nice, I have 3 echocord minis waiting for repair.
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Since everybody and their mother has oneā¦
plus a spare stylus and some really nice paint for the conservatory.
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Hah! I just listed mine on reverb. Not a single bite yet. Gotta make it cheaper I guess.
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Those piezo guitar pickups I ordered the other day have arrived, and also a whole heap of surface mount resistors. Iāve mentioned recently my decision to use surface mount components in point to point style construction, because the small size means I can pack much more wonderfulness into my mignons.
Pictured here with some well chewed parrot toys.
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Probably best in another thread, but Iām curious to hear about any surface mount tricks you pick up or know. Iāve seen using double sided tape to organize them before placing along with a breath-powered pick and place syringe. Both of which I may try as I have some SMD soldering to do in the nearish future. Might even be good to have a dedicated soldering tips/tricks thread if there isnāt one already.
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Good choice. Great utility tool.
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Iāve got a thread for that. But if it becomes a big thing in itself I may start a separate thread much as I did with Potting electronics, which has turned into an important side project.
Edit: whatever point to point method I end up using will inevitably be called sapin de Noƫl as I continue to pillage the lingua franca (see what I did there?) for cool sounding names.
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Sharp tweezers and hot air at slow speed can do magic.
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guilty as charged, I just got a black one on the bay, along with the copicats
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Dude wut. Lol
Want.
.
.
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There are eight left. Comes with a pretty blurry schematic. Might be worth asking for a digital copy if you want to expand its capabilities. Itās not much more than a 40106 hex inverter and an amp. Other than its sick PCB.
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Iāve been doing a LOT of surface mount work over the last couple of months. Took me a bit to find the right system and at first I was terrified of doing SMD work, but now I find it really relaxing and enjoyable. I actually prefer it over through-hole. A couple of things I would suggestā¦
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Pick up a hot air gun. Just do it. You can get a cheap one for around $40 that will work just fine. It will be the difference in making yourself crazy and doing it right the first time.
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The type of solder paste you use makes all the difference. I would suggest using a lead based solder paste and donāt go cheap on it.
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You literally only need the tiniest amount you can put on the solder pad (especially for the ICās with small legs!) I found squeezing it on a bit annoying so I either use a stencil that I get made through oshstencils.com or I use a fine tip artists paint brush and no stencil.
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You donāt need to perfectly align the components on the pads. Get as close as you can. Once you heat up the pads the solder will melt and it will actually pull the component into place on the pads.
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For ICās you will want to make sure you either have some liquid flux or flux paste to help you get rid of any bridges. You will also want to pick up some solder wick to help as well.
Get yourself a good pair of fine tip tweezers like @ChristianBloch suggested. I also picked up a magnifying headlamp which has been a lifesaver to find minute bridges (or get a loupe.) The one I bought was this one. I love it for the light and the great magnification and its single charge lasts for hours.
If youāre doing anything smaller than 0603 I would suggest it for sure, but you could probably do 0402 depending on how good your eyesight is. Anything smaller I would say no way.
Hope this helpsā¦
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now weāre in businessā¦
bonus shot of the Very Organized workshopā¦ this was originally built as a darkroom and thereās still some old camera/developing equipment in the drawers!
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Got 5 product at once from 5 different suppliers each packaged separately but put together? in one bag by the customs office? Odd, really odd, but the goods were delivered in 20 days by Ali, so Iām not complaining.
Anyway, some CD4040s and CD4046s for a Barton wave folder, some down converters, some pots.
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I would guess not by customs office but by company in your country that takes incoming product and relabels/repacks for final shipping
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[Edit] That would make more sense, but as far as I know there is no intermediary other than the customs office. But I actually donāt know how this works. It seems odd that someone saved up to 5 packages and bundled them. That must take some effort and cost some money ā¦
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Itās a useful little board that StepDown with the display. Used them a few times.
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