NZGuitars.com

new soldering iron day!

turns out I cant buy new tips for my Dick Smith iron...so I went and did this

Woah! Great investment though, I have a Chinese hakko copy and it's great, can I imagine how good the real thing is!!

Im going to have to lift my soldering game to match the tool!

I do like a Hakko. Good choice!

Lawrence wrote:Im going to have to lift my soldering game to match the tool!

It will make you better!!

I've got the exact same Hakko, a great iron made really versatile with the purchase of chisel tip which does fine work thru to chassis soldering. But beware if you are looking to purchase one of these because there is a "Chakko" version available at much lower cost which of course looks good... And there are counterfeit tips too

At my old work I had a genuine 936 on the bench. Also had a Hakko FM204 through-hole Desolder station too, nice bit of kit.
My home solder station is a clone 936 from Ali Express. Tbh its really close to the Japanese one, but the handpiece is noticably nicer on the real Hakko. The 936 tips from Ali Express are OK, tbh I haven't really noticed a difference between them and the Japanese ones. YMMV

You a tech Corey?

I used to work at an electronic calibration/repairs bench for my last company. Now I work in hospitals fixing things. Mainly electrical appliance work. What about yourself, Mike?

Sounds interesting. So you build valve amps? Years ago, in the late 1970's when the New Zealand Post Office existed, I joined them from school as a "Telephone Technician" (such a misnomer). We were the guys who worked in the telephone exchanges fixing/maintaining the switching equipment which was electro-mechanical then digital. Great training which you got paid for. Ended up in computers both hardware & programming then ironically back to the love of old school valve guitar amps!

Mike Clayton wrote:Sounds interesting. So you build valve amps? Years ago, in the late 1970's when the New Zealand Post Office existed, I joined them from school as a "Telephone Technician" (such a misnomer). We were the guys who worked in the telephone exchanges fixing/maintaining the switching equipment which was electro-mechanical then digital. Great training which you got paid for. Ended up in computers both hardware & programming then ironically back to the love of old school valve guitar amps!

Ah, well I envy your paid training, sounds like you had a fun job at the Post Office too! I used to pop in and out of the old telecom exchanges around the place when I worked in TV. We'd use their fibre optic links to get pictures around the country before Satellite kits were common. (Now of course, they simply use the 4G phone network!)
I've only built a couple of valve amps, after building pedals for a few years to expand my collection. Slowly working on my third build, the super reverb. It's a neat hobby and I love that I'm always learning something new. When I was a kid, I had an old Philips valve radio in my bedroom... I remember peering into the back and just staring at those dusty old parts and glowing valves... it really sparked my imagination as a young fella. There's still a bit of magic for me in watching those old bottles light up when the amp is turned on.

Yeah, I agree. When I first stated at the NZPO aged about 17 I had a Jansen Bassman 75 as my guitar amp (into a 212) and one day at band practice it literally did a Mt. Vesuvius erupting in smoke and fire. A short in a power valve base turned out to be the culprit. Anyhow, an experienced tech at work diagnosed & fixed it as I watched in awe. I remember having no frigging idea how it worked and how he could possibly be comfortable working with 450 volts. The telephone exchange ran on 50V and that scared me back then. It took me 30 more years before I started poking around in valve amps!