Just placed my Stereomour order!!

[Downhome Upstate]

   I'm psyched!  Got a new Hakko 936 station waiting to be unboxed, and an order in to Parts Connexion for a Victor DMM, 100g of Cardas Quad Eutetic solder and an Alps Blue Velvet 100K pot to use instead of the stock volume control.

MCM Electronics seems to have the best overall selection of tools, lights and workbench gear, including the Panavise line. I was thinking about getting the 301 Standard Panavise (300 base and std 303 jaws) and adding the 315 circuit board holder. The circuit board holder opens to 12" and so should grasp the top plate to make assembly a lot more convenient. Am I overdoing it here? Constructive criticism about overdoing tool choices is most welcome.

Please chime in with your thoughts about tip cleaning and maintenance for the iron. Hakko makes a coiled brass wire tip cleaner in a little igloo. Caig sells a compound for tinning and cleaning tips that are only used intermittently. Which way to go? Both? Water and a sponge? Something else?

I feel like a little kid again around this. That's a good thing, since I've gotten grey around the muzzle.

 

[Grainger49]

Congratulations!  You are going to love the sound!

Buy all the tools you want now!  Then when you are old like me younger dudes will say, "Wow, you have a lot of tools!"  I've heard that several times.  

I have always used the sponge/water tip cleaning method.  That is how my Weller station is made.  The first tip lasted 30+ years.  It would have been longer if I hadn't left it on for a month once, or twice.

[Downhome Upstate]

Hey Grainger,

Old, eh?  I'm not sure you've got a lot of years on me, buddy.

Best,

Mike

[Grainger49]

Well then you should have all the cool toys tools.

[Downhome Upstate]

Touche.

[Grainger49]

Just admit to being a late bloomer!  Other priorities, like children, probably intervened.  

[earwaxxer]

get a good hot soldering iron, wipe the tip good with a wet sponge before you use it, tin each end with a small amount of solder (leaded 60/40), and you should beable to solder them together in 1-2 seconds with just a touch of the iron. I sometimes wrap a needle nose plies handle with a rubber band to clamp the wire close to the resistor/capacitor to provide a heat sink (usually for extra confidence on those mega bux parts!). Fun stuff!

[Downhome Upstate]

Yup. 2 hemostats on the next MCM order for heat sinks, and I'm pretty confident that the pen that comes with the Hakko 936 is worth having. I'll just need to source some different size tips.

[Jim R.]

Hi Mike,

Excellent choice on the amp!

For tip cleaning I use both the bronze wool (the bronze is soft enough that it won't scratch the tip metal), and the wet sponge as welll and that's really all you should need.

I have the panavise you mention and both the jaws and the pc board holder -- in my opinion the pcb holder is not terribly useful for BH kits -- it's not really robust enough to hold a plate with iron mounted on it, and it's way more than you need for the small pcbs that come with BH kits.  Best bet for a way to hold the plate while you work on it is to assemble the wood base and then put a sheet of thick polyethelene or an old towel over it before setting the plate in it. (Be sure to take these out when you fire things up as neither will appreciate the high heat :-). )

-- Jim

[Downhome Upstate]

Jim,

Thanks! Really useful feedback. I could stand to save the $31 for the PCB holder and the $8 and change for the Caig tip cleaning formulation. The money will go toward a worktable instead.

Best,

Mike

[jimiclow]

I found out that the "chisel"-type tip is better than the rounded one.
My Hakko 888 (the model that replaced the 936) came with the chisel tip.