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| Tricks of the Trade - knowledge for every day life |
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| KE5FX:
--- Quote from: Berni on October 30, 2020, 11:48:38 am ---Here is one: PCB Cleaner spray (the usual isopropyl and ethanol mix) used to clean flux off your boards is excellent at removing hot glue from pretty much any surface. Just soak the blob of hot glue in the stuff, leave it sit for a few seconds than pry at it a bit while its still wet, the hot glue suddenly looses all adhesion and just falls off, but it doesn't seam to dissolve the hot glue at all so it does not make any mess. --- End quote --- Pro Tip #1: Instead of hot glue, use UV-cure adhesive, available at most hardware stores and stores that sell fishing supplies. Apparently it's used for fly tying, or something like that. Then, throw away the LED light that comes with the adhesive and replace it with a 405-nm Chinese laser pointer. These are sold on eBay by the dozen for around US $1 - $3 each, and range from 5x more powerful than they're supposed to be to 20x more powerful. Unlike the LED, the laser can penetrate some distance into a large blob of the material, making it a good substitute for hot glue. Pro Tip #2: Wear a good pair of sunglasses when performing Pro Tip #1. |
| jogri:
--- Quote from: KE5FX on October 31, 2020, 04:50:05 am ---Pro Tip #2: Wear a good pair of sunglasses when performing Pro Tip #1. --- End quote --- Please don't do this unless you want to experience what permanent blindness feels like. You have no idea if and by how much sunglasses reduce the intensity, and with 405nm being visible i don't think that sunglasses will block it. If you are stupid enough to stare at the spot long enough you will probably fry your cornea, and for what? A faster way of curing epoxy that sucks because you can only hit a tiny spot? If you want it to cure faster get a UV lamp... More power, and it isn't nearly as stupid as using a laser. Btw, you can get decent laser goggles for 60-70 bucks, and with those you know excatly which part of the spectrum they block to what extend. Using sunglasses because they "block light" is just beyond stupid, those things are absolutely NOT designed to handle extremely strong, collimated light. PS: Rule No.1 of laser safety: If you can see the laser, you done f**ed up. |
| bsfeechannel:
--- Quote from: jogri on October 31, 2020, 11:15:19 am --- --- Quote from: KE5FX on October 31, 2020, 04:50:05 am ---Pro Tip #2: Wear a good pair of sunglasses when performing Pro Tip #1. --- End quote --- Please don't do this unless you want to experience what permanent blindness feels like. You have no idea if and by how much sunglasses reduce the intensity, and with 405nm being visible i don't think that sunglasses will block it. If you are stupid enough to stare at the spot long enough you will probably fry your cornea, and for what? A faster way of curing epoxy that sucks because you can only hit a tiny spot? If you want it to cure faster get a UV lamp... More power, and it isn't nearly as stupid as using a laser. Btw, you can get decent laser goggles for 60-70 bucks, and with those you know excatly which part of the spectrum they block to what extend. Using sunglasses because they "block light" is just beyond stupid, those things are absolutely NOT designed to handle extremely strong, collimated light. PS: Rule No.1 of laser safety: If you can see the laser, you done f**ed up. --- End quote --- That would be Pro Tip #3. |
| Berni:
--- Quote from: KE5FX on October 31, 2020, 04:50:05 am --- --- Quote from: Berni on October 30, 2020, 11:48:38 am ---Here is one: PCB Cleaner spray (the usual isopropyl and ethanol mix) used to clean flux off your boards is excellent at removing hot glue from pretty much any surface. Just soak the blob of hot glue in the stuff, leave it sit for a few seconds than pry at it a bit while its still wet, the hot glue suddenly looses all adhesion and just falls off, but it doesn't seam to dissolve the hot glue at all so it does not make any mess. --- End quote --- Pro Tip #1: Instead of hot glue, use UV-cure adhesive, available at most hardware stores and stores that sell fishing supplies. Apparently it's used for fly tying, or something like that. Then, throw away the LED light that comes with the adhesive and replace it with a 405-nm Chinese laser pointer. These are sold on eBay by the dozen for around US $1 - $3 each, and range from 5x more powerful than they're supposed to be to 20x more powerful. Unlike the LED, the laser can penetrate some distance into a large blob of the material, making it a good substitute for hot glue. Pro Tip #2: Wear a good pair of sunglasses when performing Pro Tip #1. --- End quote --- I have a bright 18650 cell flashlight with a Uv LED in it. It has plenty of power behind it, enugh to feel a bit of heat from the light if you shine it on your hand. Do have some UV glue to go with it, but the resin used for those resin SLA 3D printers works great as glue too, especialy the transparent kind(That also seams to give best results in the printer). But i still use hot glue quite a bit: Pro tip: You don't need to wait for a hot glue gun to warm up, you can just take a chunk of hot glue, place it on whatever you are glueing and heat it with a hot air rework station for a few seconds until it looks moten. Once i found out how easy hot glue is to remove with PCB cleaner i just started using it even more. Pro tip 2: You can also use a hot ait gun to smooth out a hot glue joint into a nice clean looking smooth blob by simply heating it up after it is glued, the surface tension takes care of the rest. I use this a lot for encapsulating connectors on the end of a cable such as 0.1in pin headers, keeps wires from breaking off over time, makes it look smooth and fancy while giving you a good place to grab it when unplging to avoid pulling on the wires. |
| tooki:
--- Quote from: greenpossum on October 31, 2020, 02:08:32 am ---Used lithium button cells make quick THT LED testers. No current limiting resistor required. --- End quote --- They don’t have to be old. New ones work too! |
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