Soldering assistance

[PelliX]

I used to make a few bob here and there with it back in the day, but during my later teenage years I sort of moved into fixing computers more. There was more work and it was easy overall. Apart from re-capping power supplies and VRM's on motherboards there was nearly no soldering involved, though.

If I consider the amount of money that soldering has *saved* me, it's mind blowing. I have a lot of equipment, and I service it all myself. Just the number of cables I've made and fixed over the years must have saved me hundreds or more. Plus, there are no repair shops anymore really. You may find a guitar amp tech who can fix one for you (and even many of those point blank refuse to work on circuit boards, etc), but good luck finding someone to repair a mixing desk, reel to reel, CRT oscilloscope or a monitor/television.

Then, if I think of all the smashing deals I've made on broken kit, particularly studio gear... oh boy. Lots of rack FX processors with buggered caps, knackered batteries, scratchy or broken pots, etc. Compressors, equalizers, entire mixing desks, synths, mics, you name it. Most of the time, the actual parts required to bring it back to full working order are less than a fancy cup of coffee.

An old boss of mine once said to me "you don't get rich from what you earn; you get rich from what you don't spend".

 

[syscokid]

Now this is basically all I use:

What’s up with the expiration dates? The CAIG product I have doesn’t have an expiration date.

How about expiration dates for desoldering braids? Never seen any dates for these, too.

 

[PelliX]

What’s up with the expiration dates? The CAIG product I have doesn’t have an expiration date.

Good question, I've used flux that's decades old without any problem. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen flux go bad except the liquid type when left out for a long time. The datasheet suggests an 18 month shelf lifetime. My guess is that it's targeted more towards the reseller than the user.

https://www.inventec.dehon.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/PDS-AMTECH-NC-559-V3-EN.pdf

(Inventec own the Amtech name)

How about expiration dates for desoldering braids? Never seen any dates for these, too.

Me neither, then again - there's no liquid flux involved.

 

[iblive]

My dad taught me how to solder with a Weller Soldering gun. Building Heath kits projects.... for those that might remember those. That was way back in the 60s. So I guess the transition to an iron for me was relatively easy.

By the way. I still have that Weller soldering gun. Just never use it anymore. Thing has to be nearly 60 years old.