There are certain cases where soldering irons have no temperature control, whether with higher power units or those types purchased by people on a budget. They run “full bore” at their rated power which -- over the long-term -- causes tip degradation. Here’s what I did as a solution.
On a recent trip, I stopped at my wife’s cousin’s house deep in the country. In a mostly collapsed barn filled with disintegrating furniture, something electronic resting on a beat-up easy chair caught my eye.
Here’s my tale of a Drake L7 amplifier cooling fan explosion, the aftermath, and the rebuilding process, with a twist at the end.
Like many “Tom Swift” type readers of N&V, over time (at least 70 of my 81 years so far), I’ve accumulated great quantities of “junque.” So, I decided to make the “Chaostron:” a giant version of my past chaotic creations, using a few innovative approaches with my inventory of relays, light bulbs, and defective PC power supplies.
If you want to get anything done in electronics, you need the proper tools, lighting, ventilation, references, and -- most importantly – a ready supply of parts. To avoid delays or losing interest in a project, keep a well-stocked junkbox on hand.
I bought a Smith-Corona PWP 78DS typewriter from Good Will for under $20. The daisy wheel print quality was perfect, and it included a self-contained word processor. However, there was no way to use it as a printer. I decided to emulate a membrane keyboard with an Arduino Nano Every, so that either an added serial port or the existing keyboard could input text.
For readers who grew up with the Internet and social media, virtual collaboration is commonplace. However, it’s easy to forget that technical collaboration between utter strangers miles and continents apart predates the Internet.
