Perhaps it was a return from a customer who had a problem, then tried to fix it - botched it up, then sent it back to Amazon for a refund. The seller didn't bother to test or it simply was repacked in the Amazon warehouse for reshipment.
Much like the people who buy clothes for a party then return them afterwards...
John :-#(#
I bought a guitar amp used many years ago where the previous owner had either accidentally or deliberately left inside the speaker enclosure a couple photos someone had taken of what appeared to be the previous owner, a heavy-set jolly-looking African American man eating dinner in his kitchen with what looked like a plate of ribs sitting on top of the amp.
Sadly that amp was stolen from me a number of years ago along with the Polaroids that i'd left in it where I found them for some superstitious reason. Back into the "material continuum"
I use a wet sponge, and my Metcal tips last for about a year each. I mostly use a medium-size wedge tip. The little pointy ones don't seem to last as long or stay as well tinned.
I guess the Metcal patents expired, so someone else makes cheaper tips now. They seem fine too.
-- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc lunatic fringe electronics
I use the brass scrubbers too, and my tips last far longer than with the original sponge, get a couple of years of daily use out of a tip...it seems to clean off the oxides and flux residuals better than a sponge.
John :-#)#
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John Robertson wrote
I do not use metcal, but have a really nice temperature controlled iron, has even auto-shutoff, sop you can forget to switch it off (very green ;-) ) Long ago I figured the sponges damaged my tips. One day in a Tek factory I came across an assembly person who cleaned the tips by rubbing those over: A big blob of solder.
Fascinating, did some experiments myself, that works! tips last forever. These days I clean the tips after every solder action with: A napkin. Same tips in use for 10? years, still OK,
Good Lord! I had no idea you were such a precocious child, Jan! ;-)
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Precocious *embryo* I should have said. :)
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That's not actually due to my soldering; those were caused by the ever- increasing heat of the original components on the run-up to their failure.
I have to say I'm really impressed by the quality of Tek's mid 1970s PCBs. Despite all my extended butchery, none of the traces lifted. Those were the days!
Yup, I did actually switch to a ball of brass wire for tip-cleaning some years ago.
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Soldering iron not hot enough, insufficient joint cleaning, use a better flux - old 60/40 flux cored solder does not contain the correct type of flux for reworking those old boards. Chemicals in the PCB material leach out and make soldering difficult. You need to use one of the modern aggressive types and clean it off afterwards. I've out of the game too long now and can no longer suggest which exact type of flux to use. There are some excellent no-clean types available now too.
-- Blow my nose to email me
Kester 44 solder and MG Chemicals 835 RA flux.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs
-- Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal Consultant ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 http://electrooptical.net https://hobbs-eo.com
Yep - that looks like it would do the job.
Despite modern regulations only Lead solder and activated flux works properly on that sort of re-work/repair job.
About 15 years ago I had to source a fancy VOC free flux for a rework job. The particular stuff I used is no longer available but it was very good. Some variety of Multicore glop.
I notice that the new replacements only have a 6 or 12 month shelf life and are quite costly in small (syringe) quantities.
All my stock of solder is now old (15 years +) and the flux is ineffective. Looks like I'll have to find a syringe of some goo for my next job.
-- Blow my nose to email me
You can get RA flux in quarts and gallons from both MG and Kester. I recommend the MG stuff because it seems to be stable, whereas the Kester stuff crystallizes out after a few years.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs
-- Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal Consultant ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 http://electrooptical.net https://hobbs-eo.com
At my current home use a couple of pints would last more than my lifetime. Even a 9cc syringe would be out of date after the first job. At 10UKP a pop that's a bit dear. I leave soldering delicate stuff to better eyes these days. Thank you for your input.
-- Blow my nose to email me
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