Beginner's Indispensable Kit Contents

[xibalban]

Check out Franky's store, and his sales thread.

I'm positive that he does not sell any fakes. 

Thanks for those links to Franky's domain. He sure seemed to be a nice person, and I shall very soon buy from him.
Your recommendation makes me wonder why this forum doesn't have a place to list these good sellers. Might prove to be a good resource for everyone in general.
Perhaps, we could contribute to this list!!

Cheers  O0

[xibalban]

Fellas,

After a lot of deliberations and some serious time devoted toward watching/reading reviews, I've decided to go for the UT139C.
Thanks to each individual member who directly or indirectly assisted me to arrive at the decision.

Moving along, it's time for the side-cutter and a wire stripper. Just like you guys suggested, I suppose I ought to be careful not to fall prey to the el-cheapo strewn all over EBay.
I was looking at Wiha, but the brand seems to burn a hole in my pocket. What do you guys suggest?

[Maxlor]

Wire strippers are easy. Get something that looks like this one. This type of wire stripper is cheap since it's not a precision instrument (doesn't need to be), but it works quite well. Anything that looks vaguely like that is going to work . A 26-16AWG one probably covers most of your needs.

As for side cutters, I don't really know which brands you can get over there. I mean, Knipex is a nice brand, but I doubt you can get them in Nepal But maybe you have a local hardware where you can inspect the cutters before buying them?

What I can say is that small flush side cutters are quite nice for electronics, but they're a bit delicate and only suitable for small and soft stuff. If you use them for large cables or hard materials you'll ruin them quickly, so if you need to do that kind of cutting, use a more robust diagonal cutter.

These btw are crap, as I found out: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8794 If you see a spring mechanism like that, avoid, they'll have cut costs on the other parts too.

[xibalban]

Wire strippers are easy. Get something that looks like this one. This type of wire stripper is cheap since it's not a precision instrument (doesn't need to be), but it works quite well. Anything that looks vaguely like that is going to work . A 26-16AWG one probably covers most of your needs.

As for side cutters, I don't really know which brands you can get over there. I mean, Knipex is a nice brand, but I doubt you can get them in Nepal But maybe you have a local hardware where you can inspect the cutters before buying them?

What I can say is that small flush side cutters are quite nice for electronics, but they're a bit delicate and only suitable for small and soft stuff. If you use them for large cables or hard materials you'll ruin them quickly, so if you need to do that kind of cutting, use a more robust diagonal cutter.

These btw are crap, as I found out: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8794 If you see a spring mechanism like that, avoid, they'll have cut costs on the other parts too.

Thanks, though the link to the wire strippers require updating.

Oh, and I'd wanted the side cutters for cutting off component leads, after soldering. For larger diameter wires and other cables, I have separate tools.

After a decent investment on quality multimeter and soldering station, I would still not flinch to expend on these two tools, at least viz wire stripper & side cutter. So, please throw in your best quality suggestions for those.

PS: My gradual, and sometimes extremely cautious approach, to choosing my tools are actually reaping a lot of essential knowledge in general electronics on the way. I know a lot more about soldering stations' & multimeters' cons, etc even before I possess them.

[richard.cs]

I am mostly interested in RF/IR related projects and have aimed to build my own ham radio by 2024 (ten years ought to be enough?).

Other people have answered most of your questions about what to buy I think but for making a ham radio you should really read this ebook: http://www.wa0itp.com/crystalsetsssb.html It starts off with the basics and then guides you through to building a SSB HF tranceiver in blocks, where nearly every block you build is individually useful.

[xibalban]

Other people have answered most of your questions about what to buy I think but for making a ham radio you should really read this ebook: http://www.wa0itp.com/crystalsetsssb.html. It starts off with the basics and then guides you through to building a SSB HF tranceiver in blocks, where nearly every block you build is individually useful.

Thanks for noting my long-term goal, and thanks for the useful resource link. Appreciated  .

[xibalban]

Hey folks,

I'd been away for a while, and hope the board is doing fine.

So, I've come to the end of the list, and procuring just one last tool requires your counsel: desoldering pump.

Must I go for any al cheapo here, or are certain considerations required? And, what's with the wick, is that any useful compared to the pump?

Cheers  !!

[nanofrog]

So, I've come to the end of the list, and procuring just one last tool requires your counsel: desoldering pump.

Must I go for any al cheapo here, or are certain considerations required? And, what's with the wick, is that any useful compared to the pump?

Cheers  !!

Regarding a desolder pump, el cheapo will do here.    The general aluminum bodied types work well IME (example), but if you're after a quality name brand, take a look at an Edsyn Soldapult.

As per wick, it's needed even with a pump (hand operated or desolder station) to clean up the pads, help with removing bridges, ... Just do yourself a favor, and get good quality here, or you'll end up with poor results and a lot of frustration (potentially even damage the PCB you're working on due to lifted traces).

Goot makes good stuff, and is readily available in Asia as I understand it (made by Taiyo Industrial in Japan). Just be aware of the high level of counterfeits out there, and get it from a reliable source. Other brands to consider would be Chemtronics, Techspray, MG Chemicals, and Loctite/Multicore for example (not sure what's readily available out of these in your region).

[xibalban]

Regarding a desolder pump, el cheapo will do here.    The general aluminum bodied types work well IME (example), but if you're after a quality name brand, take a look at an Edsyn Soldapult.

As per wick, it's needed even with a pump (hand operated or desolder station) to clean up the pads, help with removing bridges, ... Just do yourself a favor, and get good quality here, or you'll end up with poor results and a lot of frustration (potentially even damage the PCB you're working on due to lifted traces).

Goot makes good stuff, and is readily available in Asia as I understand it (made by Taiyo Industrial in Japan). Just be aware of the high level of counterfeits out there, and get it from a reliable source. Other brands to consider would be Chemtronics, Techspray, MG Chemicals, and Loctite/Multicore for example (not sure what's readily available out of these in your region).

Thanks for the advice, I'll go for a locally available one then, and will do the same for the wick. Let's see how they work out, I'd be salvaging and sorting components to begin with anyway.
Oh, and is there any freeware drafting software available? I'd want to quickly prepare schematics, export those to JPEG (or other image) format and post them in the forum during our discussions, etc.

[Thor-Arne]

Personally I prefer KiCad, I've had no trouble with it (BZR4694) running on Windows 7.

Have a look at this thread.

[Yago]

Personally I bought an Ersa i-Con Pico for home use. Works very well so far (I can consistently work at a lower temperature than with the soldering stations at work), and heats up in a couple of seconds. The three things I don't like about it are: lack of ESD protection (that costs 100 bucks extra, the bastards), the grip handle gets pretty warm at the front after a while, the isolation is not great; and you can't change the tip while it's hot, you need to wait for it to cool down because you do need your fingers, next to impossible to do it with pliers.

Not sure if this is the problem changing tips...
Have you a black collar for each tip?
The collar stays with the hot tip to put on the stand, and the cold one attached with another collar.

http://www.tme.eu/en/details/ersa-3it1040/soldering-tips/ersa/3it1040-00/#

There's little brass posts that go into the stand to hold the hot and cold spare tips and collars too.

[xibalban]

Hi folks,

Do you guys use a "panavise"? What alternatives do you recommend for holding the PCB when soldering/desoldering through-hole components?

Feel free to post pictures too, since I'm pretty confused given the choices available.

Cheers  !!

[nanofrog]

Do you guys use a "panavise"? What alternatives do you recommend for holding the PCB when soldering/desoldering through-hole components?

Personally, I do use Panavise and love it (seems a bit expensive on the surface, but I find it highly useful and will last a lifetime if not abused).

Started with the 301 kit (standard 303 vise head + 300 base), and added both a 315 circuit board holder and a 376 Wide Self-Centering head. Base is mounted to a piece of scrap steel plate I picked up for a few bucks, hit with a $1.00 can of spray paint, and added some rubber feet (cheaper than any of the base mounts they offer, and it's very stable).

There's also some really good ways to DIY some very nice, and usable helping hands from Loc-Line or similar flexible CNC coolant hose as well (this thread might be of interest).

[xibalban]

So, I'm tempted to assemble my own first project with a few components.

Am I good to go with a general purpose perforated PCB or is it more fun to design a proper PCB out of copper clad boards?
Is a permanent marker enough to transfer my first routing diagrams onto the board? For discussion's sake, mine is a tiny dc voltage regulator circuit using an LM317.
I've also seen those PCB etching pens strewn all over EBay. Are they any good?

PS:

Wish all you goodfellas a very happy 2015  !!

[pickle9000]

I remember doing it with brass nails and a hunk of wood. Real breadboarding.

Sharpies used to be used for direct to copper layout, easy enough to test.

Perfboard is fine and last a long time for one offs.

Making pcb's is a part of electronics, no need if it's a simple circuit though.

[Syntax_Error]

Like in this video:

[xibalban]

Like in this video:

Thanks for sharing the link to that inspiring video  !

I remember doing it with brass nails and a hunk of wood. Real breadboarding.

Sharpies used to be used for direct to copper layout, easy enough to test.

Perfboard is fine and last a long time for one offs.

Making pcb's is a part of electronics, no need if it's a simple circuit though.

Is it sane to trace tracks on the perf-board by joining each hole using solder? Or, is it more usual to use jumper wires on the other side?

[rdl]

Is it sane to trace tracks on the perf-board by joining each hole using solder? Or, is it more usual to use jumper wires on the other side?

No, the spacing between pads on perfboard is too much for the solder to easily bridge. Lay out your circuit as a single sided board with the traces on the bottom. Use bare wire to form the traces. Don't bother to twist leads and wires together, just use solder like glue. It's easier to modify or repair that way.