Gonna work through this playlist today: Learn to solder by Branchus Creations.
Learn to solder
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Category Archives: Electronics
Philips QT4022
This evening I was working on a battery replacement for a Philips QT4022 hair trimmer for my friend. They don’t seem to make this model any more, it was hard to find useful info about them. I made some notes over here. In the end I accidentally released the magic smoke, but at least I got some practice using my soldering iron and my microscope (this evening I learned how to take photos with my microscope and transfer them to my computer, haven’t done that before).
I did start off making a video about this, but it all went very badly, so I’m not gonna be publishing that one. :P
I learned a few lessons:
- take photos of the circuit board before you take to it with a soldering iron. This is so that if you damage the circuit board or the silk screen you can still read the component markings on the photo even if you damage the board.
- use the max current and max voltage settings on the power supply and don’t exceed sensible values for those. (200mA for DC motor is a sensible limit, 6A is not.)
- if you’re dealing with a circuit that has batteries soldered in, and you’re attempting to desolder the batteries, you need to be careful the solder doesn’t melt and create a short circuit, because it can, and it will.
My soldering skills are pretty poor at the moment. What I need is lots of practice. I’m not sure what the best tips or the best temperatures are yet. I accidentally lifted some SMD components because I used too much heat too close to them.
RIP Philips trimmer.
Repairing broken traces on a PCB
Found some good videos with various approaches to repairing traces on a printed circuit board:
Loctite Tak Pak
Over on How To Repair Damaged / Broken PCB Traces – 2 Great Methods, Mr SolderFix says that Loctite Tak Pak is good PCB glue. He recommends the Loctite SF 7455 activator, and the Loctite 382 instant adhesive. I tried to find some for purchase but it’s only available via international shipping and costs a fortune.
I have some glue in my drawer, particularly 24x 3G Super Glue for Plastic, Leather, Ceramics, Rubber, Metal, Wood Super Glue. Might give that a go for wiring a bodge wire to a PCB to see if it works okay or not.
Soldering Iron Tips
For my reference, there are Conical, Knife, Chisel, and Bevel iron tips.
Desoldering Made Easy
Found this video about how to desolder: Desoldering Made Easy – Amazing Trick || Soldering Tutorial. He was using 340°C iron temperatures.
Thyristor (Silicon Controlled Rectifier)
Watching Pure Electronics Repair. Learn Methodical Fault Finding Techniques / Methods To Fix Almost Anything I learned that a thyristor—which is also known as a Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)—is a type of TRIAC.
The name “silicon controlled rectifier” is General Electric’s trade name for a type of thyristor.
Complex Programmable Logic Device
ChatGPT explains a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD):
A CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device) is a type of digital integrated circuit that is used for creating custom digital logic designs. It’s a step between simple PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices) and more complex FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays).
Click through for further details.
Number pad
I have various workspaces in my lab, and I call one of them my “booth”. It’s called the booth because I use it when I need to take photos of things which I’m selling on eBay, usually Xbox consoles or games.
Anyway the booth is also setup with two video cameras, one for a view of the booth bench and the other for a view of my face while I am working in the booth. There’s a retractable drawer bolted under the booth bench too which is full of breadboard jumper wires, so this is the place where I do some of my electronics projects, particularly my Maxitronix X in 1 projects. It’s also a convenient workspace when I’m breadboarding something, as I have ready access to my component drawers above.
Today I’ve installed a number pad in the booth so that I can control my cameras in OBS Studio while I’m working at that bench:
Jaycar kit: Audio Playback Adaptor for CD-ROM Drives
This Audio Playback Adaptor for CD-ROM Drives was released with a Silicon Chip article back in November 2007, approaching two decades ago.
I just purchased the last two available from Jaycar, they no longer have any stock.
I now own three of these babies, and it is my hope that I can use their components to build some electronics that implements enough of the ATA protocol to unlock OG Xbox hard drives. I reckon my chances of success are pretty slim, but it will be fun trying!
This is them:
They’ve been on the shelf in a warehouse for years, check out how dirty they were:
For the record here is a screenshot of this item on the Jaycar website after I purchased all their stock:
