Your workshop :)

[Yveaux]

@gohan said in Your workshop :):

Why not? Chinese are great at copying stuff :D

Yes, and they're great in optimizing for cost; as long as any signal comes out, all components will be removed/replaced by cheaper ones...

[AWI]

@Yveaux I soldered the thing myself so build quality is .... ;-) The board I received looks to be solid as well as the components.
Accuracy in resistor/ capacitor meaurement is fine (~5% which is also the toleration of the components tested) Semiconductor analysis is enough for me with Fet / Junction transistors as I can determine the most important characteristics (including the pin layout!) which are within 10% of the datasheet. (pins are 100% correct :-))

[gohan]

@AWI did you order the parts or did you make the tester on your own with the parts you had?

[AWI]

@gohan I used a kit. There is also a description and suggestions on improvement of the "Chinese clones" in the documentation of the project.

[core_c]

@AWI "I soldered the thing myself so build quality is ...."
I guess the missing word is: "top", and the last dot is just interpunction.

[AWI]

@core_c Thanks, I missed that ;-)

[gohan]

I got my 2017 transistor tester and since the cost for the pre-assembled was not far off from the kit, I did go the lazy way and I have to say the soldering quality seems OK.

[gohan]

I need little advice: is it worth buying the Ts100 soldering iron for 50€ + some accessories (holder and one extra tip, I already have a laptop power supply I can use) or go for a Hakko FX-888D for 120€ (you get holder in the price and extra tips cost significantly lower but I don't know if I ever need many different sizes)?

[Koresh]

@gohan Imho - TS100 is beautiful toy, nice gadget, but not really useful tool. TS100 iron has much less ergonomics in comparation with others soldering stations. I recommend buy it only as extra tool, not main tool ;)

[sundberg84]

After changing my HA and network to new location I made some changes to my workshop. Still some work in progress.

[Yveaux]

@sundberg84 said in Your workshop :):

Still some work in progress.

And some big spider to kill... :smirk:

[Nca78]

@sundberg84 we have the same model of soldering iron, hot air gun, and multimeter. And we might end up having a similar power supply too, as I'll build one sooner or later.
But my stack of unused EasyPCBs is a bit smaller :D

[sundberg84]

@yveaux said in Your workshop :):

@sundberg84 said in Your workshop :):

Still some work in progress.

And some big spider to kill... :smirk:

That is Hugo. He has been around since I was a kid. Hard to kill since he is made of plastic but loves to scare new people.

[sundberg84]

@nca78 - haha, thats nice :) I been thinking about changing my power supply though. Posting to much images isnt good for you ;) On my swedish blog I had a guy explaining about relative ground. When I probe around with my oscilloscope and power the electronics with my PSU they are not the same ground and this can apparently create some magic smoke. So far so good and I have been to lazy to learn more about the theory (Im sure there are people here with great knowledge about this) but the advice was to change my PSU to a "real" one.

[Nina Baines]

So many space, I jealous :)

[dbemowsk]

So I had to replace a micro USB connector on a tablet the other day. So to get the old connector off, I used my heat gun which is similar to the one pictured below. It worked okay and I was able to get the connector off.

I have been wanting to get a hot air re-work station for a while now. I was looking at the picture of @sundberg84 's workshop and I saw that he had an 858D, so I searched that on ebay. I noticed that there are a variety of 858D stations out there ranging from $30 to $121 US. They all look very similar as far as front panel controls and functionality. My question is, is there a big difference between the lower and higher priced units? I guess, if I get one of the $30 units, is it going to fall apart sooner than one of the others?

[sundberg84]

@dbemowsk i bought mine used from England. It was in the cheaper price range. Works great so far and this is ok for me.

[dbemowsk]

@sundberg84 Thanks, hard to tell from your picture, but does yours have the cord for the wand going directly into the base, or is it on a connector that plugs into the front? I noticed that most of the more expensive ones have a removable/replaceable wand, but everything else looks to be about the same. I will probably just order the $30 one and see how it goes.

[Nca78]

@dbemowsk I bought from AliExpress in the cheapest price range too (but not so cheap with shipping) and it's been working very well until now.
I bought this model, it's not available any more but there are plenty of seller with the exact same brand and model (Youyue 858D+), with extra nozzles (I had 3 only, now it seems 6 is standard) and accessories (I had none):
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hot-Air-Gun-700W-UYUE-858D-ESD-Soldering-Station-LED-Digital-Heat-Gun-Desoldering-Station-Upgrade/32657929118.html

I opened it after reception to check for the common safety problems that were reported with first versions of the 858D/D+ models and it was safely wired and earthed.
It's also show the right temperature when overheating (it was not the case in the first models) so you know when to wait to avoid burning your board (don't worry this is only happening at start-up when it's heating fast from ambient temperature).

[dbemowsk]

@nca78 They have a youyue 858D and it is $92 and another for $63. The ones I am looking at are these for $30 with free shipping: