Share tips you have come across

I have used caarbide drills but find they break too easily even when used in a drill press.
The dremel drill press does not seem to be rigid enough and there is a fair amount of runout on my dremel as well.

Can you use those by hand ?

Boardburner2:
I have used caarbide drills but find they break too easily even when used in a drill press.
The dremel drill press does not seem to be rigid enough and there is a fair amount of runout on my dremel as well.

Can you use those by hand ?

Yes you can use these by hand.

I use a full hand held cordless drill with these bits (@ slow speed).

They are 'very very' much less susceptible to breakage as PCB carbide bits.

I mainly use 20 and 30 degree bits with hand held drilling.

These bits are my 'go to way' for drilling plastics with no melting, burning, or cracking.

For larger diameter holes, I first drill a starter hole with these bits then adjust the size with a reamer:

I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.

These bits are also good as a vero board trace cutter.

I use the 30 degree bit for this.

Boardburner2:
I have used carbide drills but find they break too easily even when used in a drill press.
The dremel drill press does not seem to be rigid enough and there is a fair amount of runout on my dremel as well.

True (yet, frustrating) story; I have found a dremel setting of 1/4 speed works well accompanied by cleaning the PCB remains from the bit, every 10th or so hole drilled, works well- when slowly press cutting through the board.

I found a pcb made by cif which has a paper core and glass skin . This drills quite well with a steel bit without blunting too much.With vero i tend to stick with paper boards.

Make heat shrink samples ahead of time.

Cut 1” pieces of different diameter heat shrink.
Shrink about 1/3 the length.
Keep these samples handy when you are deciding which diameter to use in your application.

Make tool tip protectors.

My original tweezer tip protectors don’t seem to last very long.
Make your own protectors from of 4 to 1 heat shrink.
The 4 to 1 ratio makes a nice thick long-lasting protector.

It might be a good idea to add heat shrink to the original protectors as soon as you buy the tweezers. :wink:

larryd:

To reduce the evaporation of solvents, keep sealed bottles in the fridge.

Larry - where can I get the cool tool you show in post 525?

Allan

allanhurst:
Larry - where can I get the cool tool you show in post 525?

Allan

https://aliexpress.com/item/1pcs-Universal-0-14mm-Reaming-Knife-Drill-Tool-Knife-Edge-Reamer-Professional/32823125223.html

Lots on Ebay, Banggood and Amazon.
They are nice for tuning holes, especially in plastics.

This is where I got the Reamer.
Out of having 4 of these, one was dull from the start.

This is also a good tool to have, but the above reamer has finer action:

Henry_Best:
To reduce the evaporation of solvents, keep sealed bottles in the fridge.

If you can sneak them in the fridge. :slightly_frowning_face:

I was looking at these a while back for storing Methylene Chloride.

The internet is great for looking up reference material.

I keep a copy of this PDF manual on the iPad.
It covers many SMDs.

There are many other offerings that you can review.

http://www.digikey.com/Site/Global/Layouts/DownloadPdf.ashx?pdfUrl=6B438F7BA5DC49E28D08B066465ABBB9

http://www.talkingelectronics.com/ChipDataEbook-1d/html/SM-Transistors.html

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For some projects I set PCBs in place with UV glue.
You get a semi permanent hold within seconds.
After positioning the PCB, add a few drops of glue, expose to UV for 5 seconds.
UV glue is not very good for gluing pieces that are to be permanent.

Lots of sellers on eBay, Banggood and Amazon.

The UV light must be able to see the glue for it to cure.
If the glue is in between the PCBs, it will not harden.

Use UV glue to hold magnet or wire wrap wire in place when doing mods on PCBs.

The SMD code book is great I didn't know it exist, I discovered that google is faster.
example - smd 1a on google images.
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Make a tool fence for your hand tools to hang on.
3mm(2.5mm) clear plexiglass lets you see through to items behind.
The magnets sit on a 403 stainless steel sheet covered with Teflon.

If you have ever tried to drag solder a fine pitched I.C. package, you will know it can be challenging.
Even solder paste, stencils and ovens can give different success rates.
The Gull Wing soldering tip can make this job much easier.
For basic soldering, I use a curved tip and change to the Gull Wing for fine pitched components.
Allways use liquid flux and of course practice.
I use the Hakko FX888D soldering iron, but it is next to impossible to buy these tips for this iron.
I think there is a patent issue.
You can make your own version of these tips from a simple Bevel tip.
Use diamond burrs to hollow out the tip, slow speed is best.
The Bevel tip shown below had a thick iron coating which was not breached.

See these YouTube links for tips for usage.

Plato sells Gull Wing tips compatible with the FX888D soldering iron.

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