Help me make my Birthday list!

Electric Rain · Post by **Electric Rain** » Mon May 14, 2007 7:04 pm

Okay, so my 17th birthday is on May 18th. I'm pretty sure it's going to be more of a "here's some money, buy what you want" type of thing (at my request). I think I'll have about $200 to $250 at my disposal. I want you guys to help me prioritize and get the tools I need for electronic work. I only want to spend $100-$150 on tools, so I have about $100 left over to spend on my GC laptop... probably either on the custom PSU or the CF card interface a group of us here are working on.

So yeah... I have like NO electronic tools. I've got a cheap Radioshack soldering iron with a big, NON-SMD friendly, corroded tip, a Weller power controller/soldering station, two multimeters and a glue gun. That's like... it. As far as supplies go, I'm out of glue sticks, I'm low on solder, I've NEVER had any flux, I have about a half a (small) roll of 22AWG stranded wire (when I should have solid) and I've never had any heat shrink tubing, which I seem to need ALL the time. So, I'm hardly in the position to be soldering SMDs, for instance.

This is what I have so far for my list:

Soldering Iron
Desoldering Iron (for desoldering... duh)
Desoldering Iron (to make one of these, also for SMD work)
Solder Kit (will use the squirt bottle for liquid flux)
Flat Soldering Iron Tip (for SMD work)
1/32" Soldering Iron Tip (for SMD work)
1/16" Soldering Iron Tip (for intricate work and SMD work)
1/8" Soldering Iron Tip (for standard work)
Tweezer Set (mostly for SMD work)
Vacuum Pen (for SMD work)
Lead Former (...because it's cool and cheap, and should come in handy)
Lighted Magnifying Glass (only $20-something in my store, for some reason!)
Third Hand
Standard Solder
Skinny, 63/37 Solder (for SMD work)
Flux
22AWG Solid Wire
Heat Shrink Tubing
Glue Sticks (will pick up in town somewhere... probably Wal-mart)

So that's what I've got so far. I need you guys to tell me if I'm missing anything important, if there's something else you find handy that you think I should also pick up, if there are things on my list I SHOULDN'T get or if there are things on my list you think I should get a different kind of. (Different sized tips, for example... I have no real clue what size tips I should get... I'm just throwing educated guesses out there.) I'm having second thoughts on the vacuum pen... it's really cool and all... and it should come in handy for SMDs... but it's still $20 and I'll be getting tweezers for handling SMDs. I want to get a breadboard too, but I want a powered one, and those are at least $80, so I'll hold off on that for a while... probably 'till Christmas.

So... thoughts, anyone? Come on... I need help!

Post by **gannon** » Mon May 14, 2007 7:23 pm

For SMD work I'd recommend picking up a roll of wirewrap (usually ~30awg).
That vacuum thing looks interesting, but for the most part tweezers are fine for holding/placing SMT components.

Electric Rain · Post by **Electric Rain** » Mon May 14, 2007 7:50 pm

Wirewrap, eh? I didn't even know you could use wirewrap with SMDs... how does that work, anyway?

Post by **gannon** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:05 pm

You strip it and solder it to the lead

Limewater · Post by **Limewater** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:22 pm

I don't think you need the vacuum pen.

If you can, you should get an anti-static pad, or at least a wrist grounding strap.

You should get some desoldering braid if it's not in your soldering kit.

Also, it's cheap, but you really should get some (a lot of) rubbing alcohol and a toothbrush to clean off your pcb's after soldering. Many people don't do this and after a few weeks the place they soldered starts to corrode.

Electric Rain · Post by **Electric Rain** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:59 pm

Ah, I actually do have an anti-static wrist strap... but I never use it.

I really should though... I guess it's just that I've never worked on anything valuable enough to bother digging it out.

I have always kinda wanted a pad to keep parts in my work area safe, though... hmm...

There is some desoldering braid in that kit, but I'm not sure if it will be enough... it doesn't look like much, but I didn't figure I'd need much with a desoldering iron. Then again... there are certain soldering strategies involving desoldering braid... so maybe I'll get some more... not like it's too very expensive.

Thanks for the rubbing alcohol/toothbrush tip. I wouldn't have even thought of that.

Krepticor · Post by **Krepticor** » Mon May 14, 2007 9:56 pm

60gb creative zen vision: M

That is what I want...