ism when recommending stuff to others. There are lots of good brands out there for most things! I have been doing a lot of research lately for some entry level gear that will last and suit my needs without breaking the bank, and it's very difficult to sort through inaccuracies and biases against certain gear. No doubt. For me, the pattern I fell into is reflected in what I wrote above: I buy mostly Rigol kit for anything I buy new. And that's because Rigol strikes me as a good compromise between cost, quality / functionality, and "hackability." And then for more specialized / niche stuff, if I can find a used HPAK instrument for a good price on Ebay or whatever, I'll go with that. So far I feel like that strategy has allowed me to get my lab kitted out fairly nicely, without breaking the bank. But I'm sure even my lab would seem extravagant to somebody, especially the prototypical "starving college student".
nocsi 4y ago
For electronics, I think showing is better than telling. Hence, it’s more productive for me to consume and replicate YouTubers like Carl Bugeja [https://youtube.com/@CarlBugeja https://youtube.com/@CarlBugeja], and seeing what they can practically produce with their setups. It answers the question of ‘why’ as well. Self soldering circuits are beautiful
bsder 4y ago
If you are going to do electronics soldering a lot, I would personally recommend to stump up for one of the RF soldering systems (Thermaltronics or Metcal) as absolutely soon as you can possibly afford them. The difference to your soldering is night and day. I cry for all the time I wasted soldering before I got a Metcal system. Given that he is recommending Wellers that are in the same price range there is no reason not to step up to the RF systems if you can.
- unxdfa 4y ago
  100% agree with this. Metcal is life changing.
- kayson 4y ago
  I got an old metcal station from work that was destined for the recycling and it is amazing. I'll never use any other kind.
tuetuopay 4y ago
Lots of sound advice, I especially like the mention of lead-free solder not being bad at all and the pencil soldering iron. Some surprises though: - the multimeter should not be an afterthought like it seems to be in the article. - I now tend to recommend buying a logic analyzer before buying an oscilloscope unless you're doing analog voodoo. Most of the time you're troubleshooting why is that darned peripheral over whatever bus is not reponding properly to your commands. Even a saleae clone is fine for most hobby work and won't break the bank if you're not happy (but please buy genuine ones if you can afford them!).
- m-ee 4y ago
  I spent around $500 for a used Logic Pro 16 and it’s easily my most valuable purchase. Even for analog voodoo it’s good enough most of the time as I’m debugging logic level signals. I have a very capable Tek scope with all the bells and whistles unlocked but only plug it in if I’m working at higher voltages than the saleae can handle.
  - bsder 4y ago
    Far too expensive. Someone just setting up an elab is WAY better off buying one of the ubiquitous Chinesium 24MHz 8-channel USB logic analyzers. In addition, a newbie is way more likely to "just try it out" if the thing they can destroy is only $10. I have lots of really nice equipment, but even I will pull the cheapass logic analyzers out when I'm doing something that has the possibility of destroying my more expensive stuff.
    - twawaaay 4y ago
      24MHz 8-ch is a bit insufficient for debugging most of real stuff which is when the real fun is. Also IMO logical analyser and scope are two things where you want to spend money when you are starting with electronics. This is how you are going to learn stuff and how you are going to debug anything you do. You need good scope and analyser EXACTLY because you are a newb. I am personally using DSLogic U3Pro16 which was $300 when I bought it and I can highly recommend it.
VLM 4y ago
Like a lot of skills / crafts to some extent you can trade hours of experience for dollars. You will probably learn more and produce better joints by melting $50 of solder than buying a $500 iron. You "can" intermix real solder with lead-free but thats another skill type thing where you might be somewhat better off with one reel of leaded for rework. Assuming you get into rework. If you get into ancient Tek o-scopes you'll need solder containing a little silver, etc, there's an infinite variety to the hobby. Some fluxes turn into a sticky mess and you'll rapidly learn you need flux remover, so there is such a thing as "too much flux". One workholding tool you'll need if you get into thru-hole digital is a piece of wood the size of your pcb, you insert your sockets, place wood on top, flip over, wood holds sockets in place, solder away... If you don't understand the specs and limitations of your instrument, don't waste money on it. Find a guy who's into the hobby and has hand-me-downs and get your oscope that way. If you don't understand why you can't run full bandwidth on a 1x probe or coherently explain why you need a high BW scope you're mostly wasting money. On the other hand I am spoiled by mixed-signal oscopes that can decode I2C and many other protocols "on the fly" pretty cool. Likewise with power supplies, if you know why you need dual outputs, then you need dual outputs, but if you're not into that aspect of the hobby... likewise DC output over 18V or so, or currents over three amps, if you don't already know why you need that, you don't need that. I would suggest that "pretty much everyone" needs clip leads. You'll rapidly learn why some are unimaginably cheap and others cost $5 each, you can pay once for the tool or you can pay in frustration every time you use a tool LOL. (edited to add WRT the above, you'll rapidly learn the difference between low cost and cheap. A 1970s HP solid state scope is very low cost, but not cheap, for example. And a noob will not be capable of doing work that would have been cutting edge in 1975) But what do I know I only got started in this madness in 1980 by assembling a Heathkit AM radio kit, which still works BTW.
- Doxin 4y ago
  > You "can" intermix real solder with lead-free Let's not pretend lead free solder is somehow less real than leaded solder. Unless you plan on repairing pretty old devices you definitely should use unleaded solder. It's really not any harder to use than leaded these days, it's just slightly different. You mostly just want your soldering iron to be a fair bit hotter.
lifeisstillgood 4y ago
I am trying to gather local support to turn a empty building into a games cafe / library / small workspace. These skills are a vital grounding in modern life (I maybe watching too much perun but modifying small drones is an existential skill in Ukraine today) Anyway not being political this sort of skill is a hands on skill - and youtube and blog posts can only go so far What I meant to say is I would be interested in hearing from anyone doing something similar in their local area
amelius 4y ago
Speaking of which, what is your favorite way of joining two wires in a straight line?
- severino 4y ago
  You mean something like this? https://www.adafruit.com/product/3786 https://www.adafruit.com/product/3786
- synack 4y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Union_splice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Union_splice
- the__alchemist 4y ago
  Flux+touch: strip a relatively long length of both wires. Twist them together in a way so that the whole thing remains in a line. Touch with flux. Touch iron tip to solder. Touch soldered tip to wires. (Flux will flow through) Heat shrink after. (You may need to place the heat shrink first)
  - jvandonsel 4y ago
    Yes. My workflow usually includes: 5) scream obscenities because you forgot to thread the heat shrink tubing before soldering. 6) snip wires 7) goto step 1
- mindcrime 4y ago
  Stranded wire to stranded wire, or solid wire to solid wire? Or mixing stranded and solid? Same gauge or mixed gauge?
  - amelius 4y ago
    All of them, as in practice you'll encounter them all sooner or later.
- unxdfa 4y ago
  Err don’t!
II2II 4y ago
The most valuable piece of advice is: make your decisions based upon what you plan on using your workshop for rather than following generic advice. Analog differs from digital, low frequencies from high frequencies, repair from construction. Even once you know your domain, how deep you plan on pursuing it is also a factor. Advice like that provided in the article rubs me the wrong way since it both throws away nuance and deters people who are even mildly price sensitive. On the one hand they suggest that the equipment facilitates learning, on the other hand they are suggesting a $400 soldering iron. That iron will make things easier if you already know what your doing. It isn't going to protect the learner from destroying their first tip, even though the tip will cost as much as a cheap iron. It isn't going to protect the learner from applying heat improperly or for too long because, at best, the learner will only have book learning to guide their use. But it isn't all about deterring price conscious learners, there is also the issue of encouraging them to succumb to temptation. I mean, who doesn't want a good oscilloscope? Oscilloscopes are awesome. That said, a logic analyzer is going to be more useful if you're working with digital circuits, even once you factor in the sophisticated triggering and (limited) decoding abilities of modern models. They also require a fair amount of experience before purchase or you will end up with one that does not meet your needs (unless you have extremely deep pockets).
- akiselev 4y ago
  Recommending a beginner buy a $400 Weller soldering iron is particularly egregious. If you’re spending that much money get a used Metcal or just don’t bother.
  - buescher 4y ago
    Bingo. If you can't afford a used Metcal, you can afford a Hakko clone and Hakko tips, and if you can't afford that, there's a pretty small gradient from a $5 Harbor Freight open-loop carpet-burner to whatever else is in-between.
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    Just buy a used one. They pop up with great regularity on second hand sites. If the tip isn't usable then just get a fresh tip and you should be good for many years.
blt 4y ago
The advice I wish I knew is to not buy an inventory of parts. I bought a bunch of resistors, capacitors, LEDs, etc., with no specific plan. Most of it sits unused. There's no point in keeping an inventory because almost every project will require a parts order anyway. Just order what you need per-project.
- etrautmann 4y ago
  mostly true, but always infuriating when you need a specific resistor value and don't have it. I like having a resistor kit around, but it doesn't need to be a big sorted set of drawers, can be a box of bags from digikey
  - buescher 4y ago
    Yeah, resistor kits. Supplement them with an ample supply of 1K and 10K resistors.
  - OJFord 4y ago
    Ehh, if you're not doing analogue stuff how specific do you really need? And even if you do you can combine a few to get closer to what you need. Like if you have 220/390R & 1k & 10k & 1M on hand, are you really ever going to be that annoyed for breadboarding purposes that you don't have 680R or whatever?
    - naasking 4y ago
      Or a set of good pots?
    - eternityforest 4y ago
      I think that I could go for an entire decade not needing any passives other than powers of ten except for power supply work when you need an exact ratio for feedback. But analog tinkerers do things that are very different from what I do!
  - dvh 4y ago
    E12 resistor kit (86 values * 10pcs) is $6 on AliExpress.
willis936 4y ago
Something I would add: LTSpice! Free (except for your time), but once you build up a muscle memory you find issues with parts before you order them. Just recently I used this to discover that I had missed an opamps minimum signal input voltage was V- + 2V when I was trying to amplify a 0-2.5V signal with a unipolar power supply. Playing in SPICE taught me that I need rail-to-rail opamps if I want to work with low voltages and unipolar supplies.
- unxdfa 4y ago
  Agree with this. LTspice will cost you a bit of sanity too but it’s worth it.
prova_modena 4y ago
I would add a good fume extractor as a must-buy to this list if you're soldering once a week or more. The fumes from flux are noxious and prolonged exposure can cause sensitization. I have always been slightly sensitive to flux fumes, so since I began soldering on a daily basis for work I have always used some form of fume ventilation. I use a lot of the MG Chemicals 835 flux mentioned in the article. Even with a ducted extraction fan removing the smoke from my workspace, I began to develop headaches and fatigue from exposure to the flux vapor. These symptoms worsened over time and began starting with less and less exposure. Now I use a fancy Hakko FA430 extractor, which has a bulky HEPA filter and allows me to solder all day without ill effects. Even so, I watch my exposure and have drastically reduced my liquid flux use as just the flux aroma can make me feel a little off. I believe I have been permanently sensitized from using sub-optimal ventilation and that's not a good feeling. I don't think you need to go buy the $700 FA430 I use, but I would say the extractor needs to have: - a hose/duct that can be positioned right at the soldering site - some kind of HEPA filtration or equivalent, even if it is exhausted outside your workspace - well sealed ducting/hose/fan housing, so fumes don't leak out. I first used a duct fan with some hoses and loc-line for fume extraction, and I now believe it was leaking fumes into my workspace the whole time because the system wasn't airtight :( Those little "benchtop extractors" with a fan and a carbon filter are absolutely useless. I wouldn't be surprised to learn companies buy them for "regulatory compliance purposes" as they don't really do much of anything except be cheap.
- bmitc 4y ago
  I've been recently trying to set up a soldering station at home and am still in the research phase. I haven't been able to find one cheaper than the FA-430. It's weird as you can get a nice air purifier with a HEPA filter in it for much cheaper than the FA-430. I don't plan on soldering all that much, and so had been looking at the FA-400. I was assuming it was better than nothing.
  - prova_modena 4y ago
    My belief is that people who review the FA-400 positively would be as well served by a regular fan (and even better served by a box fan with a decent furnace filter in front of it). Possibly they are infrequent users or just not sensitive to flux fumes like I am. My understanding is that activated carbon filters like in the FA-400 rapidly lose effectiveness when exposed to the air. It's probably possible to DIY something as effective as the FA-430 by adapting an existing purifier or fan, as long as you carefully seal the pre-filter path. Since I use the extractor every day in a workshop with coworkers, I need something durable and idiotproof with parts and filters easily available. So it made sense for us to shell out for the FA-430.
jacquesm 4y ago
For solder I would recommend you source a roll of 63/37, it will make your life much easier even if it uses lead. Add a fume extractor and you should be just fine if you don't solder 24x7.
m463 4y ago
What do folks think about this new generation of smart usb-c soldering irons with a processor? (ts10x and pinecil) My friend who has soldered professionally swears by metcal.
- nikau 4y ago
  I have both a hakko and a ts-100, and honestly I end up just using the ts-100 most of the time as I can run it off a small battery pack. Its kinda like having a dyson battery vacuum vs a proper AC one - the AC vacuum has way better suction, but the dyson is so light and convenient to use and good enough for most things.
  - ansgri 4y ago
    Depends on the AC vacuum — my old Dyson V6 in turbo mode outsucks most AC-powered vacuums I've dealt with. Sometimes new tech is just better.
    - nikau 4y ago
      You must have used some very very shitty AC vacuums. I have a dyson v6 and a nilfisk x150 - the nilfisk motor is 1600 watts, they aren't even in the same ballpark suction power wise. Without the motor brush head the v6 is pretty useless even in turbo mode.
      - thenthenthen 4y ago
        Dyson V8 here...it cant even suck a rice grain on high power mode. Worst vacuum cleaners ever
        nikau 4y ago
        Out of curiosity I just did a bit of a google, my AC vacuum is 6x the measured suction of the dyson in turbo mode: v6 normal - 24 air watts v6 turbo - 100 air watts nilfisk x150 - 600 air watts
- 4y ago
sacrosancty 4y ago
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mindcrime 4y ago
I'll add this: get a nice de-soldering gun. I use a Hakko FR-301[1], which while not exactly "cheap" isn't "insanely expensive" either. The thing about it is, you never want to have to use it. To use a metaphor, if you do any shade-tree (or professional) auto work, having to pull out the FR-301 is like having to pull out the left-hand twist drill bits and a set of EZ-OUTs. When that happens, you know you screwed something up. BUT, when you do pull out the desoldering gun (or the EZ-OUT kit) and it saves your ass, you feel very good knowing you have it in your hip pocket. I probably use my FR-301 a couple of times a year, but I think it paid for itself the first time I used it. [1]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BKSLLG9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BKSLLG9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...
- johnwalkr 4y ago
  I’ve had one at work and while very nice to have, at home for hobby stuff I think you can get by with solder wick (it does take practice!) and chip quick alloy. Chip quick alloy is a very low melting temperature solder. After using it to dilute all solder joints on a part, it’s easy to melt all pins/pads at once and pull the part off.
mindcrime 4y ago
One other thing I'll throw out there: the author is right, IMO, to eschew "generic" advice. Not that there is no advice which is generally useful, but the "Devil is in the details". And in particular, I'd say that's extra true with test equipment. The kind of test equipment you need really does depend a lot on what kind of work you plan to do. For example, if you don't do any RF related work, you aren't very likely to need a spectrum analyzer, and especially not a high-end one. FFT mode on a scope will probably serve one well enough if they're not doing RF. Conversely, if you are doing RF work (where I mean, building or repairing radio transmitters and receivers) then you probably very much want a dedicated spectrum analyzer, and probably an RF power meter as well. Similar arguments could be made around logic analyzers... if you aren't interested in doing a lot of digital logic work, and especially not high-speed digital logic, you probably don't need a dedicated logic analyzer. For retro-computing stuff and debugging simple stuff you can probably get by with one of those cheap little USB logic analyers[1] and Sigrok[2]. Now probably everyone wants at least one decent hand-held DMM, a lab power supply, and an at least halfway decent oscilloscope. But beyond that, you really can tailor your test equipment choices largely based on what kind of stuff you find yourself doing. And just to throw one other random anecdote out there: when I was building my lab, I bought a decent dedicated bench multimeter relatively early on. It wasn't the first thing I bought, but it was maybe the third or fourth. In hindsight, I rarely turn it on, and it probably gets less use than anything else in my lab, including seemingly niche devices like a programmable load. It turns out, I prefer using one or more handheld DMM's over using the bench DMM. I can't even tell you exactly why that is, so take it for what it's worth. But a benchtop DMM has been just short of useless for me. shrug [1]: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/18627 https://www.sparkfun.com/products/18627 [2]: https://sigrok.org/wiki/Main_Page https://sigrok.org/wiki/Main_Page
- chazeon 4y ago
  Handheld multimeter is what i played with when i was a child, there is always one sitting in my dad’s drawer. So it was a first piece of equipment i bought when i started doing electronics work.
I_AM_A_SMURF 4y ago
I'm surprised it's not mentioned (I guess the author doesn't do anything small) but a microscope was like my third purchase after solder station and scope and I've loved every minute of playing with it.
spookthesunset 4y ago
Something I never see much mention is how the hell to organize all this stuff. Especially if your space is limited. Electronics hobbies are a magnet for collecting little bits and bots and, while infrequently used, are vital to a project when they are needed.
- atoav 4y ago
  As someone who runs two electronics workshops (one at home, one at university) the only true solution is to get yourself storage solutions with a ton of seperate compartments and different sizes and label/use them with discipline. Same goes for equipment and cables. Cables either go into boxes or onto the cable holder depending how often you need them. Equipment goes into the labeled drawer. For projects I currently just put them into a cardboard box with their parts and label that box. Beyond a certain scale I recommend using a software like for example https://inventree.org/ https://inventree.org/, especially when you have project boxes with parts in them and need to get ab overview of how much stock you have where.
- tpmx 4y ago
  I'm pretty happy with lots of stackable plastic boxes with click lock lids in a few different sizes (mostly 1 and 2 liters). Like these: https://cdn.abicart.com/shop/9024/art24/h3597/181473597-origpic-a30c86.jpg https://cdn.abicart.com/shop/9024/art24/h3597/181473597-orig... Examples of labels: sensors, displays, switches, pin headers, heat shrink tubing, microcontroller boards. I like being able to move them around to where you need them. Tools go into a drawer at the desk though.
- johnwalkr 4y ago
  Pick a stacking container with lids and compartments available in your region. To use even less space, bags in containers. Resist the urge to use open containers with easy access to everything because as you said, most things are infrequently used.
- unxdfa 4y ago
  All my stuff is in zip lock bags in storage boxes. Avoid drawers which take up a large volume as they’re mostly empty and tend to end up all over the floor when they inevitably fall over.
squarefoot 4y ago
A few thoughts: Scopes: Beware of entry level digital scopes, they can hide things such as overshoots, ringings, etc, and their effective real bandwidth at which they don't distort what they measure is often a lot smaller than the one advertised. If you can buy a good digital one, then go for it, but if all you can afford is a cheap one, then I would keep an old analog one next to it just in case. Multimeters: the problems with cheap Chinese multimeters isn't much accuracy but rather consistency and reliability over time, and of course safety if you use them for critical measurements; some can even rival much more expensive ones during the occasional readings, but they may fail sooner due to contacts corrosion and other problems the good ones wouldn't suffer. Solder wire: I have a life time stock of leaded wire and use it whenever I can. I tried lead free some time ago and didn't like it. However I'm old and solder mostly for hobby, so YMMV of course. Solder iron: I've used for ages my two 1980s old solder guns (25W and 100W), then one day decided to go for a stylus and bought a Hakko 936 clone, and suddenly my solder joints couldn't even come close to the clean ones I did with 20-30 year earlier irons, The problem I later discovered was in the hand piece, namely reduced thermal mass and isolation between heater and tip. I was used for years to soldering guns in which the tip and the heater were the same thing and they also had much higher thermal mass, so touching a pad with the tip wouldn't dramatically lower its temperature ruining the joint. That became a problem with that cheap stylus that I couldn't solve by replacing first the heater and then the entire handpiece. So at the first chance I bought a used Weller TCP (now I have two) and all problems disappeared. If you can't find a used good quality solder iron, I've been positively impressed by the Pinecil by pine64.com (yeah, the same people behind the Pinephone) as it works incredibly well for its price. Parts inventory: depending on how much time you spend on the hobby it may be from useless to invaluable to have parts at hands for repairs/tinkering/etc. If you need them, please stay away from some of the cheap ones sold online: they're mostly crap, especially electrolytic capacitors, transistors and chips. I didn't experience problems with low power resistors (aside thinner leads) and ceramic/poly capacitors assortments, but be careful with everything else, as the chances of ending up with fake relabeled parts is very high, in some cases 100% certain. Some great parts can still be sourced at HAM conventions or shops selling surplus parts. Flea markets too can be a source of parts otherwise almost impossible to find or too expensive: I've found over the years bags of ex TV repair shop parts, big spools of enameled copper wire, panel voltmeters, semiconductors, ferrites, capacitive trimmers etc. Most even brand new.
justinlloyd 4y ago
Couple of interesting points and takeaways from a dabbler and tinkerer of 40+ years: Weller soldering station - I got gifted a professional, but dead, one of these in my youth, after the chap witnessed me heating an iron over an open flame to desolder components. Then he showed me how to repair it. I've been brand loyal ever since. That old iron sits in pride of place on a shelf in my office, but I later went and bought a new Weller, with digital control, and dual outputs to run two heads simultaneously at different temperatures, and also has a temperature lock on each output. A range of tips and a comfort grip handle makes all the difference in the world. Weller also make a good line of electronic work hand tools that are worth investing in. I also like the Weller irons because they can shut off automatically if you don't touch them, then heat right back up super fast when you need them. How many people have gotten called away, accidentally left their iron on, and come back two days later to an odd smell. If you can afford/justify a Metcal soldering station, get one of those instead. But don't waste your money on a Metcal if you aren't serious about your hobby. I am not serious enough to have a Metcal, but I very much like them and have used them. That said, if you just want to get started, get a Pinecil iron. You won't go wrong with it for 90% of what you want to do. You can have mine when you can pry it from my cold dead hands brought on by a lead solder induced coma. Get yourself a few different tips for your iron. Avoid the cheap ones from Amazon, buy the branded ones for your iron. If you do a lot of repair work, a desoldering station is a useful addition. Though wick and a good quality solder sucker goes a long way. Get a cheap hot air rework station if you do any SMT work. Buy solder. Try the cheap stuff. Then go pay for the good stuff. You'll understand why. Use the thin stuff. Get a solder dispenser to put your reel on rather than fighting the reel. Buy flux. Buy cleaning wicks. Practice how to use them. You'll get amazing results if you just solder for a few hours. Sometimes, when you need to join a couple of wires, you don't need to solder them. A heat gun and some no-crimp, self-soldering, heat-shrink butt connectors will do the job most of the time. Dewalt make a nice cordless heat gun and a pretty nice corded heat gun too. I invested heavily in to Akro-Mils organizer storage. I had a number of the classic Akro-Mils organizers that I picked up at Weird Stuff years ago, that are unfortunately no longer made, and the clear plastic drawers have unfortunately degraded and chipped over time. I've bought the newer, flimsier ones, and built a custom cabinet to house them. Add in a 3D printer to the mix and a search on any STL website for Akro-Mils storage, and you have a lot of versatile little drawers. Currently my components and interesting bits of wire sit in 880 individual organizer drawers. For breadboards, there's a wide array of quality. You pay for what you get. Pay for good ones. Realize that bread boards eventually wear out. Magnifying desk lamp - 3x diopter at least, 5x is better. Yes, video scope or stereo microscope is a good addition, but a decent magnifying desk lamp is essential. Don't forget your hand tools. Side snips, flush cut trimmers, wire strippers, Weha/Wera/NWS/Weller pliers of various stripes, tweezers (cheap ones, but get a few different types), Weha screw drivers. An iFixIt screwdriver bits kit. Comfort grip Xacto knife with #11 blades. Metal engineers rule. Desk calculator with electronic formula functions. All these little tools are where you'll go broke and also need to worry about organization. Head mounted optivosor - get a cheap one. For work holding, I highly recommend two of the suction mount Panavise devices, and a range of heads for different work. I also recommend a good pair of helping hands, but avoid the $10 junk you find on Amazon. Again, you get what you pay for, go to a jewelery making store and look for the helping hands they sell. You'll pay through the nose, but you'll never be frustrated with the damn things again. Mine set me back over $150. You can have the Pinecil iron when you can pry it from the cold dead helping hands setup that will still be holding it in the proper position long after I am dead. Circuit diagnostics, Fluke for the meters, and then I go middle of the road for everything else, e.g. Rigol mid-level stuff. I could happily spend a fortune on this stuff, but I'm just a hobbyist. Handheld multimeter is good, benchtop multimeter is better. Have both. Dual or triple output benchtop power supply is a must have. Get two if your budget and desk space will stretch that far. Fume extractor - Weller make a nice one, but any of them will do. Seriously, unless you are soldering hours per day, a cheap fume extractor with a carbon filter will do wonders for your enjoyment. If you are doing hours of day soldering, none of my advice matters as you have more experience at this than I do. Soldering organizer mat - Weller or Hakko. Hang it up on your balcony for a couple of days so that the off-gassing doesn't take over your workspace. Be aware, most organizer mats are not ESD safe. You can get nice ESD ones. You'll pay beaucoup bucks for one that is worth the desk space. I like the Weller mat as it has little pockets to hold components and screws and interesting bits of wire. Cordless drills - get a really nice, lightweight cordless drill, you don't need anything that weighs a lot. Something to put a small hole in something else. I put Festool in my workshop, so I put Festool in my workbench, but a $50 Milkwaukee Fuel on special discount at Home Depot will do just fine. Blue tape. Lots and lots of ****ing blue tape. You can use it to hold components in place, hold wires down while you solder, hold parts for assembly, hold a circuit in place that won't stop skidding around. Cannot be used for gagging someone. Don't bother trying to stock an inventory of parts you might need (I am guilty of this), you'll go broke fast. That said, having common stuff on hand is a no brainer. Sometimes though, it is nice having a lot of ingredients in stock so you can make whatever takes your fancy that day. Not all alligator clips are created equal, and neither are Dupont wires. Inland make some nice cheap ones that won't break the bank. Buy more than you think you will need. Avoid anything sold on Amazon. Go to a physical brick & mortar electronics store, handle their cables, see if they have the good ones. Buy a selection of headers and push together connectors, solder those to your perfboards. It makes assembly and disassembly much easier. You can salvage your SBC at a later date You can easily use little breakout boards. It makes transporting your project a lot easier. Buy some buffer boards if you are like me and sometimes forget to pay attention to the amperage or voltage. Nothing quite like releasing the magic smoke from that over priced Raspberry Pi or Nvidia Jetson because you weren't paying attention.
atoav 4y ago
As someone who teaches soldering since years, the one thing you should realize is: A soldering iron is not a paint brush, that means if you try to put solder onto the iron and then "paint" it onto the connection it will not work well Solder flows to the places where it is hot enough. So if you wanna solder to form a connection between a lead and a pad you need to heat up both enough to make the solder melt if it touches that part. It can totally be the case that your iron cannot supply that amount of heat, especially if the tipp is oxidized and it is a cheap iron. Also: different types of solder have different melting temperatures. Finally: keep everything clean. The iron, the PCB, the parts
- robotguy 4y ago
  What I typically tell people is "solder will stick to the part that melts it." If you melt the solder with the iron tip, it will stick to the iron. If you use the iron tip to heat the joint and melt the solder with the joint, it will stick to the joint. The physics isn't correct but it's served me well as an easily remembered rule-of-thumb.
  - atoav 4y ago
    That is a good way to put it as well, thanks for sharing.
cellularmitosis 4y ago
For whatever reason, there is a plague of cheap breadboards which are basically unusable. The sockets require too much insertion force, which intersects terribly with the trend of cheap resistors having very thin and weak legs which bend out of the way rather than insert. The BB830 from BusBoard Prototype Systems (search BB830 on Amazon) is one which is a bit pricey but doesn’t suffer from this problem. Tayda electronics is a great source of inexpensive resistors which dont suffer from cheap, thin leads.
morjom 4y ago
the TS100 soldering iron and Engineer SS-02 pump have gotten a lot of praise over the years. add a multimeter and a filtered fan and I think that's a decent, even portable set-up.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
severino 4y ago
What would you say is the best (but affordable!) way to solder SMT parts like this kind of connectors with small pitches? https://no.mouser.com/images/marketingid/2016/img/163696678.png https://no.mouser.com/images/marketingid/2016/img/163696678.... Last time I tried using the basics (Hakko soldering iron, with all kind of tips, flux, different types of solder...) I only got a bad soldering with lots of contacts between pins, and some other pins seemed to make a poor connection. Also, as those are not very common parts, I could not have it soldered in a fab like JLCPCB and the like...
- chongli 4y ago
  I think your cheapest route is to build a DIY reflow oven using a cheap toaster oven. If you don’t want to design the controller yourself, one option is to buy a kit such as the Controleo3 [1]. [1] https://www.whizoo.com/controleo3 https://www.whizoo.com/controleo3
- benhurmarcel 4y ago
  I've had success with the basics you mention, but I found very important to have a good holder for the PCB and a magnifier with light. You need to see the details while you're soldering. You need decent bent needle tweezers to manipulate and hold the part. Also a stronger magnifier (hand-held) for inspecting my work is useful, as well as an ohmmeter. And finally to fix mistakes I found desoldering wick to be the easiest.
  - severino 4y ago
    Yes, I thought about the magnifier, but how would one do the soldering? Soldering each pin at a time? As those parts have 0.5mm or 0.8mm pitches, I only tried with this "drag soldering" technique, but with the aforementioned results.
    - benhurmarcel 4y ago
      I usually apply solder on 1 pad on the PCB, then hold the part with tweezers and place it while heating that pad. Once the placement is good, I solder the rest. I tend to do them 1-by-1, not by dragging over the complete row. If the pitch is smaller than the iron tip, you don't have a choice and need to solder several at once, but usually with flux and the right quantity of solder it works itself out. For the problems you mention, adding flux and reheating usually works. If there is too much solder, you need to wick some away.
attah_ 4y ago
That style of Weller soldering iron really is the best. Too bad prices has become even more crazy. I managed to get a WHS M for €200 back in 2010 (which was a good deal, but nothing extreme). Now they are going for €500. Is there still no competition?
- Oxidation 4y ago
  A used Metcal/OKI RF iron is a good investment. They're pricy, but if you're using lead-free (and if you're modifying something soldered elsewhere, you probably are), they just work. Even a Hakko struggles on ground pins with lead free solder with a smaller tip and the OKI just does it in a second. By avoiding even a couple of days ruined by hellish rework drama, it's paid for itself.
  - attah_ 4y ago
    I thought you meant the OKI that make printers xD But apparently this is OKInternational. I'm not finding an RF though... perhaps FR? Those look very much like Hakko FX-100 tip-wise, and while i take your word for it that they are good, the Weller design seems superior to me.
    - Oxidation 4y ago
      RF as in radio frequency. They work by sending radio energy down a coaxial cable to the tip where it's absorbed. At the desired temperature, the tip alloy reaches its Curie point and stops absorbing energy. The instant it cools, it absorbs again. It's a far faster control loop since it's all physics and doesn't require a sensor (with some non-zero level of thermal impedance between it and the tip itself), no separate heater element (the tip is the heater, again with that thermal impedance) and feedback to the controller. The downside is the only way to change temperature is to change tip to one with a different alloy. In practise, this isn't any kind of issue because the only reason you usually need to ramp the temperature with a conventionally-heated iron is because you are trying to compensate for the heater-tip-sensor feedback loop being unable to keep up when soldering big things, which is a problem the Metcals don't really have in the first place. The Curie point system as what the FX-100 uses too, so probably they're as good for the same reason, but they don't seem to have a good second-hand supply like the Metcal/OKIs (I scored an OKI power supply for under $100, but even if you don't get lucky they're relatively cheap). Also if you're into that kind of thing, the MX-500P-11 at least has schematics of the entire power supply that have been reverse-engineered (notably it appears to contain no microcontroller).
EricLeer 4y ago
I am wondering what are you all working on in terms of electronics/soldering projects? I am currently trying to put together a small analog synthesizer.

292 points by saeedesmaili 4y ago

As an electronic engineer of 10 years, one of the most useful things in my lab is blue tac[1]. It's so useful and versatile as a third hand for soldering or keep things from moving around attached to cables etc. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu_Tack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu_Tack

jolmg 4y ago
I don't see why this was flagged.
unxdfa 4y ago
Good advice. It's also cheaper than a Panavise :)
- amelius 4y ago
  I'm still tempted to buy one of these stations with flexible arms: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832787531236.html https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832787531236.html Anyone having good/bad experience with this kind of tool?
  - djmips 4y ago
    They can be useful but often the cheap ones are not that good / fall apart. You can also just build your own with heavier wire like used in home wiring and some quality crocodile clips. Attach to a heavy base. I also recommend the blue tack on top of the crocodile clip positioners.
  - zrobotics 4y ago
    I tried one of those and was sorely disappointed, at least the model I had the arms were way too flimsy. It's super easy to build one that is better, Lowe's sells wire by the foot. Get either 12 or 10 AWG wire, crimp alligator clips on it, and attach the other end to a piece of plywood with 2 screws, looping the wire first around one then the other for stability. This works way better, and if you find the arms are either too flimsy or not sturdy enough it's super easy to modify. I attached mine with machine screws and have 14awg and 10awg arms that I swap between depending on how heavy the thing I'm holding is. Eventually the copper wire will work harden and break, but I haven't had an arm snap in the 6 years I've been using this. Probably would cost 15 bucks total and the only tool you need to build it is a drill (assuming you have electronics tools already).
  - unxdfa 4y ago
    Any tentacle monsters tend to just get in the way I have found.
  - benhurmarcel 4y ago
    I like that one. https://omnifixo.com/ https://omnifixo.com/
ta988 4y ago
That's hear stable? I would not have thought thanks for the tip.

the__alchemist 4y ago

The recommendations here are surprising. Some examples: - No mention of hot air - No mention of fume extractors/fan - Recommendation of a point tip vice chisel - No mention of solder paste - No mention of different flux application methods - No mention of braid/wick - No mention of hot plate or oven - No mention of tweezers - Mentions scope, but not logic analyzer - No mention of copper etc tip cleaner

jrockway 4y ago
He seems to be mostly interested in building through-hole designs, which avoids the need for a lot of that specialist equipment. I do think you need a good desoldering solution for through-hole work, though, and he should talk about that a little. (For me, solder braid is always ... a relief? You struggle for a while and it does finally work once you are frustrated enough. Solder suckers are nice when they work, though!) I kind of see where he's coming from but on the other hand, if you have some budget for hand tools, surface mount work is not as hard as you think. The Universe wants it to work; you heat up a board with surface mount components and solder paste on it, and entropy pulls the components to their correct position. So instead of waging war with the laws of physics, they're there to help you. A light touch and magnification are all you need. I don't have a hot air station (or reflow oven) and I'm perfectly happy building surface mount designs. There are some things I can't do -- super small passives, BGA chips, etc. That's easier to design around than through-hole only. My tip for the send-to-fab-and-wait workflow is to get someone to "code review" your design. Maybe they will find a dumb mistake and save you a week for a new revision.
- ofalkaed 4y ago
  >Solder suckers are nice when they work, though! They are great things once you learn their quirks. Cut a notch in the nozzle that is slightly smaller than your iron's tip, a few uses will mold that notch to your iron's tip so you can keep the iron on the joint when sucking without affecting the seal. Add more solder to the joint before sucking, this will help get a good seal as the sucker's tip will sit in that solder. The sucker will have no issues getting the excess. Don't force sucked solder out through the nozzle, if the piston is more difficult than normal to depress than unscrew the end to clear the solder, forcing it through will only distort the nozzle and shorten its life. Take the time to clean and lubricate at the end of the day. Bits of solder which get trapped in the sucker chew up the o-rings and ruins the vacuum. Take it apart, run a small stiff bottle brush through the body a few times to remove any solder, remove any solder in the nozzle, clean the plunger. Apply petroleum jelly to all threads and the plunger, reassemble. If function quickly degrades after cleaning/lubricating than your o-rings are worn, replace them. O-rings are cheap, keep a supply on hand.

KaiserPro 4y ago

My only tip, and this is super basic, is spend the money on silver solder. It handles much more like lead solder, and flows freely, it'll make learning to solder a fucktonne easier. its about twice as expensive, but will make your life easier as you don't need to apply as much heat. So you'll save in fried delicate components.

unxdfa 4y ago
I wouldn't bother. I use silver solder for special occasions (Felder stuff) but it's too expensive to use all the time. You're probably fine with 60/40 loctite multicore. Just keep your parts, iron and boards clean and it's no harder.
- twawaaay 4y ago
  Seconded. Silver is expensive and really doesn't do anything useful for an amateur. Decent soldering station + correct and well taken care of soldering tip + thin multicore 60/40 + tools and supplies to clean your board + a bit of soldering training. There is lots of really good instructional videos on YouTube which is how I learned to solder.
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    > doesn't do anything useful for an amateur It really depends on what you are building. If you're building a HAM transmitter then it is very useful.
    - unxdfa 4y ago
      I’ve built a couple of fairly hefty transmitters without silver solder. I don’t get your point. The main use cases are certain alloy joints. I’ve seen it quoted as having better mechanical strength but that’s not what’s solder is for!
      - jacquesm 4y ago
        > I’ve seen it quoted as having better mechanical strength but that’s not what’s solder is for! That depends. Back in the day when I did this work large end stages were built pretty much 'in the air' and in the stuff I worked on there were trimmers and coils that were pretty heavy and that were only supported by the solder. So we used silver for those joints, and they held up pretty good. Hefty => 1KW and up... As for the skin effect, that is the reason we did it in the first place, but I never had access to the kind of gear that would have allowed me to test in practice what the difference was and I've long ago stopped doing this sort of thing.

peatfreak 4y ago

I'd be interested in seeing other "setting up an electronics workshop" articles by other engineers. Luke Gorrie, for example, has an article here: https://github.com/lukego/soldering https://github.com/lukego/soldering

mindcrime 4y ago
It's a video, not an article, but here's Dave "EEVblog" Jones on "How to set up an electronics lab". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_PbjbRaO2E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_PbjbRaO2E
- bmitc 4y ago
  I haven't watched that particular video, but I would exercise caution with his videos. He can often exercise some rather strong opinions due to: (1) he's right, (2) he misunderstands the product or a feature but claims it's an issue, or (3) some arbitrary reason based upon the name printed on the product. And (2) is often coupled with (3). This caution is probably advised on many electronics videos, especially from old heads because their American made or Japanese made gear from 30 years ago is better, which is often unhelpful because that gear isn't available anymore and is subjective anyway. Or entry level gear is compared to their $1,000+ soldering iron or $5,000+ oscilloscope. I have been doing a lot of research lately for some entry level gear that will last and suit my needs without breaking the bank, and it's very difficult to sort through inaccuracies and biases against certain gear.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - mindcrime 4y ago
    He can often exercise some rather strong opinions due to: (1) he's right, (2) he misunderstands the product or a feature but claims it's an issue, or (3) some arbitrary reason based upon the name printed on the product. That's fair, although I would say the same is true for most (if not all) people commenting on this topic! Myself included as far as that goes. I am, for example, a fan of Hakko kit (I use a Hakko soldering station as well as the aforementioned FR-301 desoldering gun) and am an unabashed Rigol fanboi when it comes to test equipment. Rigol made my oscilloscope, bench multimeter, lab power supply, programmable load, signal generator, and spectrum analyzer. Outside of Rigol I'm also a fanboi for old HPAK (HP/Agilent/Keysight) kit. I have an HPAK logic analyzer, modulation domain analyzer, frequency counter, and dynamic signal analyzer. And I'm still lusting after an HP 3458a one of these days. That said, I try to avoid falling into complete fanboy'ism when recommending stuff to others. There are lots of good brands out there for most things! I have been doing a lot of research lately for some entry level gear that will last and suit my needs without breaking the bank, and it's very difficult to sort through inaccuracies and biases against certain gear. No doubt. For me, the pattern I fell into is reflected in what I wrote above: I buy mostly Rigol kit for anything I buy new. And that's because Rigol strikes me as a good compromise between cost, quality / functionality, and "hackability." And then for more specialized / niche stuff, if I can find a used HPAK instrument for a good price on Ebay or whatever, I'll go with that. So far I feel like that strategy has allowed me to get my lab kitted out fairly nicely, without breaking the bank. But I'm sure even my lab would seem extravagant to somebody, especially the prototypical "starving college student".

nocsi 4y ago

For electronics, I think showing is better than telling. Hence, it’s more productive for me to consume and replicate YouTubers like Carl Bugeja [https://youtube.com/@CarlBugeja https://youtube.com/@CarlBugeja], and seeing what they can practically produce with their setups. It answers the question of ‘why’ as well. Self soldering circuits are beautiful

bsder 4y ago

If you are going to do electronics soldering a lot, I would personally recommend to stump up for one of the RF soldering systems (Thermaltronics or Metcal) as absolutely soon as you can possibly afford them. The difference to your soldering is night and day. I cry for all the time I wasted soldering before I got a Metcal system. Given that he is recommending Wellers that are in the same price range there is no reason not to step up to the RF systems if you can.

unxdfa 4y ago
100% agree with this. Metcal is life changing.
kayson 4y ago
I got an old metcal station from work that was destined for the recycling and it is amazing. I'll never use any other kind.

tuetuopay 4y ago

Lots of sound advice, I especially like the mention of lead-free solder not being bad at all and the pencil soldering iron. Some surprises though: - the multimeter should not be an afterthought like it seems to be in the article. - I now tend to recommend buying a logic analyzer before buying an oscilloscope unless you're doing analog voodoo. Most of the time you're troubleshooting why is that darned peripheral over whatever bus is not reponding properly to your commands. Even a saleae clone is fine for most hobby work and won't break the bank if you're not happy (but please buy genuine ones if you can afford them!).

m-ee 4y ago
I spent around $500 for a used Logic Pro 16 and it’s easily my most valuable purchase. Even for analog voodoo it’s good enough most of the time as I’m debugging logic level signals. I have a very capable Tek scope with all the bells and whistles unlocked but only plug it in if I’m working at higher voltages than the saleae can handle.
- bsder 4y ago
  Far too expensive. Someone just setting up an elab is WAY better off buying one of the ubiquitous Chinesium 24MHz 8-channel USB logic analyzers. In addition, a newbie is way more likely to "just try it out" if the thing they can destroy is only $10. I have lots of really nice equipment, but even I will pull the cheapass logic analyzers out when I'm doing something that has the possibility of destroying my more expensive stuff.
  - twawaaay 4y ago
    24MHz 8-ch is a bit insufficient for debugging most of real stuff which is when the real fun is. Also IMO logical analyser and scope are two things where you want to spend money when you are starting with electronics. This is how you are going to learn stuff and how you are going to debug anything you do. You need good scope and analyser EXACTLY because you are a newb. I am personally using DSLogic U3Pro16 which was $300 when I bought it and I can highly recommend it.

VLM 4y ago

Like a lot of skills / crafts to some extent you can trade hours of experience for dollars. You will probably learn more and produce better joints by melting $50 of solder than buying a $500 iron. You "can" intermix real solder with lead-free but thats another skill type thing where you might be somewhat better off with one reel of leaded for rework. Assuming you get into rework. If you get into ancient Tek o-scopes you'll need solder containing a little silver, etc, there's an infinite variety to the hobby. Some fluxes turn into a sticky mess and you'll rapidly learn you need flux remover, so there is such a thing as "too much flux". One workholding tool you'll need if you get into thru-hole digital is a piece of wood the size of your pcb, you insert your sockets, place wood on top, flip over, wood holds sockets in place, solder away... If you don't understand the specs and limitations of your instrument, don't waste money on it. Find a guy who's into the hobby and has hand-me-downs and get your oscope that way. If you don't understand why you can't run full bandwidth on a 1x probe or coherently explain why you need a high BW scope you're mostly wasting money. On the other hand I am spoiled by mixed-signal oscopes that can decode I2C and many other protocols "on the fly" pretty cool. Likewise with power supplies, if you know why you need dual outputs, then you need dual outputs, but if you're not into that aspect of the hobby... likewise DC output over 18V or so, or currents over three amps, if you don't already know why you need that, you don't need that. I would suggest that "pretty much everyone" needs clip leads. You'll rapidly learn why some are unimaginably cheap and others cost $5 each, you can pay once for the tool or you can pay in frustration every time you use a tool LOL. (edited to add WRT the above, you'll rapidly learn the difference between low cost and cheap. A 1970s HP solid state scope is very low cost, but not cheap, for example. And a noob will not be capable of doing work that would have been cutting edge in 1975) But what do I know I only got started in this madness in 1980 by assembling a Heathkit AM radio kit, which still works BTW.

Doxin 4y ago
> You "can" intermix real solder with lead-free Let's not pretend lead free solder is somehow less real than leaded solder. Unless you plan on repairing pretty old devices you definitely should use unleaded solder. It's really not any harder to use than leaded these days, it's just slightly different. You mostly just want your soldering iron to be a fair bit hotter.

lifeisstillgood 4y ago

I am trying to gather local support to turn a empty building into a games cafe / library / small workspace. These skills are a vital grounding in modern life (I maybe watching too much perun but modifying small drones is an existential skill in Ukraine today) Anyway not being political this sort of skill is a hands on skill - and youtube and blog posts can only go so far What I meant to say is I would be interested in hearing from anyone doing something similar in their local area

amelius 4y ago

Speaking of which, what is your favorite way of joining two wires in a straight line?

severino 4y ago
You mean something like this? https://www.adafruit.com/product/3786 https://www.adafruit.com/product/3786
synack 4y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Union_splice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Union_splice
the__alchemist 4y ago
Flux+touch: strip a relatively long length of both wires. Twist them together in a way so that the whole thing remains in a line. Touch with flux. Touch iron tip to solder. Touch soldered tip to wires. (Flux will flow through) Heat shrink after. (You may need to place the heat shrink first)
- jvandonsel 4y ago
  Yes. My workflow usually includes: 5) scream obscenities because you forgot to thread the heat shrink tubing before soldering. 6) snip wires 7) goto step 1
mindcrime 4y ago
Stranded wire to stranded wire, or solid wire to solid wire? Or mixing stranded and solid? Same gauge or mixed gauge?
- amelius 4y ago
  All of them, as in practice you'll encounter them all sooner or later.
unxdfa 4y ago
Err don’t!

II2II 4y ago

The most valuable piece of advice is: make your decisions based upon what you plan on using your workshop for rather than following generic advice. Analog differs from digital, low frequencies from high frequencies, repair from construction. Even once you know your domain, how deep you plan on pursuing it is also a factor. Advice like that provided in the article rubs me the wrong way since it both throws away nuance and deters people who are even mildly price sensitive. On the one hand they suggest that the equipment facilitates learning, on the other hand they are suggesting a $400 soldering iron. That iron will make things easier if you already know what your doing. It isn't going to protect the learner from destroying their first tip, even though the tip will cost as much as a cheap iron. It isn't going to protect the learner from applying heat improperly or for too long because, at best, the learner will only have book learning to guide their use. But it isn't all about deterring price conscious learners, there is also the issue of encouraging them to succumb to temptation. I mean, who doesn't want a good oscilloscope? Oscilloscopes are awesome. That said, a logic analyzer is going to be more useful if you're working with digital circuits, even once you factor in the sophisticated triggering and (limited) decoding abilities of modern models. They also require a fair amount of experience before purchase or you will end up with one that does not meet your needs (unless you have extremely deep pockets).

akiselev 4y ago
Recommending a beginner buy a $400 Weller soldering iron is particularly egregious. If you’re spending that much money get a used Metcal or just don’t bother.
- buescher 4y ago
  Bingo. If you can't afford a used Metcal, you can afford a Hakko clone and Hakko tips, and if you can't afford that, there's a pretty small gradient from a $5 Harbor Freight open-loop carpet-burner to whatever else is in-between.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  Just buy a used one. They pop up with great regularity on second hand sites. If the tip isn't usable then just get a fresh tip and you should be good for many years.

blt 4y ago

The advice I wish I knew is to not buy an inventory of parts. I bought a bunch of resistors, capacitors, LEDs, etc., with no specific plan. Most of it sits unused. There's no point in keeping an inventory because almost every project will require a parts order anyway. Just order what you need per-project.

etrautmann 4y ago
mostly true, but always infuriating when you need a specific resistor value and don't have it. I like having a resistor kit around, but it doesn't need to be a big sorted set of drawers, can be a box of bags from digikey
- buescher 4y ago
  Yeah, resistor kits. Supplement them with an ample supply of 1K and 10K resistors.
- OJFord 4y ago
  Ehh, if you're not doing analogue stuff how specific do you really need? And even if you do you can combine a few to get closer to what you need. Like if you have 220/390R & 1k & 10k & 1M on hand, are you really ever going to be that annoyed for breadboarding purposes that you don't have 680R or whatever?
  - naasking 4y ago
    Or a set of good pots?
  - eternityforest 4y ago
    I think that I could go for an entire decade not needing any passives other than powers of ten except for power supply work when you need an exact ratio for feedback. But analog tinkerers do things that are very different from what I do!
- dvh 4y ago
  E12 resistor kit (86 values * 10pcs) is $6 on AliExpress.

willis936 4y ago

Something I would add: LTSpice! Free (except for your time), but once you build up a muscle memory you find issues with parts before you order them. Just recently I used this to discover that I had missed an opamps minimum signal input voltage was V- + 2V when I was trying to amplify a 0-2.5V signal with a unipolar power supply. Playing in SPICE taught me that I need rail-to-rail opamps if I want to work with low voltages and unipolar supplies.

unxdfa 4y ago
Agree with this. LTspice will cost you a bit of sanity too but it’s worth it.

prova_modena 4y ago

I would add a good fume extractor as a must-buy to this list if you're soldering once a week or more. The fumes from flux are noxious and prolonged exposure can cause sensitization. I have always been slightly sensitive to flux fumes, so since I began soldering on a daily basis for work I have always used some form of fume ventilation. I use a lot of the MG Chemicals 835 flux mentioned in the article. Even with a ducted extraction fan removing the smoke from my workspace, I began to develop headaches and fatigue from exposure to the flux vapor. These symptoms worsened over time and began starting with less and less exposure. Now I use a fancy Hakko FA430 extractor, which has a bulky HEPA filter and allows me to solder all day without ill effects. Even so, I watch my exposure and have drastically reduced my liquid flux use as just the flux aroma can make me feel a little off. I believe I have been permanently sensitized from using sub-optimal ventilation and that's not a good feeling. I don't think you need to go buy the $700 FA430 I use, but I would say the extractor needs to have: - a hose/duct that can be positioned right at the soldering site - some kind of HEPA filtration or equivalent, even if it is exhausted outside your workspace - well sealed ducting/hose/fan housing, so fumes don't leak out. I first used a duct fan with some hoses and loc-line for fume extraction, and I now believe it was leaking fumes into my workspace the whole time because the system wasn't airtight :( Those little "benchtop extractors" with a fan and a carbon filter are absolutely useless. I wouldn't be surprised to learn companies buy them for "regulatory compliance purposes" as they don't really do much of anything except be cheap.

bmitc 4y ago
I've been recently trying to set up a soldering station at home and am still in the research phase. I haven't been able to find one cheaper than the FA-430. It's weird as you can get a nice air purifier with a HEPA filter in it for much cheaper than the FA-430. I don't plan on soldering all that much, and so had been looking at the FA-400. I was assuming it was better than nothing.
- prova_modena 4y ago
  My belief is that people who review the FA-400 positively would be as well served by a regular fan (and even better served by a box fan with a decent furnace filter in front of it). Possibly they are infrequent users or just not sensitive to flux fumes like I am. My understanding is that activated carbon filters like in the FA-400 rapidly lose effectiveness when exposed to the air. It's probably possible to DIY something as effective as the FA-430 by adapting an existing purifier or fan, as long as you carefully seal the pre-filter path. Since I use the extractor every day in a workshop with coworkers, I need something durable and idiotproof with parts and filters easily available. So it made sense for us to shell out for the FA-430.

jacquesm 4y ago

For solder I would recommend you source a roll of 63/37, it will make your life much easier even if it uses lead. Add a fume extractor and you should be just fine if you don't solder 24x7.

m463 4y ago

What do folks think about this new generation of smart usb-c soldering irons with a processor? (ts10x and pinecil) My friend who has soldered professionally swears by metcal.

nikau 4y ago
I have both a hakko and a ts-100, and honestly I end up just using the ts-100 most of the time as I can run it off a small battery pack. Its kinda like having a dyson battery vacuum vs a proper AC one - the AC vacuum has way better suction, but the dyson is so light and convenient to use and good enough for most things.
- ansgri 4y ago
  Depends on the AC vacuum — my old Dyson V6 in turbo mode outsucks most AC-powered vacuums I've dealt with. Sometimes new tech is just better.
  - nikau 4y ago
    You must have used some very very shitty AC vacuums. I have a dyson v6 and a nilfisk x150 - the nilfisk motor is 1600 watts, they aren't even in the same ballpark suction power wise. Without the motor brush head the v6 is pretty useless even in turbo mode.
    - thenthenthen 4y ago
      Dyson V8 here...it cant even suck a rice grain on high power mode. Worst vacuum cleaners ever
      - nikau 4y ago
        Out of curiosity I just did a bit of a google, my AC vacuum is 6x the measured suction of the dyson in turbo mode: v6 normal - 24 air watts v6 turbo - 100 air watts nilfisk x150 - 600 air watts
4y ago

sacrosancty 4y ago

[dead]

mindcrime 4y ago

I'll add this: get a nice de-soldering gun. I use a Hakko FR-301[1], which while not exactly "cheap" isn't "insanely expensive" either. The thing about it is, you never want to have to use it. To use a metaphor, if you do any shade-tree (or professional) auto work, having to pull out the FR-301 is like having to pull out the left-hand twist drill bits and a set of EZ-OUTs. When that happens, you know you screwed something up. BUT, when you do pull out the desoldering gun (or the EZ-OUT kit) and it saves your ass, you feel very good knowing you have it in your hip pocket. I probably use my FR-301 a couple of times a year, but I think it paid for itself the first time I used it. [1]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BKSLLG9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BKSLLG9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...

johnwalkr 4y ago
I’ve had one at work and while very nice to have, at home for hobby stuff I think you can get by with solder wick (it does take practice!) and chip quick alloy. Chip quick alloy is a very low melting temperature solder. After using it to dilute all solder joints on a part, it’s easy to melt all pins/pads at once and pull the part off.

mindcrime 4y ago

One other thing I'll throw out there: the author is right, IMO, to eschew "generic" advice. Not that there is no advice which is generally useful, but the "Devil is in the details". And in particular, I'd say that's extra true with test equipment. The kind of test equipment you need really does depend a lot on what kind of work you plan to do. For example, if you don't do any RF related work, you aren't very likely to need a spectrum analyzer, and especially not a high-end one. FFT mode on a scope will probably serve one well enough if they're not doing RF. Conversely, if you are doing RF work (where I mean, building or repairing radio transmitters and receivers) then you probably very much want a dedicated spectrum analyzer, and probably an RF power meter as well. Similar arguments could be made around logic analyzers... if you aren't interested in doing a lot of digital logic work, and especially not high-speed digital logic, you probably don't need a dedicated logic analyzer. For retro-computing stuff and debugging simple stuff you can probably get by with one of those cheap little USB logic analyers[1] and Sigrok[2]. Now probably everyone wants at least one decent hand-held DMM, a lab power supply, and an at least halfway decent oscilloscope. But beyond that, you really can tailor your test equipment choices largely based on what kind of stuff you find yourself doing. And just to throw one other random anecdote out there: when I was building my lab, I bought a decent dedicated bench multimeter relatively early on. It wasn't the first thing I bought, but it was maybe the third or fourth. In hindsight, I rarely turn it on, and it probably gets less use than anything else in my lab, including seemingly niche devices like a programmable load. It turns out, I prefer using one or more handheld DMM's over using the bench DMM. I can't even tell you exactly why that is, so take it for what it's worth. But a benchtop DMM has been just short of useless for me. shrug [1]: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/18627 https://www.sparkfun.com/products/18627 [2]: https://sigrok.org/wiki/Main_Page https://sigrok.org/wiki/Main_Page

chazeon 4y ago
Handheld multimeter is what i played with when i was a child, there is always one sitting in my dad’s drawer. So it was a first piece of equipment i bought when i started doing electronics work.

I_AM_A_SMURF 4y ago

I'm surprised it's not mentioned (I guess the author doesn't do anything small) but a microscope was like my third purchase after solder station and scope and I've loved every minute of playing with it.

spookthesunset 4y ago

Something I never see much mention is how the hell to organize all this stuff. Especially if your space is limited. Electronics hobbies are a magnet for collecting little bits and bots and, while infrequently used, are vital to a project when they are needed.

atoav 4y ago
As someone who runs two electronics workshops (one at home, one at university) the only true solution is to get yourself storage solutions with a ton of seperate compartments and different sizes and label/use them with discipline. Same goes for equipment and cables. Cables either go into boxes or onto the cable holder depending how often you need them. Equipment goes into the labeled drawer. For projects I currently just put them into a cardboard box with their parts and label that box. Beyond a certain scale I recommend using a software like for example https://inventree.org/ https://inventree.org/, especially when you have project boxes with parts in them and need to get ab overview of how much stock you have where.
tpmx 4y ago
I'm pretty happy with lots of stackable plastic boxes with click lock lids in a few different sizes (mostly 1 and 2 liters). Like these: https://cdn.abicart.com/shop/9024/art24/h3597/181473597-origpic-a30c86.jpg https://cdn.abicart.com/shop/9024/art24/h3597/181473597-orig... Examples of labels: sensors, displays, switches, pin headers, heat shrink tubing, microcontroller boards. I like being able to move them around to where you need them. Tools go into a drawer at the desk though.
johnwalkr 4y ago
Pick a stacking container with lids and compartments available in your region. To use even less space, bags in containers. Resist the urge to use open containers with easy access to everything because as you said, most things are infrequently used.
unxdfa 4y ago
All my stuff is in zip lock bags in storage boxes. Avoid drawers which take up a large volume as they’re mostly empty and tend to end up all over the floor when they inevitably fall over.

squarefoot 4y ago

A few thoughts: Scopes: Beware of entry level digital scopes, they can hide things such as overshoots, ringings, etc, and their effective real bandwidth at which they don't distort what they measure is often a lot smaller than the one advertised. If you can buy a good digital one, then go for it, but if all you can afford is a cheap one, then I would keep an old analog one next to it just in case. Multimeters: the problems with cheap Chinese multimeters isn't much accuracy but rather consistency and reliability over time, and of course safety if you use them for critical measurements; some can even rival much more expensive ones during the occasional readings, but they may fail sooner due to contacts corrosion and other problems the good ones wouldn't suffer. Solder wire: I have a life time stock of leaded wire and use it whenever I can. I tried lead free some time ago and didn't like it. However I'm old and solder mostly for hobby, so YMMV of course. Solder iron: I've used for ages my two 1980s old solder guns (25W and 100W), then one day decided to go for a stylus and bought a Hakko 936 clone, and suddenly my solder joints couldn't even come close to the clean ones I did with 20-30 year earlier irons, The problem I later discovered was in the hand piece, namely reduced thermal mass and isolation between heater and tip. I was used for years to soldering guns in which the tip and the heater were the same thing and they also had much higher thermal mass, so touching a pad with the tip wouldn't dramatically lower its temperature ruining the joint. That became a problem with that cheap stylus that I couldn't solve by replacing first the heater and then the entire handpiece. So at the first chance I bought a used Weller TCP (now I have two) and all problems disappeared. If you can't find a used good quality solder iron, I've been positively impressed by the Pinecil by pine64.com (yeah, the same people behind the Pinephone) as it works incredibly well for its price. Parts inventory: depending on how much time you spend on the hobby it may be from useless to invaluable to have parts at hands for repairs/tinkering/etc. If you need them, please stay away from some of the cheap ones sold online: they're mostly crap, especially electrolytic capacitors, transistors and chips. I didn't experience problems with low power resistors (aside thinner leads) and ceramic/poly capacitors assortments, but be careful with everything else, as the chances of ending up with fake relabeled parts is very high, in some cases 100% certain. Some great parts can still be sourced at HAM conventions or shops selling surplus parts. Flea markets too can be a source of parts otherwise almost impossible to find or too expensive: I've found over the years bags of ex TV repair shop parts, big spools of enameled copper wire, panel voltmeters, semiconductors, ferrites, capacitive trimmers etc. Most even brand new.

justinlloyd 4y ago

Couple of interesting points and takeaways from a dabbler and tinkerer of 40+ years: Weller soldering station - I got gifted a professional, but dead, one of these in my youth, after the chap witnessed me heating an iron over an open flame to desolder components. Then he showed me how to repair it. I've been brand loyal ever since. That old iron sits in pride of place on a shelf in my office, but I later went and bought a new Weller, with digital control, and dual outputs to run two heads simultaneously at different temperatures, and also has a temperature lock on each output. A range of tips and a comfort grip handle makes all the difference in the world. Weller also make a good line of electronic work hand tools that are worth investing in. I also like the Weller irons because they can shut off automatically if you don't touch them, then heat right back up super fast when you need them. How many people have gotten called away, accidentally left their iron on, and come back two days later to an odd smell. If you can afford/justify a Metcal soldering station, get one of those instead. But don't waste your money on a Metcal if you aren't serious about your hobby. I am not serious enough to have a Metcal, but I very much like them and have used them. That said, if you just want to get started, get a Pinecil iron. You won't go wrong with it for 90% of what you want to do. You can have mine when you can pry it from my cold dead hands brought on by a lead solder induced coma. Get yourself a few different tips for your iron. Avoid the cheap ones from Amazon, buy the branded ones for your iron. If you do a lot of repair work, a desoldering station is a useful addition. Though wick and a good quality solder sucker goes a long way. Get a cheap hot air rework station if you do any SMT work. Buy solder. Try the cheap stuff. Then go pay for the good stuff. You'll understand why. Use the thin stuff. Get a solder dispenser to put your reel on rather than fighting the reel. Buy flux. Buy cleaning wicks. Practice how to use them. You'll get amazing results if you just solder for a few hours. Sometimes, when you need to join a couple of wires, you don't need to solder them. A heat gun and some no-crimp, self-soldering, heat-shrink butt connectors will do the job most of the time. Dewalt make a nice cordless heat gun and a pretty nice corded heat gun too. I invested heavily in to Akro-Mils organizer storage. I had a number of the classic Akro-Mils organizers that I picked up at Weird Stuff years ago, that are unfortunately no longer made, and the clear plastic drawers have unfortunately degraded and chipped over time. I've bought the newer, flimsier ones, and built a custom cabinet to house them. Add in a 3D printer to the mix and a search on any STL website for Akro-Mils storage, and you have a lot of versatile little drawers. Currently my components and interesting bits of wire sit in 880 individual organizer drawers. For breadboards, there's a wide array of quality. You pay for what you get. Pay for good ones. Realize that bread boards eventually wear out. Magnifying desk lamp - 3x diopter at least, 5x is better. Yes, video scope or stereo microscope is a good addition, but a decent magnifying desk lamp is essential. Don't forget your hand tools. Side snips, flush cut trimmers, wire strippers, Weha/Wera/NWS/Weller pliers of various stripes, tweezers (cheap ones, but get a few different types), Weha screw drivers. An iFixIt screwdriver bits kit. Comfort grip Xacto knife with #11 blades. Metal engineers rule. Desk calculator with electronic formula functions. All these little tools are where you'll go broke and also need to worry about organization. Head mounted optivosor - get a cheap one. For work holding, I highly recommend two of the suction mount Panavise devices, and a range of heads for different work. I also recommend a good pair of helping hands, but avoid the $10 junk you find on Amazon. Again, you get what you pay for, go to a jewelery making store and look for the helping hands they sell. You'll pay through the nose, but you'll never be frustrated with the damn things again. Mine set me back over $150. You can have the Pinecil iron when you can pry it from the cold dead helping hands setup that will still be holding it in the proper position long after I am dead. Circuit diagnostics, Fluke for the meters, and then I go middle of the road for everything else, e.g. Rigol mid-level stuff. I could happily spend a fortune on this stuff, but I'm just a hobbyist. Handheld multimeter is good, benchtop multimeter is better. Have both. Dual or triple output benchtop power supply is a must have. Get two if your budget and desk space will stretch that far. Fume extractor - Weller make a nice one, but any of them will do. Seriously, unless you are soldering hours per day, a cheap fume extractor with a carbon filter will do wonders for your enjoyment. If you are doing hours of day soldering, none of my advice matters as you have more experience at this than I do. Soldering organizer mat - Weller or Hakko. Hang it up on your balcony for a couple of days so that the off-gassing doesn't take over your workspace. Be aware, most organizer mats are not ESD safe. You can get nice ESD ones. You'll pay beaucoup bucks for one that is worth the desk space. I like the Weller mat as it has little pockets to hold components and screws and interesting bits of wire. Cordless drills - get a really nice, lightweight cordless drill, you don't need anything that weighs a lot. Something to put a small hole in something else. I put Festool in my workshop, so I put Festool in my workbench, but a $50 Milkwaukee Fuel on special discount at Home Depot will do just fine. Blue tape. Lots and lots of ****ing blue tape. You can use it to hold components in place, hold wires down while you solder, hold parts for assembly, hold a circuit in place that won't stop skidding around. Cannot be used for gagging someone. Don't bother trying to stock an inventory of parts you might need (I am guilty of this), you'll go broke fast. That said, having common stuff on hand is a no brainer. Sometimes though, it is nice having a lot of ingredients in stock so you can make whatever takes your fancy that day. Not all alligator clips are created equal, and neither are Dupont wires. Inland make some nice cheap ones that won't break the bank. Buy more than you think you will need. Avoid anything sold on Amazon. Go to a physical brick & mortar electronics store, handle their cables, see if they have the good ones. Buy a selection of headers and push together connectors, solder those to your perfboards. It makes assembly and disassembly much easier. You can salvage your SBC at a later date You can easily use little breakout boards. It makes transporting your project a lot easier. Buy some buffer boards if you are like me and sometimes forget to pay attention to the amperage or voltage. Nothing quite like releasing the magic smoke from that over priced Raspberry Pi or Nvidia Jetson because you weren't paying attention.

atoav 4y ago

As someone who teaches soldering since years, the one thing you should realize is: A soldering iron is not a paint brush, that means if you try to put solder onto the iron and then "paint" it onto the connection it will not work well Solder flows to the places where it is hot enough. So if you wanna solder to form a connection between a lead and a pad you need to heat up both enough to make the solder melt if it touches that part. It can totally be the case that your iron cannot supply that amount of heat, especially if the tipp is oxidized and it is a cheap iron. Also: different types of solder have different melting temperatures. Finally: keep everything clean. The iron, the PCB, the parts

robotguy 4y ago
What I typically tell people is "solder will stick to the part that melts it." If you melt the solder with the iron tip, it will stick to the iron. If you use the iron tip to heat the joint and melt the solder with the joint, it will stick to the joint. The physics isn't correct but it's served me well as an easily remembered rule-of-thumb.
- atoav 4y ago
  That is a good way to put it as well, thanks for sharing.

cellularmitosis 4y ago

For whatever reason, there is a plague of cheap breadboards which are basically unusable. The sockets require too much insertion force, which intersects terribly with the trend of cheap resistors having very thin and weak legs which bend out of the way rather than insert. The BB830 from BusBoard Prototype Systems (search BB830 on Amazon) is one which is a bit pricey but doesn’t suffer from this problem. Tayda electronics is a great source of inexpensive resistors which dont suffer from cheap, thin leads.

morjom 4y ago

the TS100 soldering iron and Engineer SS-02 pump have gotten a lot of praise over the years. add a multimeter and a filtered fan and I think that's a decent, even portable set-up.

deleted 4y ago
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severino 4y ago

What would you say is the best (but affordable!) way to solder SMT parts like this kind of connectors with small pitches? https://no.mouser.com/images/marketingid/2016/img/163696678.png https://no.mouser.com/images/marketingid/2016/img/163696678.... Last time I tried using the basics (Hakko soldering iron, with all kind of tips, flux, different types of solder...) I only got a bad soldering with lots of contacts between pins, and some other pins seemed to make a poor connection. Also, as those are not very common parts, I could not have it soldered in a fab like JLCPCB and the like...

chongli 4y ago
I think your cheapest route is to build a DIY reflow oven using a cheap toaster oven. If you don’t want to design the controller yourself, one option is to buy a kit such as the Controleo3 [1]. [1] https://www.whizoo.com/controleo3 https://www.whizoo.com/controleo3
benhurmarcel 4y ago
I've had success with the basics you mention, but I found very important to have a good holder for the PCB and a magnifier with light. You need to see the details while you're soldering. You need decent bent needle tweezers to manipulate and hold the part. Also a stronger magnifier (hand-held) for inspecting my work is useful, as well as an ohmmeter. And finally to fix mistakes I found desoldering wick to be the easiest.
- severino 4y ago
  Yes, I thought about the magnifier, but how would one do the soldering? Soldering each pin at a time? As those parts have 0.5mm or 0.8mm pitches, I only tried with this "drag soldering" technique, but with the aforementioned results.
  - benhurmarcel 4y ago
    I usually apply solder on 1 pad on the PCB, then hold the part with tweezers and place it while heating that pad. Once the placement is good, I solder the rest. I tend to do them 1-by-1, not by dragging over the complete row. If the pitch is smaller than the iron tip, you don't have a choice and need to solder several at once, but usually with flux and the right quantity of solder it works itself out. For the problems you mention, adding flux and reheating usually works. If there is too much solder, you need to wick some away.

attah_ 4y ago

That style of Weller soldering iron really is the best. Too bad prices has become even more crazy. I managed to get a WHS M for €200 back in 2010 (which was a good deal, but nothing extreme). Now they are going for €500. Is there still no competition?

Oxidation 4y ago
A used Metcal/OKI RF iron is a good investment. They're pricy, but if you're using lead-free (and if you're modifying something soldered elsewhere, you probably are), they just work. Even a Hakko struggles on ground pins with lead free solder with a smaller tip and the OKI just does it in a second. By avoiding even a couple of days ruined by hellish rework drama, it's paid for itself.
- attah_ 4y ago
  I thought you meant the OKI that make printers xD But apparently this is OKInternational. I'm not finding an RF though... perhaps FR? Those look very much like Hakko FX-100 tip-wise, and while i take your word for it that they are good, the Weller design seems superior to me.
  - Oxidation 4y ago
    RF as in radio frequency. They work by sending radio energy down a coaxial cable to the tip where it's absorbed. At the desired temperature, the tip alloy reaches its Curie point and stops absorbing energy. The instant it cools, it absorbs again. It's a far faster control loop since it's all physics and doesn't require a sensor (with some non-zero level of thermal impedance between it and the tip itself), no separate heater element (the tip is the heater, again with that thermal impedance) and feedback to the controller. The downside is the only way to change temperature is to change tip to one with a different alloy. In practise, this isn't any kind of issue because the only reason you usually need to ramp the temperature with a conventionally-heated iron is because you are trying to compensate for the heater-tip-sensor feedback loop being unable to keep up when soldering big things, which is a problem the Metcals don't really have in the first place. The Curie point system as what the FX-100 uses too, so probably they're as good for the same reason, but they don't seem to have a good second-hand supply like the Metcal/OKIs (I scored an OKI power supply for under $100, but even if you don't get lucky they're relatively cheap). Also if you're into that kind of thing, the MX-500P-11 at least has schematics of the entire power supply that have been reverse-engineered (notably it appears to contain no microcontroller).

EricLeer 4y ago

I am wondering what are you all working on in terms of electronics/soldering projects? I am currently trying to put together a small analog synthesizer.