Introducing myself

[sunspots]

Hello,

I was really into electronics many years ago back in college, building "arduinos" well before they existed. Honestly their popularity dumbfounds me, it's just an ATMEGA on an overpriced prefabbed PCB? To each their own I suppose. I ended up getting my BS in comp sci, got a job, a house, a fiance, and now I want back in.

Still have my old 100mhz tektronix oscope buried down in the basement. I have my Hakko 936 from back in the day, my Hakko 472B which I just recently got, and my new personal favorite: my Hakko 852, all of them are genuine. I prefer old style Hakko for a couple of reasons, they look waaaay better than the fisher price yellow/blue style they've adopted and I can get them used for far cheaper.

Anyhoo, I'm looking to buy a bunch of parts for my new toys, including about 30 solder tips for both my 807 and my 907. I've got my shopping cart on tequipment.net full of stuff and I went looking for a coupon code. I found a post here that claimed to have one so I signed up. I realized after I signed up that the post requirement was to start making posts in the community so that's what I'm here to do. Hopefully I can be of some help to someone.

I'm looking to start on some small home automation projects at first, and then who knows what.

Anyways, thanks for listening.

-sunspots

[kalel]

Welcome

[bjcuizon]

I was really into electronics many years ago back in college, building "arduinos" well before they existed. Honestly their popularity dumbfounds me, it's just an ATMEGA on an overpriced prefabbed PCB?

I believe the price is not all for the arduino board but also for the developers so that they can research and make another good product.
Anyway, welcome to the forum!

[Dubbie]

Why the heck are you buying 30 soldering iron tips?

[skarecrow]

Welcome! There's a post requirement??

Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk

[ZeTeX]

Welcome Back. 

30 soldering tips? what the hell? you only need about 4-5 top.

[bjcuizon]

30 soldering tips? what the hell? you only need about 4-5 top.

Maybe he meant 30(three) and accidentaly typed 0.

[Brumby]

Welcome! There's a post requirement??

Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk

It's more like an expectation to contribute to the forum.

People who sign up just to get a coupon code and then disappear (until their next purchase) are not welcome.  Nobody likes being 'used'.

However, someone who is happy to offer something of value to the forum is the kind of person we like to help out.  The OP has shown their awareness of this and seems to be making an effort.

Welcome sunspots.

[TerraHertz]

What coupon codes? You mean there's some way to benefit from spending too much time in here? Oh wait, sounds like I'd need to actually have some money to spend first...

Welcome Sunspots. You chose a name that is becoming in short supply. You'll be very popular as the mini ice age really starts to bite.
Now we need more to register as Solarwind, CosmicRay, and Nucleation. You ever thought of forming a quartet?

[Brumby]

Oh wait, sounds like I'd need to actually have some money to spend first...

I know that song.

Get a few more of us together and we can do our own quartet.

[kalel]

Oh wait, sounds like I'd need to actually have some money to spend first...

I know that song.

Get a few more of us together and we can do our own quartet.

I guess that only the professionals have a financial way to return their investment when it comes to electronics. No offense intended if one of you is a professional. Or if you both are.

[sunspots]

I was really into electronics many years ago back in college, building "arduinos" well before they existed. Honestly their popularity dumbfounds me, it's just an ATMEGA on an overpriced prefabbed PCB?

I believe the price is not all for the arduino board but also for the developers so that they can research and make another good product.
Anyway, welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the welcome!

That was my point, it's something anyone dabbling in EE could build for a quarter the price. Feels like a cash grab as opposed to a great product. Maybe I'm just jealous I didn't think of it first, I never would have guessed anyone that enjoys working with electronics would need something like that.

[Dubbie]

Feels like a cash grab as opposed to a great product.

Are you kidding? Arduino for all it's faults is almost singlehandedly  responsible for an absolute explosion in hobbyists being able to work with microcontrollers. Before Arduino you had to be a pretty dedicated hobbyist to work with a pic or something similar. With Arduino, anyone with almost zero electronics knowledge could bodge something together in an hour or two and it would work. And that is a good thing. It's a great gateway drug!

R

[sunspots]

30 soldering tips? what the hell? you only need about 4-5 top.

Maybe he meant 30(three) and accidentaly typed 0.

No I meant 30. I wanted every chisel, some special guys, some smd guys, some hoofs, etc. I just wanted an arsenal. Perhaps it's over the top.

This is the list of what I was considering:

Hakko 900M-T-3CM
Hakko T18-D08
Hakko T18-D12
Hakko T18-D16
Hakko T18-D24
Hakko T18-D32
Hakko T18-DL12
Hakko T18-DL2
Hakko T18-DL32
Hakko T18-B
Hakko T18-BR02
Hakko T18-BL
Hakko T18-I
Hakko T18-CF1
Hakko T18-CF15
Hakko T18-CF2
Hakko T18-CF3
Hakko T18-K
Hakko T18-S3
Hakko T18-S4
Hakko T18-C05
Hakko T18-C08
Hakko T18-C1
Hakko T18-C2
Hakko T18-C3

I'm not usually one to splurge on crap I don't need, I'm typically very conservative. But I'm getting back into my favorite hobby and actually have money for once in my life, last time around I was a broke college kid

I need to reel in the excitement and think about what I'll actually need.

[sunspots]

Welcome! There's a post requirement??

Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk

It's more like an expectation to contribute to the forum.

People who sign up just to get a coupon code and then disappear (until their next purchase) are not welcome.  Nobody likes being 'used'.

However, someone who is happy to offer something of value to the forum is the kind of person we like to help out.  The OP has shown their awareness of this and seems to be making an effort.

Welcome sunspots.

Yes and I plan on sticking around. So far from what I've seen I like this forum. Everyone seems knowledgeable and friendly. I used to frequent the www.avrfreaks.net forum.

Thanks for the welcome!

[sunspots]

Feels like a cash grab as opposed to a great product.

Are you kidding? Arduino for all it's faults is almost singlehandedly  responsible for an absolute explosion in hobbyists being able to work with microcontrollers. Before Arduino you had to be a pretty dedicated hobbyist to work with a pic or something similar. With Arduino, anyone with almost zero electronics knowledge could bodge something together in an hour or two and it would work. And that is a good thing. It's a great gateway drug!

R

No I'm not kidding? I'm not sure what you're talking about?

Before Arduino there were Atmel MCUs (obviously still are as that's really what an arduino is). You would just order one from mouser.com or any other electronics catalog for <$2 or if you want the big dogs then $5 to get a MEGA and toss it on your circuit. Write some C, compile it with the right compiler flags and flash it. There was an entire forum dedicated to it, probably still is, was something like avr forum. You absolutely did not need an overpriced arduino. I did this stuff in my spare time while in college, I was a computer science major, not an EE major, you did not need to be dedicated or overly knowledgeable on the subject. I built a programmer from an old parallel cable. It's insanely simple and far cheaper. You definitely did not need to work with PICs.

If anything I would say the C based MCU is responsible for an explosion. The company Atmel. Arduino just cashed in on it by letting people skip a step.

But to each their own, I'm happy it got people interested either way.

Update: the forum is http://www.avrfreaks.net/forum

[ThunderCat]

Hi sunspots, welcome. I'm new here too! I've spent a fair amount of time in the GroupDIY forum and I like to build audio stuff. I'm working on an 1176 compressor right now.

To your point - I have to agree the arduinos are absolutely worth every penny to those who don't have the expertise you have. We all have blind spots (sunspots?) to our own greatness, and I think you don't realize how gifted you are.

I was thrilled a few months ago to make some rudimentary LCD screen projects with an arduino. Plus you can buy smaller boards for just a few bucks - less than the price of a latte.

I'm looking forward to diving into the forum and learning from you guys; I've been a fan of Dave's for a long time via his YouTubes.

PS I just got myself a used Metcal MX500 PSU and a new hand piece and I'm loving it!

Mike