Pretty good deal. I and few friends have this one.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=374-100

For the record, we use the 60 watt version of the first iron you posted for our through hole soldering. We tried out a much more expensive setup - can't remember who made it, but our solder tech tried it for a couple days and went right back to the Weller iron.

(And when we do any surface mount soldering? We use an electric pancake griddle. Seriously. It's OK for short prototype runs and the like.)

+1 on the 63/37 solder.

My favorite solder of all time is the radio shack high tech solder which is... 63/37!

Melts quickly, cools quickly, is awesome.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2062718

You do this for rework, or for reflowing whole boards?

I've heard of folks using toaster-ovens for reflow. You're probably the first person I've heard of who uses a pancake griddle. We don't do any whole-board reflow here in the lab, we just use the Metcals and the microscope. And yeah, we do occasionally assemble entire prototype boards that way. I don't think it would be practical for us to reflow them in-house, as you'd need a silkscreen setup to apply the paste (we use a lot of 0402 discretes and really fine-pitch QFP ICs. Applying paste by hand would probably bridge every single pin on the board.)

We flow entire boards with the griddle. We have stencils made for each type of board to help apply the solder paste. This allows us to rapidly produce reasonably priced prototypes and other testing implements.

A lot of our rework can be done with a standard iron.

but get it in .022"

Plus their $7 45-watt iron and you're working with what I use every day.


I had a better a Weller WLC100, but the wand burnt up and i just went back to my RS iron and plug it into the Weller station. The RS tips are small enough but only last a few builds and round off very quickly. One of these days I'll replace the wand for the Weller again, they had much better tips.

How about a fuel injector tester/driver? We could use it to test/clean injectors with some sort of preset program...

We've kicked around the idea of an injector test bench, but need to figure out if it can be done affordably.

We ordered a couple Velman kits (it would have provided a good ready-made option to get started with had things turned out better) and weren't impressed. All the parts were dumped in one big bag with no labels, the board lacked plating so it was hard to get solder to stick, and the one sided board had traces that could easily peel off. So we'll be designing all the learn to solder kits in house and having our own team assemble them.

Sweet! Thanks for the update! Can't wait to see what you guys come up with :bigtu:

Sure has been awhile.

Maybe we can occupy DIY's parking lot in Decemeber when we are at Road Atlanta. Our protesting signs could be EPIC.

99% of the amperage occupy 1% of the circuits?





Oh wait, that's the headlight harness in my '73 F250 :giggle:

Way off topic, but someone needs to build a decent 4v throttle body with a TPS that's not 1000cfm but will still bolt to a standard Holley 4150/4160 squarebore carb flange :vash: Put TBI injectors in it and I'll buy like 6 of them.

I built the MegaStim to ensure I was man enough to build a MegaSquirt. :)

This has been on back burner - there's a couple other projects going on, but you haven't seen the last of this one. Things on the drawing board include a fan controller and shift light, and maybe some others.

Now that my airbag is fuxored (removed driver and pass side) I have a light flashing at me I would like to repurpose. And since I don't have an autotragic trans I also have a "hold" light that is bored. I may use a standalone light at some point but I would like to avoid clutter for now and make use of these currently worthless indicators. Since I have two of them they could be sequential.

Lars, Occupying an empty parking lot on the weekend when I could be grinding rubber off of my alloys at Road Atlanta sounds slightly less than inviting. Now if they haven't done it by The Mitty we will disrupt every classroom session with bullhorns. Do you hear me Matt? lol.

And Joe Perez will be there protesting the baseless incarceration of the MS3X schematics or some such lost cause. I think he is the 1% or something. I'll support Joe in whatever because I'm a puppet to the master. I drove his car once at an autocross so we're tight.

Drove it? You beat my best time of the day by a couple of seconds on the first try. (How embarrassing.)

Hmm. Occupy Bowling & Grippo?

No I didn't. It was I that was thoroughly beaten by your driving prowess. I will not have such rumors spread. You are far too modest. If for any reason I did turn in a better time I was reckless and cheating. I swear by it.

Actually, I was suggesting DIY Autotune's tent at The Mitty. If you are there I am as well, good sir. Bullhorns will be available. To The Mitty we ride! {clops coconut shells together rhythmically}

Any news on a solder kit? I'm interested if it happens.
Also, any new years deals on the MegaSquirt-III UnAssembled Kit?

Thanks.

Yeah, I didn't get a shift light kit in my stocking and I'm a bit miffed.

I've tried to solder trailer wires and a few other things in the past and it always worked but went poorly. I lack tools and training. Chinese harbor freight iron and the solder that comes with it doesn't help. And having no helping hands always sucks.

I PM'd Brain a few days ago about redoing the jumper harness on the MS1 to fit my car's harness because it is a different year from what it is set up for and haven't heard back. I'm afraid to touch the little bitty pins and wires with my skills and tools. It's not that I don't know what needs to be done, but I don't trust myself to do a nice job and I don't want it to be crappy and risk poor connections.