Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[BU508A]

7603N PSU re-cap, round 2. New set of tools ready to do battle.

What happened about the desoldering station you've asked for some weeks ago?
Honestly, it makes me shivering seeing this soldering gun next to some electronics and pcbs.   

[bd139]

That’s the same iron in saw someone at the local radio club desoldering LPF toroids with. Properly fucked up the board.

BUT it depends on the user not the iron.

[mansaxel]

What happened about the desoldering station you've asked for some weeks ago?
Honestly, it makes me shivering seeing this soldering gun next to some electronics and pcbs.   

Even the el-cheapo Chinesium ones are such magic it is simply insane to forego the force multiplier they are.

[Saskia]

Well that was flipping quick (pun intended) 

30 minutes after initial offer for 130. Now you can get better stuff for similar money, but I am not complaining

[factory]

Finally getting somewhere with the HP 5248M, bit tired tonight but will explain more tomorrow. 



David

[bd139]

Ok completely off topic rant. Star Trek Discovery is a rancid sack of shit, dragging out personal relations and emotions into a bunch of poorly thrown together special effects with no story pitch or technical goodness at all. Everyone is sick and broken either physically or mentally and the acting is worse than the extras on the worst episodes of TOS. Rather than waste my time on such excrement I'm going to punch myself in the balls for 45 minutes as a far more productive waste of my time.

On topic, finally used some test gear today. The Fluke 25. To test a PC CMOS battery. I'm not doing well on the TEA front recently unfortunately. I managed to miss two auctions in a row as well. Bah humbug  . One day...

[mnementh]

Yeah; it's kindof like they tried to Anime-ify the ST:TOS movies and condense them all down into single-episode doses. I mean... I'm adept at "suspending disbelief"; especially for the sake of Star Trek. This show strained even my capacity to set aside common sense.

mnem
I mean seriously... riding the interstellar network of mushrooms with a giant deep-space Tardigrade as your navigator...? Seriously...?!?

[mnementh]

That’s the same iron in saw someone at the local radio club desoldering LPF toroids with. Properly fucked up the board.

BUT it depends on the user not the iron.

1000x this. I would not be afraid to use that gun in that scenario myself; I know that I am the temperature regulator on these and they have a Hi/Lo trigger to help with that.

But only in this kind of situation; where you have massive heat-sink copper fill and you're trying to desolder half a ton of lead from half a ton of copper and/or aluminum tabs. I'd waste lots of solder and lots of flux making sure the tip was over-tinned just right and I could get in & out quick, and I'd have my big Mandingo 25mm bore solder-suckers... both of 'em... primed before I apply the heat.

But that's just how I'd dewitt.

mnem
No dragon flame allowed. NO!!!

[med6753]

7603N PSU re-cap, round 2. New set of tools ready to do battle.

What happened about the desoldering station you've asked for some weeks ago?
Honestly, it makes me shivering seeing this soldering gun next to some electronics and pcbs.   

I didn't get around to ordering one so I went with the brute force method.

An update, all the caps are removed. The board survived. Just some minor scuffing upper left from the dremel. So everyone can calm down. 

Tomorrow install new caps.

[tautech]

 
Nothing else to add. 

[xrunner]

Now those are parts for real men - real men fixing real machines! 

I didn't get around to ordering one so I went with the brute force method.

An update, all the caps are removed. The board survived. Just some minor scuffing upper left from the dremel. So everyone can calm down. 

Tomorrow install new caps.

[med6753]

The Weller had just to right amount of heat to deal with heat sinking from those caps. And there's no heat damage or lifted board pads. I performed continuity checks especially on the plated thru holes and they are all good. So I should have no issues once the re-cap is done.

I know...famous last words. 

[tautech]

Now those are parts for real men - real men fixing real machines! 

Real men would have real soldering irons !   

[nixiefreqq]

like my old mans' iron.

takes about 20 minutes to warm up......but lots and lots of thermal mass.

edit 200 watts.

[mnementh]

I love you man... but that is EXACTLY the result I feared when you first said "hacksaw".

Before you go to solder in the new ones, I suggest you get your rosin ready, and that you loosen then retighten the nuts at the bottom of the tip on that gun. Will make all the difference in the world in how it works.

Good luck my friend,

mnem
*crosses toes, tail, wings and claws*

[med6753]

I love you man... but that is EXACTLY the result I feared when you first said "hacksaw".

Before you go to solder in the new ones, I suggest you get your rosin ready, and that you loosen then retighten the nuts at the bottom of the tip on that gun. Will make all the difference in the world in how it works.

Good luck my friend,

mnem
*crosses toes, tail, wings and claws*

The scuffing of the board is minor and in no way will affect anything.

I'm not using the Weller to solder in the new caps. It's back to the Hakko.

[med6753]

And continuing this morning......

Building up the capacitor adapters then installing the replacement capacitors to the adapter. A total of 7 need to be done. Then install on the PSU board.

[bd139]

That board is going to look very sparse afterwards.

[Brumby]

Improving the ventilation is always a good thing.   

[med6753]

Yep, the replacement caps are about 1/3 the size of the originals.

[med6753]

Improving the ventilation is always a good thing.   

Some versions of the 7603 have a fan and other versions don't. This military version does not.

[bd139]

More room for the fluff to escape when they’re cooked in a few years 

[med6753]

More room for the fluff to escape when they’re cooked in a few years 

True.  I think the deciding factor regarding fan/no fan was if the readout board option was installed. 

[bd139]

That’s quite ironic in the way as the readout chips get quite toasty from my understanding. Hmm.

[Cerebus]

With nothing TEA to buy lately I've been forced to resort to near-TEA acquisitions. One shiny new metal arse tool cabinet.



I had to giggle when it came to fixing the castors on. These are the supplied M8 machine screws:



Do they really think that four castors attached to a thin bit of sheet metal requires 16 x 8.8 grade bolts, or are these the special chinesium version that has 8.8% of the strength of a normal ungraded machine screw? A quick look-up says that 16 grade 8.8 M8 machine screws have a combined guaranteed load of 337.6 kN (that's 34.4 tonnes or 75,895 lbf, or just under 7 male Indian elephants, or a bit over 4 1/2 London buses). Hmm, bit of overkill, slightly; only by a smidgeon though.