Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with solder

Experiences with bench power supplies?

jwells — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:41:15 -0800

What are your experiences with different brands and types of benchtop/lab power supplies? Do certain ones fail more often than others? Easier to fix? Better power conditioning? I'm a home experimenter. The dinky supply I bought to try to save space died a quick death and I'd like to avoid repeating that. I don't need anything crazy. 0-30V, 0-3 amps, accurate, small, and something that won't die. Are Tektronix (PS281?) worth the money? I have an oscilloscope from them. Instek, Extech, Protek, Velleman? Is there a specific one that is particularly popular and a good deal? Used and new are ok. Cost is a factor ($100USD?).

Soldering?

fixedgear — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:46:11 -0800

Do I really need a soldering station? Preface: I love tools, and I'm always looking for an excuse to buy one. My current project requires soldering. I can solder, I have an iron. This is PCB assembly, and seems pretty straightforward. Is a soldering station a 'nice to have, will make it go faster, better, be easier, more rewarding and fun' or is it more like 'indispensable.' Stations seem to run from like $40 - many hundreds. I've thought about getting a cheap one from Harbor Freight and have looked on Craigslist.

How to turn my line out into an external speaker out?

donkeymon — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 06:06:04 -0800

Wiring/music equipment question: I have a fairly cheap 30WVox guitar amplifier with a phone/line out jack on the back. When I plug something into the jack, sounds stops coming from the amp's speaker and starts coming out of whatever I plugged in instead. However, I would like it if the sound would come out of both at the same time. How easy or difficult would it be to rewire the amp so that it works this way? I'm good with a soldering iron, but not too great with circuit analysis.

Should I eat -- er, solder -- this? On the aging and toughness of ceramic disc capacitors.

Your Time Machine Sucks — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:30:01 -0800

Should I eat – er, solder – this? I'm building a preamp and I just discovered that I'm low on 0.1μF 50v ceramic disc capacitors. My question is about whether it's worth trying to salvage more from another (already disassembled) piece of equipment. I noticed that I have lots of green ceramic disc caps with happy little 104s on them (don't know the voltage, but it seems improbable that it's less than 50v) on the carcass of a portable CD player which I've already largely disassembled in order to liberate its DC motors. I don't think I have the means to accurately test the caps. They are old.

So, the question: how hardy are these things? When they have been put on the board, they will have been through two solderings and a desoldering, plus however many years of portable CD-playing service. Worth a try, or go to the damn store and get some new capacitors ffs? Thank you.

electrical help

Espoo2 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:08:48 -0800

Basic Electronics Repair Filter: I recently purchased a used Korg ES-1 and after a few months the power started to randomly cut out... turns out the power pin on the mainboard has come loose. Stupidly, I tried to repair this myself. I've no experience with soldering or electronics repair, but it didn't look too hard... a simple contact had come loose where the ac adapter plugged into the machine. I watched a couple of youtube videos on soldering basics (ha!) and gave it a go.

As soon as I plugged it in, a small stream of smoke came up from my solder point, and I immediately unplugged it again. It was plugged in for maybe 2 seconds. Someone said it's possible that the positive and negative points had solder connecting them, which may be what was causing the smoking.

So... is this salvageable? If so, what sort of business or person would I bring this to? A general household electrician? Some sort of VCR repair type place?

How to get a new cable soldered onto my mic?

jimmyjimjim — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:05:46 -0800

I managed to slice most of the way through both the rubbery insulation and the copper cable on my stereo condenser microphone. Don't ask me how (I'm a total idiot). Is there somewhere I can send it to have the cord (miniplug stereo) replaced? I realize it's basic geek task, but I'm not quite confident enough myself. And I have zero idea where to send such a thing to be done. I could just solder the existent cord myself and crimp it, but that wouldn't work 'cuz the mic gets lots of rough use.

size matters. what?

nihlton — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:35:25 -0800

say i bought one of those eee pc laptops (google it if you don't know). How unrealistically difficult would it be to replace the sad little screen with something larger? what do LCD connections look like? is there a seated interface, or would I have to expose the wires and soldering them manually?

would the hardware even make use of a larger lcd panel?

How can I open my garage door?

Richat — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 13:11:04 -0800

Old garage door opener, and the last remote has gone missing. Can I go to radio shack, and make something work? I suspect this might sound nuts. Okay, I have a rather old garage door opener. My wife drove away with the last working remote on her hood. Now, I have a garage door that I need to get out of my car, unlock a man-door, walk inside, and push a button to open.

While this isn't the WORST thing in the world, I'd really rather have the option to open the door from my car. Canadian Winter is almost here!

The door button has a series of dip switches...it's pretty old school I think. The manual also seems to have a pretty extensive schematic. I'm I crazy to think that it *shouldn't* be that hard to "make" another one? Maybe leveraging some old remote control?

Old school electronics folks...can you help? Suggested websites? Anything?

Where are the beginner-level electronic kits to be found?

lekvar — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:12:21 -0800

I need recommendations for beginner-level electronic kits and projects; audio-related kits and projects preferred. I know which end of the soldering iron is the hot end, but not much beyond that. I've done a little exploratory surgery on electronics in the past, but mostly circuit-bending or basic repairs to wiring. Those colorful blobs of ceramic attached to the circuit board? I have only the roughest idea what those are and what they do, but I want to learn.

Even better, I'd like to learn by building audio stuff.

I've wandered about in Frys and RadioShack looking at the kits, but I figure there have to be great repositories of kits, schematics, books, projects, lore, philosophy, and other good stuff relating to electronics.

So where should I start looking?

Tell Me How to Solder Stuff

pineapple — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 18:25:14 -0800

What can you tell me about soldering? Not the electronic kind, but more for crafty/domestic purposes. Bonus if you know anything about metalwork. I checked this thread, but I don't think the question or answers apply to what I want to do.

The overview of the project is that I want to permanently affix some silverware to a wire frame. This is strictly a décor thing, so I am not worried about it being able to support weight, or be food-safe, etc.

I could use smaller-gauge wire for attaching, but I think it will look ugly and bulky, and make the project look more rustic when I want a clean, streamlined look. Plus, then the pieces will wiggle ever so slightly, and I want them to be firm. I think soldering is what I want, but what I know about soldering would fit on the head of a pin.

Do you have any suggestions for websites that might offer tutorials? Suggestions on equipment, stores, anything? I'm a total novice at metal crafting, so all help is appreciated!

Soldering for the beginning hobbyist

malacologist — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 09:27:01 -0800

Soldering - Please give me all your iron and accessories recommendations for a beginning home hobbyist (electronics, circuit boards, etc) My fiance has asked for a soldering iron for his birthday, and I'd love to get him all set up to putter around in the spare room making circuit boards, robots, whatever - but I'm a little overwhelmed at all the products and details. I know I should be looking in the 25W/30W range for circuit boards (I think?) but other than that I'm hopeless. He has some passing familiarity with soldering from Scouts and his current work, but is definitely a consumer/hobbyist audience.

Let's say a budget of $200.00 - what would you recommend in terms of an iron, tips, materials, accessories heck even manuals and project books to set a beginning in-home hobbyist on to the path of mini-electronics greatness?

I appreciate any and all comments, thank you in advance (from both of us, though he doesn't know it) for your help!

I'm powerless@!

god hates math — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 09:57:14 -0800

I need to find someone with awesome soldering skills in the DC/Baltimore area. Here's the deal - I got screwed buying an ibook on the Craigslist. I knew it was broken, but the seller held back on one specific way it was broken. So now I've got a G4 ibook with no screen that I can't turn on.

There's a small molex-type female connector on the logic board. The power button connects to this via two leads which meet in a plastic male connector. When I opened the ibook up to replace the screen, I found that the female connector was only connected by 1 of the 4 solder points. It's unfortunately a tiny connector, and was obviously machine-soldered on the production line.

The guy who sold it to me is being an ass, so I'd prefer to get it fixed, since I don't think it's worth my time or money to right this particular wrong. I'd like to go to an ultra-nerdy computer repair place - most places think I'm crazy for even trying. If there's any mefites out there who've got the skill and the desire to help me with this (for a fee, of course), I'd certainly be open to that, as well.

Framing Papercuts?

prettyboyfloyd — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 08:43:44 -0800

DIY Framing - Double Sided w/ Chinese Paper Cuts? Hello, I bought some Chinese Papercuts as gifts in Foshan, China over the holiday and would like to try to frame them myself. They are fantastic - but so far unframed.

In the past I've seen two sided glass frames where the glass is sandwiched together by what looks like solder. I have never soldered before but I was thinking of buying a soldering gun and some frame glass and trying to put these frames together myself. Has anyone done anything like this before? Will the solder keep biggish sheets of glass together? Or is this just a massive laceration waiting to happen? Should I stick/clamp the glass together with something else to more firmly keep it together?

Thanks for any help and/or DIY tutorials you can direct me to. I'm in the bay area if there are any local resources/shops you know of.

(P.S. If you are ever in Foshan the city is famous for it's handicrafts. There's a great pottery district with a kiln that's been going for several hundred years. There's also a cool folk art center where they make the paper cuts right near the gift shop. The folk art center also makes paper lanterns and big parade dragons.)

How to solder flexible printed circuit?

loquacious — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 14:43:38 -0800

Tips for hand soldering leads to printed flexible circuits? I'm trying to solder thin, thin wires to a 4 conductor "printed" flexible circuit. Any tips?

I'm already working with a magnifying visor and a headlamp and some very small tools/cutters, but I can't seem to get solder+wire to bond to the solder-pads of the printed flexible ribbon cable/circuit, and I'm really worried about scorching/melting the ribbon/flexible circuit.

Should I try a cold-weld system? Is JB Weld conductive?

( Specifically, I'm trying to fix an old 3 series palm pilot. I managed to get moisture inside the digitizer pane for a Palm IIIC, and I'm sick of waiting for it to evaporate. And since I'm now in the Pacific Northwest, evaporation is unlikely. However, I have an older Palm digitizer, but of course the printed flexible circuit leads are the wrong width and on the wrong side of the glass pane. )

Superglue conductive?

fvox13 — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 15:50:49 -0800

Is super glue (cyano acrylate) electrically conductive when dry? or wet? I just finished soldering something, and the joints are very close together. I'm trying to figure out if it's a good idea to coat everything in super glue to better insulate it.

What soldering gun

Flem Snopes — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 10:42:57 -0800

GuitarTechFilter: I have purchased some replacement pickups (humbuckers) for an old Les Paul. Rather than paying the $60-80 bench time to have the local music shop do it, I was considering doing it myself. In order to do this, what kind of soldering gun do I need? Any particular gauge/weight of solder? What else do I need in terms of equipment to pull this off? Thanks for your help!