Thunderstorms and modems...

[zeitghost]

I tried repairing one of those buggers once (a Hayes V92 jobby) that lost a capacitor. You must be godlike if you can desolder those boody SOT23 packages. I can't even see the buggers with my crappy eyesight.

I can't see them either; that's why I bought a nice big illuminated magnifier thingy, much easier using that.

And years of practice... SOT23 isn't really a problem and I've hand soldered stuff down to 25 thou pitch. Gets really difficult below that.

I thought 0603 resistors were little, until they brought out 0402 and 0201 resistors...

Does everyone on here have a strange interest in electronics?

Very probably ; and a disturbing interest in blowup dolls and an even more disturbing interest and knowledge of guns...

[TheMonkey]

Ouch - I think my crappy Antex is a little to large to handle such fiddly jobs. I have enough problem with DIP package sockets. I'll post a photo of my latest creation at some point with it's rat's nest wiring so you can laugh at my soldering skills.

Ironically, my soldering is crap but my first REAL job was inspecting Rapier guidance systems for dry joints.

Very probably ; and a disturbing interest in blowup dolls and an even more disturbing interest and knowledge of guns...

It's common amongst techies. I have a disturbing knowledge of pyrochemistry, particularly in respect to chemicals at high temperatures that explode

[zeitghost]

I use a Weller TCP.

Ironically enough, I did the soldering with a large tip, mostly because I couldn't be arsed to change it. It's a case of practice makes perfect...

The technique for removing SOT23s is simplicity itself, nice large blob of solder between emitter & base & when that's melted move to the collector & give the thing a flick... if it's not glued down it should come off the board ok.

Solder wick to clean the crap off the pads & away you go.

Spray on surface mount flux is a great help when prototyping SM stuff. (That's surface mount not sado-masochism, by the way ).

[Cyber Controller]

I use a Weller TCP.

Ironically enough, I did the soldering with a large tip, mostly because I couldn't be arsed to change it. It's a case of practice makes perfect...

The technique for removing SOT23s is simplicity itself, nice large blob of solder between emitter & base & when that's melted move to the collector & give the thing a flick... if it's not glued down it should come off the board ok.

Solder wick to clean the crap off the pads & away you go.

Spray on surface mount flux is a great help when prototyping SM stuff. (That's surface mount not sado-masochism, by the way ).

Isn't solder with lead in it due to be banned any day now by the nanny state?

[TheMonkey]

Isn't solder with lead in it due to be banned any day now by the nanny state?

It's controlled by RoHS AFAIK but you can get lead-free:

http://www.rapidelectronics.co.uk/rk...2696&XPAGENO=1

I had a Weller TCP but I broke the PSU by accident (it was a 24v one) when it fell off the table after tripping over the mains lead.

[zeitghost]

Isn't solder with lead in it due to be banned any day now by the nanny state?

Only for new electrical & electronic stuff.

Still available for maintenance purposes (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).

[zeitghost]

I had a Weller TCP but I broke the PSU by accident (it was a 24v one) when it fell off the table after tripping over the mains lead.

Easily done; a new psu is about £50... I made one for a tenner using a 50VA 24V transformer & a tin box.

[DaveB]

Easily done; a new psu is about £50... I made one for a tenner using a 50VA 24V transformer & a tin box.

You sure you're not a Yorkshire Giant Alien Lizard?

[zeitghost]

Don't think I've got any Yorkshire genes, but one just can't be sure...

[zeitghost]

And is this you with your burning modem?

Yuup... that's me... soldering iron is just out of frame.