Alan W
Well-known member
These are gifts to give yourself, or to answer that "what do you want?" that may happen. (Should have thought of this a few weeks ago, I suppose.) PLEASE ADD MORE SUGGESTIONS!
All tools that I have come to really enjoy having; some are used almost every project, some not.
Stocking Stuffers:
1. Brass brillo type iron cleaner. If you're still using a damp sponge, this is a really giant leap forward in technology.
2. Solder sucker, because at some point, you will have to remove a component that's been soldered in. I know Engineer brand has gotten mention, and that's my favorite of the mechanical ones. (not pictured.)
Specialized Meters:
1. DER EE LCR meter. This is really well thought out, and very accurate. For capacitance, you can even select from 100 and 120 Hz, 1K, 10K and 100K. The deluxe kit includes leads that allow for easy calibration (this nulls any capacitance or resistance in the leads—think about it). I've found that most of the capacitance meters that are built into multimeters to be pretty poor.
2. Atlas DCA transistor tester. (Pictured is the DCA75, which is a bit nicer than their basic meter. Very quick, very automatic, another well thought out tool.
Extravagances:
1. Hot air source. Yeah, I know lighters work for shrink wrap. This is very quiet, has a good adjustment range, auto shut off. Interchangeable nozzles. I've used this to preheat sections of boards that I needed to do SMT rework on, and it helps a lot with that too. This company makes a few models; this was their base model when I got it ~5 years ago.
2. Solder sucker, because at some point you will make so many mistakes that you want to throw the board out and just start again. I know, you could buy a decent cheap guitar for what this costs, but the first time you use it, you will laugh at how easy it is.
All tools that I have come to really enjoy having; some are used almost every project, some not.
Stocking Stuffers:
1. Brass brillo type iron cleaner. If you're still using a damp sponge, this is a really giant leap forward in technology.
2. Solder sucker, because at some point, you will have to remove a component that's been soldered in. I know Engineer brand has gotten mention, and that's my favorite of the mechanical ones. (not pictured.)
Specialized Meters:
1. DER EE LCR meter. This is really well thought out, and very accurate. For capacitance, you can even select from 100 and 120 Hz, 1K, 10K and 100K. The deluxe kit includes leads that allow for easy calibration (this nulls any capacitance or resistance in the leads—think about it). I've found that most of the capacitance meters that are built into multimeters to be pretty poor.
2. Atlas DCA transistor tester. (Pictured is the DCA75, which is a bit nicer than their basic meter. Very quick, very automatic, another well thought out tool.
Extravagances:
1. Hot air source. Yeah, I know lighters work for shrink wrap. This is very quiet, has a good adjustment range, auto shut off. Interchangeable nozzles. I've used this to preheat sections of boards that I needed to do SMT rework on, and it helps a lot with that too. This company makes a few models; this was their base model when I got it ~5 years ago.
2. Solder sucker, because at some point you will make so many mistakes that you want to throw the board out and just start again. I know, you could buy a decent cheap guitar for what this costs, but the first time you use it, you will laugh at how easy it is.
