@LarryD
Have you consider making a book on electronic workshop tips?
Too old
Should I do this for ICs? Like making a breadboard arduino?
I don’t have knives pliers will normal pliers work?
Thanks!
Edit: split this post of?
No, IC pins are okay.
Also IC pins are not very forgiving before they break.
Still have some old SK10 solderless breadboards from ~46 years back (1977), thousands of inserts, still works okay; mind you the quality back then was much better than todays.
Suggest you use a spring loaded IC pin straightener before inserting into the breadboard (if you can still buy them).
Jameco has them $8.00
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IMPORTANT: before learning this top-secret trick, make sure you're alone in the room. And make sure your Internet connection isn't hacked by a foreign nation.
The tool I'm about to present required many months of study by a team of NASA engineers and ergonomists. It's designed to help you get into place and start screwing small nuts into crannies that are difficult to access with cosmonaut gloves.
1/Test environment :
2/ Technical tool required : wooden barbecue stick
3/ You have to choose which side of the stick you want to insert by forcing the nut a little. If necessary, the pointed end can be recut for very small nut. Be careful, the stick must not go all the way through the nut, just halfway at most.
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Would go great with a razor saw.
Absolutely love those saws !
They are great for cutting: headers, plastic strips, small aluminum parts, even soft brass …
Indispensable in a makers workshop.
Made a mitre box awhile ago from an old piece of aluminum channel.
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When I worked in an electronics repair shop we got some Huntron Trackers (can anyone remember them?) I first though the were stupid and useless, however, once I started to us one I realised what a clever and useful tool it was. I probably should make one.
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We had the newer Tracker 2000 back in the day. Sadly, it mostly sat on the shelf collecting dust because most techs didn't understand it, including me.
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The trick was to realise what shape plot you got for a working component. If you checked a component and got a different shape then you knew the component or one near it was faulty. You were not looking for exact measurements like you would with an oscilloscope or a DMM, just the general shape. Faulty components were really easy to spot this way.
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I remember they're aptly named.
We had a few at work too.
The unit in the above YouTube video is a Huntron Tracker.
The good thing about them is you can work on an unpowered board looking for waveforms that did not match a standard board.
No schematic (which hardly is ever the case 
) this go no go testing method can find problems. Of course you needed a good standard board.
- However, even without a 2nd board to compare to, you can still find: shorted or out of tolerance components.
Never used it that often though, it is a very niche piece of test gear.
It has its place I suppose; but what the heck, a DIY home made unit can be useful at times.
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Limiting Wire Breakage at PCB solder points.
Ideally, using separating Female/Male header pins (crimped ) or a screw terminal strip is the best way to connect wires to PCBs.
However, we often need to avoid these mechanical connections altogether.
When wires are soldered for a permanent connection, wire strands can break at the PCB solder point.
If permanent PCB wire connections are needed, the following technique is something that works well and prevents wire stress and breakage.
- Wires are crimped, not soldered, to a DuPont male header pin.
- The end of the pin will be cut off.
- Solder the pin as seen in the image below.
- Add heat-shrink to the pin to insulate it and supply wire stress relief.
The benefit of using crimped pins is there is a lot less stress on the connection, hence, less wire breakage.
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Or, add a bit of 'twist' to 1/4" stripped end of wire, tin, put bend in tinned end after cooling, insert in board, solder, then apply liberal dose of hot glue. Voila, mechanically supported soldered lead.
YMMV, all is good, just different strokes.
I try to do things like this, when possible:
(the insulated part of the wire goes through a separate hole, next to the one where the stripped end is soldered.)
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