Stuff and Things.

[rubber_jonnie]

Thought I'd start a rambling blog like a lot of others have done so I can drop in the non Atari stuff here and there.

It's been a good time of late for new tools, I've welcomed this bunch in to my house to help me with Atari duties:

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Left to right we have a Duratool vacuum desolder gun, a decent bench PSU and last, but by no means least, an Owon SDS1022 2ch oscilloscope.

I've only just got the PSU and 'scope, so need some more time to play, but I've had the desolder gun since Christmas, and if you don't have one, get one now! Below is what the results are like, it's way better then solder wick, just fantastic. The picture below is not cleaned up in any way.

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Last but by no means least, I thought since I was reclaiming components that I should get them organised, so here's what I did with a sheet of ESD foam and my label printer.

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I've got 2 sheets, so once I get some more stuff recovered I'll have room, and I need to label up the ROM section at bottom left, and add a section for the other chips I still need to pull

[Icky]

@rubber_jonnie after seeing your initial report on the vacuum desolder gun I went and got one myself as a Christmas present

These tools are brilliant, once you have tried one you won't go back to anything else. It's a really good tool.

[rubber_jonnie]

@rubber_jonnie after seeing your initial report on the vacuum desolder gun I went and got one myself as a Christmas present

These tools are brilliant, once you have tried one you won't go back to anything else. It's a really good tool.

@Icky They are just brilliant, it's not just the quality of the desoldering, but the speed too, not to mention how safe they make the job, it's so easy to use without damage to the PCB.

There are some parts that are difficult, like where there is a large ground or 5v plane that soaks up the heat, but my god, best tool ever!

[stephen_usher]

I agree. I wouldn't want to go back to the days before my Hakko FR-301. It took me about a quarter of an hour to replace all the RIFA capacitors on a Mac Plus analogue board today. The components literally fell out after the desoldering with completely clean holes. I'll just have to spend some more money on different sized nozels now.

[rubber_jonnie]

Some more tools to add in here, the first being a magnetic dish for screw storage:

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It's another brilliant tool, and sticks magnetically close by on my radiator Only contains Atari screws right now!

Then there's my cheapo chip puller that turned out better than expected for a £5 evilbay purchase:

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Will do up to 40 pin, and down to 16 if I recall correctly.

And last but by no means least, I built 2 Logic Analyser harnesses over the weekend

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The originals were separate single pin plugs and a pain in the backside to wire up the the LA itself, so I bought a small harness that was double ended with 10 pin IDC plugs, chopped it in half and added the clips.


With getting the 520 ST fixed too, it was a good weekend. H4 is callling though....

[PaulJ_2.0]

I have found this seller to be just about the best price on the desolder stations in the UK:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323927466139

You may be able to find them cheaper on Bangood etc but a 2 day delivery time is worth its weight in gold.

[rubber_jonnie]

@PaulJ Yep that is a good price, mine was a little more expensive (About £20) via Amazon, but it did arrive the next day, and I have found some of the eBay sellers don't deliver very quickly.

If you aren't in a hurry it's fine, but I was

[rubber_jonnie]

So I ordered a difficult to find tool on Amazon, a chip puller, and decided whilst I was flush for a change I'd order one.

I checked the tracking and this is it's journey:

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Once again a monumental journey for something quite trivial, like the parts I got from Mouser a bit back

[PaulJ_2.0]

I like Digikey, they always amaze me how fast they get orders to me. I can order something in the UK the same time and at worst the digikey is a day after and sometimes a good while before.

Here's looking at you Amigakit...

[rubber_jonnie]

I like Digikey, they always amaze me how fast they get orders to me. I can order something in the UK the same time and at worst the digikey is a day after and sometimes a good while before.

Here's looking at you Amigakit...

@PaulJ I tried a lot of places, Digikey, Mouser Farnell, Rapid, all the usual suspects, but Amazon was the only place I could get this tool. Even eBay didn't have it.

I just feel bad for the enviroment when I buy something small and it has to come from the other side of the world.