soldering iron and volt meter

[85carrera]

hey...any of you guys in santa monica,ca have a soldering iron and/or a voltmeter I could stop by and use???? I'm putting in steve wong's chip and i need to solder a jumper to change it from 2K setup to a 4K setup...

Thanks!
David

[equality72521]

You can get a soldering iron for about $10 and a cheap meter for about $30. You'll need them again so just make the investment. They're cheap. Or you can invest more and get something that will last longer and work better. Either way, it's cheap.

[ChemMan]

You can get both in a quick trip to you local mall. Radioshack has good soldering irons and sears has a decent voltmeter. I believe it is $20 right now.
Mike

[85carrera]

heehee...i used the stove and heated up a knife.

i'm cheap...sorry

[ruf-porsche]

Originally posted by 85carrera
heehee...i used the stove and heated up a knife.

i'm cheap...sorry

Why should you be sorry because you are cheap, there are plenty of cheapsakes on this board.

Like that guy that wanted to install a VW master cylinder because he doesn't want to cough up the cash for a Porsche one.

I don't know about you but being able to stop a car is more important to me than saving a couple of bucks.

[ianc]

You don't want to invest $30 in tools to properly repair one of the most sensitive parts of your car that affects how the engine runs?

After you've shelled $350 for the chip?

Sell your car,

ianc

[ZOA NOM]

c'mon, ianc, you've never soldered your motherboard with a hot knife?

[ianc]

ianc, you've never soldered your motherboard with a hot knife?

Ummmm....

No.

ianc

[MattAlpha]

This is too funny!

Anyone have a tach that I plug into my engine compartment?

No, well I guess I'll have to buy one myself when I want to adjust my idle.

[rnln]

I think he's joking guys.

[ZOA NOM]

sadly, he's not joking, he really used a hot knife to solder his DME.

[Nine9six]

Originally posted by 85carrera
heehee...i used the stove and heated up a knife.

i'm cheap...sorry

Probably the smartest of all options suggested...
Why? Because you did not opt to use a cheap soldering iron which could have introduced current into your DME, and caused, immediate or even worse, latent or intermittent damage due to an Electrostatic Sensitive Discharge (ESD) component which may be on your board.
Sorry, this is knowledge from military weapon spec and NASA soldering requirements. While not always applicable, the safeguards are there for a reason. Better safe than sorry.
Good Job, 85carrera! Your "cheapness" may have saved you days of headaches trying to isolate / locate a problem from using one of those cheap a$$ soldering irons.

[ZOA NOM]

Sorry, but the DME is a very robust module with very basic circuitry and the only ESD item on it is the chip itself, everything else is TTL analog components. If he didn't kill Steve's chip when he shuffled his feet across the wool carpet before installing it with his bare hands, the soldering iron would be harmless. The DME doesn't even have dual-layer circuit boards. But I detect a little sarcasm in your post, so I digress...

[Nine9six]

Originally posted by ZOANAS
Sorry, but the DME is a very robust module with very basic circuitry and the only ESD item on it is the chip itself, everything else is TTL analog components. If he didn't kill Steve's chip when he shuffled his feet across the wool carpet before installing it with his bare hands, the soldering iron would be harmless. The DME doesn't even have dual-layer circuit boards. But I detect a little sarcasm in your post, so I digress...

Zoanas,
I read your posts due to the intelligent content usually found in them. Sorry, but there was no sarcasm intended in my post. If I employ sarcasm, its usually extremely obvious. This being said, I simply do not agree with your snide remark about 85Carrera soldering with a hot knife.

I realize it may have been before your time, but soldering on hi-reliability electronic components used to be performed with irons heated in a furnace, so as not to introduce current for the reasons stated above. While there may not be any components that could be harmed by using a cheap electrical soldering iron, the use of a hot knife absolutely assures there will be no issue.

Conversely, as long as 85Carrera understands the basics of soldering on a PWB, virtually all with a substantial knowlegde of soldering techniques, would find absolutely nothing "wrong" with what he did.

The fact that you poked fun at his method in two separate posts, is somewhat indicative of your knowledge of soldering. No sarcasm, just fact.

P.S. I did however find this little tidbit of sarcasm amusing: "If he didn't kill Steve's chip when he shuffled his feet across the wool carpet before installing it with his bare hands..."

[ruf-porsche]

Originally posted by ZOANAS
But I detect a little sarcasm in your post, so I digress...

SARCASM on this BOARD??????

[ZOA NOM]

Nine9six, I'm shocked at your take on this. With your background in soldering, I would expect you to realize both the robustness of the DME, as well as the ridiculousness of using a hot knife on a circuit card. It might be fine if you were blobbing a relay contact on the ENIAC, but the foil runs on a (relatively) more modern circuit card is not the place to stab a poker into. The fact is, he made no other change to his setup than the "soldering" job, and the chip. Assuming the chip is good, that leaves the hot knife technique as the prime suspect. It may have worked fine on the Ark for you, but even the 1980's DME is a little more modern than that. Dear God, tell me you didn't use a hot knife on the shuttle

[Don Plumley]

I simply love engineer catfights

[Nine9six]

Originally posted by ZOANAS
Nine9six, I'm shocked at your take on this. With your background in soldering, I would expect you to realize both the robustness of the DME, as well as the ridiculousness of using a hot knife on a circuit card. It might be fine if you were blobbing a relay contact on the ENIAC, but the foil runs on a (relatively) more modern circuit card is not the place to stab a poker into. The fact is, he made no other change to his setup than the "soldering" job, and the chip. Assuming the chip is good, that leaves the hot knife technique as the prime suspect. It may have worked fine on the Ark for you, but even the 1980's DME is a little more modern than that. Dear God, tell me you didn't use a hot knife on the shuttle

Sorry you missed the point completely! That would be comprehension 101 (Sarcasam intended)

The rest of your words are spoken like a true engineer who was attempting to defend his his violations / unauthorized deviations to weapon spec or NASA soldering requirements.

BTW, take a moment and examine your statement: "I would expect you to realize both the robustness of the DME, as well as the ridiculousness of using a hot knife on a circuit card."

If the board is indeed as robust as you claim, (or even if it is not) soldering with a hot knife would be kinder and gentler to the board and all its components, than your suggestion of using a cheap a$$ soldering iron. You can't have it both ways! If given the choice of POS soldering iron that you suggested, and a hot knife. I'll take the hot knife, and twice on Sundays.

Sorry Zoanas, Try as I may, I can't make it any simpler for you. If you are incapable of understanding, it is I who digress...
Have a great day!

[Nine9six]

Originally posted by Don Plumley
I simply love engineer catfights

Don,
I'm not an engineer, but you had me laughing out loud!

While I certainly do not believe 85Carrera's method for soldering in the jumper, was the best case scenerio, I do believe the choice of a hot knife to be of less detriment than the crappy soldering iron suggested by Zoanas. Therefore rendering his subsequent ridicule a mute point.

Thanks for the humor!

[ruf-porsche]

Originally posted by Don Plumley
I simply love engineer catfights

I love hot babes in skimpy thong catfights