Three most useful tools I got from AliExpress

[watchmaker]

The ckt board holder is stable and holds.  Much better than the alligator clamping thingies.  The Proskit is a joy. We had to heat and strike to desolder.  The Iwiss tool does a great job and is highly polished.

[pcprogrammer]

Links to the tools please. 

The board holder does look very nice, and do I see you invested in a chip tester? The one Adrian Black (digital basement) used to test al kinds of chips with?

[Calambres]

I've got the board holder and the Proskit solder sucker. Both are good and work fine for me.

[watchmaker]

Links to the tools please. 

The board holder does look very nice, and do I see you invested in a chip tester? The one Adrian Black (digital basement) used to test al kinds of chips with?

I really like the board holder.    If a board is too long, you can always hold it sideways or buy an Aluminum bar at a metals supplier.

Yes, I am assembling the retrochip tester from 8bit-museum.de.  I found it is much cheaper (but more painful) to order the parts from DigiKey; $120 vs about $250.

Per Request:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806317632603.html

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2255800993178532.html

I have to find the ProsKit desolder gun.  But it was about $100; bought it as a "first timer" on another account.  (Yes, I am that cheap!)

[tatel]

I have to find the ProsKit desolder gun.  But it was about $100; bought it as a "first timer" on another account.  (Yes, I am that cheap!)

https://aliexpress.com/item/32957483227.html

[pope]

Links to the tools please. 

The board holder does look very nice, and do I see you invested in a chip tester? The one Adrian Black (digital basement) used to test al kinds of chips with?

I really like the board holder.    If a board is too long, you can always hold it sideways or buy an Aluminum bar at a metals supplier.

Yes, I am assembling the retrochip tester from 8bit-museum.de.  I found it is much cheaper (but more painful) to order the parts from DigiKey; $120 vs about $250.

Per Request:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806317632603.html

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2255800993178532.html

I have to find the ProsKit desolder gun.  But it was about $100; bought it as a "first timer" on another account.  (Yes, I am that cheap!)

Did you buy the board holder from this specific shop? IT has rather low feedback so I'm a bit hesitant.

[watchmaker]

Yes, it is from "my orders" page.  Looky at the ratings as well as the number.  Came fast as well.

Regards,

Dewey

[pope]

Yes, it is from "my orders" page.  Looky at the ratings as well as the number.  Came fast as well.

Regards,

Dewey

Thank you.

[wraper]

It's one of the most useless tools I have. It sucks at everything besides that it actually holds the board. The only way it's useable is if you insert TH components and bend the leads so they don't fall out before putting it in holder. Inserting while in holder is a no-go. Not to say soldering under angle means that solder tends to flow downwards, especially on large solder joints. Frankly board just laying on the desk works better.

[pope]

It's one of the most useless tools I have. It sucks at everything besides that it actually holds the board. The only way it's useable is if you insert TH components and bend the leads so they don't fall out before putting it in holder. Inserting while in holder is a no-go. Not to say soldering under angle means that solder tends to flow downwards, especially on large solder joints. Frankly board just laying on the desk works better.

Are you talking about this specific holder or about holders in general? Personally I find board holders very handy when I use the desoldering pump instead of the gun.

[wraper]

It's one of the most useless tools I have. It sucks at everything besides that it actually holds the board. The only way it's useable is if you insert TH components and bend the leads so they don't fall out before putting it in holder. Inserting while in holder is a no-go. Not to say soldering under angle means that solder tends to flow downwards, especially on large solder joints. Frankly board just laying on the desk works better.

Are you talking about this specific holder or about holders in general? Personally I find board holders very handy when I use the desoldering pump instead of the gun.

I'm talking about this type of holder in particular. Maybe it's ok if desoldering with solder sucker but when pulling component from opposite side it often obstructs your hand/tweezers.

[watchmaker]

It's one of the most useless tools I have. It sucks at everything besides that it actually holds the board. The only way it's useable is if you insert TH components and bend the leads so they don't fall out before putting it in holder. Inserting while in holder is a no-go. Not to say soldering under angle means that solder tends to flow downwards, especially on large solder joints. Frankly board just laying on the desk works better.

Are you talking about this specific holder or about holders in general? Personally I find board holders very handy when I use the desoldering pump instead of the gun.

Interesting.  I use the desoldering gun (Proskit) and I had to pull switches (installed push instead of joy) and I had no issues at all.  But we each have our specific challenges.
I'm talking about this type of holder in particular. Maybe it's ok if desoldering with solder sucker but when pulling component from opposite side it often obstructs your hand/tweezers.

[mcjeff93]

Thank you for the useful info.

[tooki]

1. The ckt board holder is stable and holds.  Much better than the alligator clamping thingies. 
2. The Proskit is a joy. We had to heat and strike to desolder.
3. The Iwiss tool does a great job and is highly polished.

1. I have one of them too. It’s good for some things. For others I prefer no holder, or a high-quality helping hands made from loc line and high quality alligator clips. (I am 100% in agreement with you that the “classic” helping hands are absolutely terrible.)
2. What do you mean by “heat and strike”?
3. As I told you in the crimp tool thread: No, it is not “highly polished”. The iwiss are arguably the best low-cost crimp tools, but compared to an original tool (which admittedly costs 10x as much), they’re only lightly buffed. When I say that the best ones have a true mirror finish, I am not exaggerating.

The attached photo shows my iwiss IWS-3220 crimp tool next to the AMP tool. You can readily see the difference in surface finish. The other shows the surface roughness of the iwiss. As I said in the other thread: shiny yes, but smooth no.

And to be clear, I don’t say this to diss iwiss; they’re probably the best low cost crimper brand. But we need to keep our praise realistic.

[watchmaker]

"When I was a boy....."  No solder wick, no desolder stations, no solder suckers.  Only fixed soldering irons and Weller guns.

Soooo  you heated the joint and hit it against the bench or hit the joint with the needle nose.  Then you found where the bend was and cut it and did it again.  This is what gave PCBs such a bad name.  In those days, traces were just that: traces.  Copper foil seemingly glued on some fiberglass that pulled off when you did rework.  We reinforced them by "tracing" them with solder.

This is also how those solder splashes got on meter glasses.

[pcprogrammer]

"When I was a boy....."  No solder wick, no desolder stations, no solder suckers.  Only fixed soldering irons and Weller guns.

Soooo  you heated the joint and hit it against the bench or hit the joint with the needle nose.  Then you found where the bend was and cut it and did it again.  This is what gave PCBs such a bad name.  In those days, traces were just that: traces.  Copper foil seemingly glued on some fiberglass that pulled off when you did rework.  We reinforced them by "tracing" them with solder.

This is also how those solder splashes got on meter glasses.

 

I still use that technique sometimes to get rid of excess solder.

[HobGoblyn]

I’ve got this holder too. It’s now in the cupboard.

It’s fine for through hole soldering but most of the things I do, I need to use my microscope, this stand is simply too tall to use with it.

As I use other stands (got a few different sorts) with the microscope, I also use  the same stands when not using it.