Recently I've been building more and more projects which has caused me to enough solder, wire and shrink tubing to circumnavigate the earth and moon roughly 43 times.
Ok... maybe not that many times, but you get what I mean...
Because of that, I needed to update some tools and equipment which I want to share with you!
I updated 5 major items in my electronics lab... with that... lets look at them one by one!
Upgrade Number 5 | Shrink Tubing...
I don't know about you, but I can never seem to have enough of this stuff on hand. I always end up with the wrong size. So I bought an entire roll which you see here.
This isn't you're ordinary shrink tubing though! It's marine grade which means it not only shrinks down around your wire it also has glue inside!
Making it a really rugged. It shrinks down 3:1
Get it here from Amazon:
Upgrade Number 4 | Soldering Storage System
I don't know about you, but there are times when it feels like I need a separate room just to house all of my soldering iron bits, solder etc.... not to mention it can get messy.
Well, this handy soldering iron storage system fits the bill perfectly.
Let's look at its features.
1 | Small wet sponge
2 | Solder Tip Scrubber…
3 | Fits My Weller!!!
4 | Solder spool
5 | Soldering Iron Tip Holder!!
Upgrade Number 3 | Protect Your Lungs!
I've been using a different type of fume extractor for years, but lately, it just isn't cutting it. The problem with the old one I was using, is that you can't get close enough to where your board is.
Well, this one right here, is totally flat in the front as compared to what I was using, so I can literally set it within a femto inch (.0000000000000001") of my board and feel confident that the fumes are getting sucked into the fan rather than my lungs.
It's a little hard to tell from the image here but this thing is tiny, but don't let that discourage you. I've been using this for about a week now, and its super powerful. I really love it.
Get it from amazon here: https://amzn.to/3RZYOuL
Upgrade Number 2 | A One Handed Solder Sucker!!!
I was originally look for a complete de-soldering station, but I don't have a ton of room on my bench. Plus, I don't need to un-solder a lot, but when I do... oy... what a pain.
I currently use a traditional solder sucker and separate soldering iron. So long as I can move at the speed of ninja and manage to get a good suction when swapping out my iron for the solder sucker, all is well. BUT!!! Recently, I needed to do a fair amount of de-soldering. Basically, a component I'm working with has a connector on it, that I don't need. So I had to de-solder a bunch of them.
Well... after loosing what little locks of love I have on the top of my head, I decided I needed to get something.
Well, check this out, because I was pleasantly surprised with just how well this works.
What you see here is a one handed solder sucker with built in soldering iron!
To be honest I was a bit reluctant, but I figured I'd give it a shot and holy shamolies does it work great!
I'm actually in process of cleaning out my lab and my older solder suckers will be going along for the ride. This thing is just awesome.
Get it here on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3DjdW2l
Upgrade Number 1 | A Real Helping Hand!
Sometimes you need a bit more than just a traditional PCB holder, you need something that will give you not just an extra pair of hands BUT added light, magnifying glass and much, much more.
Well, this has to be my favorite upgrade. This all in one PCB holder is perfect especially when you need to do surface mount items. Something which I've been doing a lot of recently.
The magnifying glass is positionable along with the extra set of hands which are moveable.
Get yours here from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3RDzHhP
Well, that's it! I hope you found that helpful, I know for me, this was a sorely needed upgrade!