| Electronics > Beginners |
| Starting up a lab |
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| Shock:
Q1. For soldering you also need desoldering tools, a hand desoldering pump also known as a solder sucker and some desoldering braid/wick will get you started. Solder and then additional flux is useful, do some searching it's too broad a topic to cover. Q2. Avoid buying too many cheap resistor and cap kits. It's a trap that many people fall into. Do collect some scrap PCBs to practice soldering and desoldering. Assemble some cheap kits and experiment. Noname brand kits have cheap low quality Chinese components, if you plan is to design or repair the difference is often only a few dollars to get the branded components which also will have datasheets which are often essential in evaluating the components performance. Q3. Secondhand multimeters are fine. The more you pay the more accuracy, resolution, features and quality you should get. But stick to name or recommended brands. Don't use cheap Chinese meters above 60V or so. Once you have a decent meter (secondhand Fluke 87 for $100 or so for instance) 95% of the meters out there will be rubbish in comparison. Q4. There are threads on the forum for book recommendations. Q5. When you are starting you can use a cheap PC switch mode power supply, you should be able to source one for free if you ask around. You can add a cheap Chinese DC to DC controller to get a low cost regulated power supply. Do some research on power supply features. Secondhand is always going to be the better value option. Don't sink too much into low end Chinese supplies, just like multimeters the cheap stuff is easily replaced. |
| ataradov:
I'm not really sure what is so unsafe about Ksger soldering station. Do you have any prof that it does not pass those standards? Or you just like to bash China? I've been using it more, and it performs very. It would absolutely be suitable for a beginner. But if you are one of those people that buy Flukes only for no real reason, then sure go ahead and spend more money than you actually need to. |
| james_s:
Has Dave ever done a review and teardown of one? If not I think that would be worthy of a video at some point since it's getting recommended for beginners. I got by for many years with cheap firesticks by necessity which I'm sure were vastly inferior to even a cheap Chinese soldering station, it's great that there are affordable options these days. The Pace does look like a very nice system and a good value, certainly worth considering if one has the budget, otherwise it could be a nice upgrade once it is decided to pursue the hobby more seriously. There's some middle ground too, some of the Hakko stations are decent for around $100 or so, and I'm sure there are others. I never found any real use for those solder sucker gadgets, they never worked worth a crap for me although I know some guys swear by them. I have a Hakko 808 vacuum desoldering gun which I absolutely love, once I got that I never looked back. It wasn't cheap though, on a budget I think I'd be looking at some of the similar Chinese devices. |
| ataradov:
--- Quote from: james_s on October 22, 2019, 05:03:58 pm ---Has Dave ever done a review and teardown of one? If not I think that would be worthy of a video at some point since it's getting recommended for beginners. --- End quote --- There are reviews and teardowns by others. I too disassembled my unit to see if there is anything sketchy going on, and it looks well designed. I personally have no problems with the design and build quality. And UI that is not frustrating to use is a nice addition. |
| rstofer:
The Hakko 936 was a nice soldering station and reasonably priced. Alas, they are out of production. There are some used units on eBay. Replacing the 936 is the Hakko FX-888D which is also a pretty nice station at a reasonable price: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=fx-888d&ref=nb_sb_noss_1 I have a Hakko pistol type desoldering tool and it works - sometimes - depending on the clearance between the lead and the pad. If there is very little clearance, it's hard to get the solder out. Solder Wick works - sometimes - again depending on the clearance between the lead and the pad. Same problem... Hot air desoldering might be the best way to go for either SMD or through-hole. I have a Hakko hot air station and I have only used it once or twice. Desoldering can lead to pads lifting off of PCBs and, if that happens on a multilayer (more than 2) board, the board may very well be scrap. Even two layer boards are going to be a PITA to fix. Avoid desoldering at every opportunity. Always use sockets for DIP style ICs and at every other opportunity. If I have to desolder a multi-lead component (eg 16 pin DIP) and the component is already known to be trash, I will cut the pins and desolder them one at a time. It's a lot easier on the PCB. The components are meaningless, it's the PCB that needs protecting. |
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