going to be roundly ignored from this point on
It does look unloved — but that seems to be how Wellers look after a few years. They last forever, but they look grungy pretty fast. But yeah, that tip needs to be replaced or cleaned, seriously…
Is the old married couple done with their yet? No? Well then I'll show you how not to use a soldering iron!
Lobs a large solder gun at dunkemhigh's head
Stabs cerebus with a hot conical tip
There, now that those two are dealt with, let's continue with how not to solder.
Well, while I do hate conical tips, the actual size of the tip is fine for drag soldering. But of course, what he did is neither drag soldering nor "classic" soldering. (German has a great saying for things like this: "Weder Fisch noch Fleisch!" — 'neither fish nor meat' )
The standard English version of that phrase is "neither fish nor fowl" which nicely keeps the alliteration and is at least medieval in origin.
The problem here is amateurism. Many years ago, in a midnight Kaffeeklatsch, a friend and I came up with a classification of amateurism and professionalism (for subjects that can both be hobbies and paying occupations) that, in retrospect, has stood the test of time and I offer here for your consideration.
[snip 4 classifications]
*Yes, I'm looking at you Martha Lane Fox.
**I'll just point out that we discussed exactly that effect in the conversation that lead to this homily at least twenty years before Dunning and Kruger put their names to it and somewhere in the Usenet archives is a summary like this one written in the mid 90s by the other party to the original conversation. I'm not going to accuse Dunning or Kruger of plagiarism, but perhaps a name change is in order.
My, y'all do like jumping to assumptions. I know full well how soldering is supposed to happen, but this is NOT about what I know or do. It is about what HE does and shows. Did he look like he is maintaining standards with that iron? Is the beginner that copies him going to? Of course not! Splash it, clean up, done.
At no point was it clear you were being sarcastic
sounded as though you thought Heck’s method was sound
Might Mr Heck be showing what your average kit builder is easily capable of if only they were shown how?
Watch a decent tech do precision soldering and you'd be forgiven for thinking you need many hundreds worth of JBC kit. Here, he shows that it's perfectly possible to use a five quid thing from Aldi/Lidl, and I bet more amateurs are more likely to give this a go than if they'd just watched one of those HP films.
QuoteAt no point was it clear you were being sarcastic
No doubt because I wasn't being sarcastic.
Quotesounded as though you thought Heck’s method was soundNeither did I say it was sound.
Sure, but that's not actually relevant for splashing blobs on SMD chips, is it? So long as the stuff is molten and isn't evaporating, the job's a good 'un.
In which case you were being serious about endorsing his method
Except that that's a lie.
the job's a good 'un.
Don't try to gaslight us
'Gaslightng' is very much a USA expression - it comes from a movie
Thank you, Mr Scram, for giving an almost perfect demonstration of why threads like this escalate in the way they do. You know very well what was meant, and also know that it is a commonly understood and used phrase. But despite that you chose to act the pedant in order to start another argument.
I don't know why you're so belligerent.
Quotethe job's a good 'un.
Let me guess you are not a native English-speaker? You've never heard that expression, or a close likeness, before? If so then I will forgive you your slander.
I am English and speak English, and 'Gaslightng' is very much a USA expression - it comes from a movie. Something to do with manipulating somebody to doubt their own sanity by denying something happened.
It's a bit like how Americans don't understand irony. "It's like rain on your wedding day", but only if you are a weather forcaster....
What does this one mean, exactly, then?
Since your reply is so polite I will treat it at face value and apologise for going off on one at you.
I accept that there are many dialects and variations, but 'English' is usually taken to mean the Queen's language as detailed by the OED. For something else it would be explicit: American English as detailed by Miriam Webster, for instance, except where some basic element is common. The particular phrase I used probably wouldn't be known away from England, though.
QuoteWhat does this one mean, exactly, then?
Amazingly, wiktionary gives as good an explanation as I could:
Midland exclamation at an unexpectedly good outcome of a bad situation
In this thread, I was noting that despite Heck's apparently atrocious soldering skills, the end result (a working board) was achieved.
it also assumes a certain cultural background which simply may not be there
you mean generally for that language, regardless of dialect — the common basis, if you will
Quoteit also assumes a certain cultural background which simply may not be there
Yes, hence why I questioned whether he was a native speaker to here, England. However, the expression seems to be more localised than I thought.
Nevertheless, the context of my post was in the demonstration that a lack of soldering skills isn't a showstopper (and seeing this encourages begineers). So the 'job' in this context is not the soldering per se but the working board at the end. Understanding that is surely basic English comprehension
it came across that way to me, because without knowing the hidden meaning of the phrase, it is sarcastic!