New Soldering Iron Yay!
I got myself a nicer soldering iron as a prize for finishing my thesis. I had considered getting a new camera but I got one of those not so long ago and this cost about 1/8 what the next camera I want will cost - so keeping my starving student status in mind this was probably the wiser choice.
Non-geeks might like this because the yellowish square thing in the lower right is one of those flat, dried-out sponges that puff way up when you get them wet. Everybody likes that!
I tried it out a bit on the mainboard for my wife's nixie clock. It'll take some getting used to after using that low budget Radio Shack FireStarter™ all these years.
On edit: after a bit of practice, I find that this thing makes gorgeous little surface-mount joints. After a couple of false starts I put down a 20-pin gullwing SOIC with style, grace, and aplomb. Woo!
New Soldering Iron Yay!
I got myself a nicer soldering iron as a prize for finishing my thesis. I had considered getting a new camera but I got one of those not so long ago and this cost about 1/8 what the next camera I want will cost - so keeping my starving student status in mind this was probably the wiser choice.
Non-geeks might like this because the yellowish square thing in the lower right is one of those flat, dried-out sponges that puff way up when you get them wet. Everybody likes that!
I tried it out a bit on the mainboard for my wife's nixie clock. It'll take some getting used to after using that low budget Radio Shack FireStarter™ all these years.
On edit: after a bit of practice, I find that this thing makes gorgeous little surface-mount joints. After a couple of false starts I put down a 20-pin gullwing SOIC with style, grace, and aplomb. Woo!