A Crummy Commercial

Magnification has been mentioned previously: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/03/magnification.html  Since then I found this magnifier while looking through some boxes: I don't remember where I got it from or the cost but it's become one of the most used items on my bench.  It isn't the quality of the magnifier so much as all the other magnifiers I use have some kind of case or wrapper involved.  This steel and glass thing just sits there ready for use: Just dust it off once in a while and it's good enough to help with soldering or inspection.  I've got some more powerful magnifiers if needed but I always try this one first.  I rarely use the alligator clips or change any of the little adjustments - it just works as is - highly recommended ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I have a fair bit of Teflon wire, the better part of 1000 feet on one roll.  I also have some cables with Teflon insulated wire from the Hughes Aircraft PDEC.  Everyone likes the non-stain nature of Teflon and of course the silver plated wires.  The Teflon insulation won't melt or shrink when soldering either. But the fly in the ointment is stripping that Teflon cleanly without nicking or cutting strands.  Also the slippery nature of Teflon makes it hard to grip without oversqueezing (using pliers) and damaging the insulation.  I understand that heat is often used in a industrial situation - softening the Teflon makes it easier to strip ? I usually use diagonal cutters and end up losing a few strands.  So I did a search on stripping Teflon wire and found this: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkxNT7Q7dm0 Here is the tool on Digikey: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/knipex-tools-lp/12-12-06/10451358 $206.72 !!   I guess I wil...

  https://wbai.org/archive/program/episode/?id=49705 Starts at 1 hour 15 minutes into the broadcast if you want to random access. Per Max Schmid:  Lost JEAN SHEPHERD from WOR-NY on Friday May 29, 1970   “Kit Building, or 'Throw Away Unfinished Kits' Day” from the Zirul Collection.   1970 was pre-ebay or pre-online free classifieds of course. I've mentioned this before but my favorite Rodrigues kit cartoon from July 1969 Electronics Illustrated page 108: the rest of the kit cartoons are good, too ! source: https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Electronics-Illustrated/Electronics-Illustrated-1969-07.pdf I remember one time my Dad bought a sailing ship model kit.  And it was literally pieces of wood in a box with instructions !  No molded plastic that snapped together.  Actually tiny planks of wood for the hull and deck that had to be cut, pinned and glued.  It is still around here somewhere - Dad developed severe cramping in his hands so he gav...

This Hint and Kink from the June 1958 issue of QST was previously mentioned here: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/05/qst-june-1958.html I found an old Polaroid 35mm film cassette to use as a solder holder.  The end cap wasn't crimped on (it was instant slide film to be developed at home) so it worked just like the Kodak Snap Caps: It should work as well or better than my old solder holder method (solder wound on an old wine "cork"):   Previously I used empty plastic solder wick holders for solder but they don't hold that much and they melt if someone is careless :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

My Yihua 936B soldering iron still works but one thing that I didn't like was that the handle would become uncomfortably warm.  It is a replacement iron assembly so maybe that's why ?  Anyway, I went back to the old Weller SP23 iron which works fine. But one of the reasons why I abandoned the Weller in the first place was that one time I accidentally left it running, not quite sure how long, might have been days and days.  Luckily nothing bad happened but one nice feature of the Yihua is that when it reaches temperature there is a blinking red LED, so it's harder to leave it going accidentally. mentioned this before:  https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/01/fighting-static-damage-part-3.html The Weller doesn't have a switch or LED or anything, it just gets hot.  So I thought about adding a blinking LED to the iron.  I even breadboarded a 2 transistor oscillator to drive the LED.  But then I remembered that there are blinking LEDs on the market.   I bo...

 I remember one time in the ham radio club shack during high school I was listening to the Swan 400 while a couple of the club members were working at the bench across the room.  One of the guys (no names will be mentioned to protect basically nobody ;) was soldering and as some of us do, flicked some excess solder off the iron tip.  Unfortunately the solder found it's way to a leg of the other fella, caught him right where the leg meets the foot.  Well, there was some yelling and epithets expressed and eventually a shoe/sock removed and it was determined that nothing super serious happened. The moral for me was:  don't kibbitz while someone is soldering ! So are you a wiper or a flicker ?  I guess I'm both but when I do wipe I usually do it on one of these: maybe steel would be a cheaper substitute ? The idea is that the metal scrubber will clean the tip fairly well but it won't cool the tip as much as a wet sponge.  And there's no need to periodicall...

 One thing that anyone fooling with electronics and radio ought to have is a good magnifier.  It's not just a matter of getting old, even young folks who have no trouble threading a needle might miss the laser part marking on components or questionable solder joints.  A good light source is important but pair it with a good magnifier for best results. I've collected some freebie magnifiers over the years.  This classic style magnifying "glass" was from a 20th century IEEE "Cherry Hill" testing tradeshow: one of the better freebies Another was from Mill-Max, I might have sent in a bingo card for that. a handy pocket magnifier   BTW I do buy Mill-Max sockets for the kits so the magnifier was a good investment on their part :) I've also got lenses from various 35 mm SLR cameras that can be used as a magnifier now that the era of film cameras is ending. not that great as a magnifier   The 50 mm "normal" lenses have very high-quality glass lenses bu...