Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

I have a one of those hot air units, and they are perfectly fine, just use a medium heat, small nozzle and slow air speed or else you will end up blowing the surrounding parts off the board. Use a pair of tweezers to gently lift the MOSFET off the PCB when the solder melts and avoid knocking any of the surrounding parts as well.

[tautech]

Yeah xrunner, you don't need anything too flash unless you plan on doing lots of SMD work but you do need a few different tips and a station that gives good flow and heat control.......like mnem ! 
Hunt for one with spare elements and or pump diaphragms available and get some Kapton tape for protecting surrounding bits and bobs.
Oh and don't just dive into something precious but instead have a play on a few junk PCB's to get the feel for it.

When I was looking a local retailer was specialling out SMD workstations with air and pencil for new models so I double dipped on getting air and a controlled pencil station all in one. Vast difference from the light dimmer controlled fire sticks I used to use ! 

[mnementh]

...along with similar Eklind Metric and SAE keyfolds ...

The one I've got is Eklind (model No 22572 in case anyone's in the market for some), don't remember where I got it. I know exactly what you mean about the 'folding up' thing - they need to be used with appropriate caution and if you need real torque it's time to reach for something with a handle because that's when you're most at danger of the whole thing folding up on you. Then it's bloody knuckles time without the pleasure of the messy sex.

   

Mine are #91-S & #M-17. The Titan keyfold... they weren't proud enough of it to include a model #; however a quick Google shows it is actually still available for $9 on Amazon with part #12710.  Mine is at least 15 years old; the Eklinds easily 30. They're also getting pretty disreputable-looking in the cold harsh light of the camera flash.  Now I want to dismantle them and clean them up with a wire-wheel... but that grinder is locked away in a trailer in BuffaloNY. 

mnem
*twisted*

[mnementh]

Hello Tea'ers. Need some advice on a hot air system. I need to replace this pre-driver RF MOSFET on a 220 MHz mobile radio, and it's in a leadless carrier - RD07MVS1B  So, it's finally time to get a hot air system. What's the current recommendation say under $100. Do not want it to have a soldering iron. The 8585D looks scary ... Thanks.

Whip over to mnem’s place and get him to give a quick puff of dwagons breath !

mnem
 

[Specmaster]

Hello Tea'ers. Need some advice on a hot air system. I need to replace this pre-driver RF MOSFET on a 220 MHz mobile radio, and it's in a leadless carrier - RD07MVS1B  So, it's finally time to get a hot air system. What's the current recommendation say under $100. Do not want it to have a soldering iron. The 8585D looks scary ... Thanks.

Whip over to mnem’s place and get him to give a quick puff of dwagons breath !

(Attachment Link)

mnem
 

That is not dwagons breath, they are flame throwers, he wants melt the solder not cremate the board 

[mnementh]

I am 63 myself, Mrs GreyWoolfe is 9 years younger than me.  She's my second and I am her third. We will celebrate 15 years in April. The passion is almost the same, the sex is better as we have grown to know each other more intimately and if life gets in the way and the gap is too long, we reset.  We aren't intimate as often as we used to be but that is due to physical/health issues on both our part more than the lack of passion.  She has no worries of infidelity on my part, I struggle just to keep up with her.  I don't worry about infidelity on her part.  She is more than happy to say that she knows what she has and aint giving it up.  We both traveled some seriously broken roads that brought us together and we have had our share of struggles but we've overcome everything thrown at us and came out stronger for it.

Thanks for saving me the trouble of writing almost exactly the same thing, word for word! The only diff for myself and my Elizabeth is we're a decade younger and have been together 20 years. She really is the best thing that ever happened to me.

mnem

[xrunner]

That may be the ultimate fate of that POS radio. 

[bitseeker]

That's a rather nifty combo unit.

[edavid]

Hello Tea'ers. Need some advice on a hot air system. I need to replace this pre-driver RF MOSFET on a 220 MHz mobile radio, and it's in a leadless carrier -

RD07MVS1B

So, it's finally time to get a hot air system. What's the current recommendation say under $100. Do not want it to have a soldering iron. The 8585D looks scary ...

Quick 957DW+ is the best station under $100.  You can get it from Tequipment for $86 with EEVblog discount:

https://www.tequipment.net/Quick/957DW+/Desoldering-Equipment/Rework-Stations/

[worsthorse]

who needs seven digit DMMs, gigahertz signal generators, or four channel storage scopes to work on when you can spend the day dis-assembling a large household appliance?



i lived for taking apart stuff like this when i was a kid.  fifty years later and i can do it without getting grounded for a month. 

[xrunner]

Quick 957DW+ is the best station under $100.  You can get it from Tequipment for $86 with EEVblog discount:

https://www.tequipment.net/Quick/957DW+/Desoldering-Equipment/Rework-Stations/

Thanks checking it out now. 

[worsthorse]

Quick 957DW+ is the best station under $100.  You can get it from Tequipment for $86 with EEVblog discount:

https://www.tequipment.net/Quick/957DW+/Desoldering-Equipment/Rework-Stations/

Thanks checking it out now. 

I will second the 957DW. I have one and it is a good entry level piece of gear.  I only wish the hose was easily removable because I have to store it when I am not using it.

[xrunner]

I will second the 957DW. I have one and it is a good entry level piece of gear.  I only wish the hose was easily removable because I have to store it when I am not using it.

Cool - that's the one I'll get then. Thanks guys!

[bitseeker]

who needs seven digit DMMs, gigahertz signal generators, or four channel storage scopes to work on when you can spend the day dis-assembling a large household appliance?

(Attachment Link)

i lived for taking apart stuff like this when i was a kid.  fifty years later and i can do it without getting grounded for a month. 

Yep. Had to change a belt on a dryer last year. Necessary evils that enable the lab to continue to exist.

[BravoV]

i lived for taking apart stuff like this when i was a kid.  fifty years later and i can do it without getting grounded for a month. 

Well, in my case, I didn't get grounded, its just I had nightmare whenever I thought about the excess screws and nuts that were swiped under the carpet when I finished assembling the machine back. 

[worsthorse]

Of a more TEAish flavor,  I was lucky enough to acquire one of these recently:



A still-in-the-bag AADE LC meter kit, legendary among ham radio operators of a certain bent, at least in the United States. Another recent arrival is a first generation Norcal 40 kit, also still in its original bag.   

I think I am going to set aside working on test gear for a bit and build me some electronics.  After, of course, I put the dryer back together and figure out exactly where the HVAC guy hid the damper actuator for the second floor heating so I can replace it.

[med6753]

who needs seven digit DMMs, gigahertz signal generators, or four channel storage scopes to work on when you can spend the day dis-assembling a large household appliance?

(Attachment Link)

i lived for taking apart stuff like this when i was a kid.  fifty years later and i can do it without getting grounded for a month. 

So what's bad? The drum bearing or something else?

[worsthorse]

i lived for taking apart stuff like this when i was a kid.  fifty years later and i can do it without getting grounded for a month. 

Well, in my case, I didn't get grounded, its just I had nightmare whenever I thought about the excess screws and nuts that were swiped under the carpet when I finished assembling the machine back. 

I promised Amy if I couldn't put it back together properly, I would take back apart, carry the pieces to the dumpster, and buy a new one. I did not, however, promise that there would be no leftover screws.   

[worsthorse]

who needs seven digit DMMs, gigahertz signal generators, or four channel storage scopes to work on when you can spend the day dis-assembling a large household appliance?

(Attachment Link)

i lived for taking apart stuff like this when i was a kid.  fifty years later and i can do it without getting grounded for a month. 

So what's bad? The drum bearing or something else?

This dryer's drum sits on four rollers.  The axles on two of the rollers managed to get hair wrapped around them, which caused them to bind just a tiny bit, forcing the drum a little cockeyed. Eventually the drum edge, rubbing against one of the rollers, ground it out of round.  Since I have it torn apart and all of the rollers are a bit worn, as is the belt (the dryer is fifteen years old) I will just replace them all now. Hopefully that will be my last dryer repair for another decade or so.   

[WastelandTek]

ALMOST ALL DIGITAL ELECTRONICS LCIIB !!!!


YES!


that thing changed my life, got it right here

[mnementh]

For me it was the Dick Smith ESR meter.  It was my first electronic kit that actually yielded a usable tool; while I'd built many "Lab kits" and repaired a number of Heath products I never built one.

For the curious, the AADE LCIIB manual is here as a pdf.

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

[mansaxel]

who needs seven digit DMMs, gigahertz signal generators, or four channel storage scopes to work on when you can spend the day dis-assembling a large household appliance?

i lived for taking apart stuff like this when i was a kid.  fifty years later and i can do it without getting grounded for a month. 

As I wrote upthread, the key to get to play with scopes, generators and meters is to prove they're useful by repairing APPLIANCES (I think
 of Joe's Garage and the scene at the Appliantologist place "The Closet" so must write in upper case) with them.

The amount of structural compromise one must introduce in a tumble dryer to swap the drive belt is considerable..  Got the belt from Germany, where it, including shipping to Sweden, was half the price of the supposedly "cheap" 3rd party supplier in-country.

[Dek]

I will second the 957DW. I have one and it is a good entry level piece of gear.  I only wish the hose was easily removable because I have to store it when I am not using it.

Cool - that's the one I'll get then. Thanks guys! (Attachment Link)

Or you could get this one off ebay...also does arc welding 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/861DW-220-110V-1000W-High-Power-Hot-Air-Soldering-Rework-Station-w-3-Nozzles/401950774662?hash=item5d96221586:m:m63kbMzO2MBa0M41MVoCA9w

Dek

[beanflying]

The voice is a little in need of Beer and food after a day of making sawdust 

Cheap and Cheerful Poscast Mic arrived as a quick test one on the dongle and one on the B450/AMD motherboard jack. Works fine on Discord with buckets of gain and a quick and dirty clean test with no processing or noise cancelling via windoze recorder. Dongle was a no fuss plugin too.

Maybe the Adapter by a bit too 

Well worth the few pesos eBay auction: #324030959176 and I will have a little play with it's guts if I get a chance.

[bd139]

Of a more TEAish flavor,  I was lucky enough to acquire one of these recently:

(Attachment Link)

A still-in-the-bag AADE LC meter kit, legendary among ham radio operators of a certain bent, at least in the United States. Another recent arrival is a first generation Norcal 40 kit, also still in its original bag.   

I think I am going to set aside working on test gear for a bit and build me some electronics.  After, of course, I put the dryer back together and figure out exactly where the HVAC guy hid the damper actuator for the second floor heating so I can replace it.

That was a good find. I’ve been after one of those for about 5 years. And typically as is always with stuff on my build list, the dude went SK  . RIP.