Star Tech Journal

STAR*TEcH
Journal
... continued from page 9
This is especially nice when the
bolt is something you can't re-
place from your hardware collec-
tion, or if it is a mounting hole
you need to use. I find my col-
lection stores well in a little di-
vider box or tackle box. A tap
handle is necessary, but your big
pliers will usually do for a die
handle.
Soldering iron or soldering gun? You
really should have both. A
smaller iron is best for use on PC
boards, say 27 watts. Heavier
irons may damage the PC traces.
For PC work make sure to chose
your small iron with a grounded
tip. A gun applies lots of heat fast
and is best for soldering wires and
larger pieces. Use a gun for wir-
ing control panels and flipper
coils. Too small an iron will heat
the terminal on a solenoid coil
too slowly, so the plastic melts
and the terminal comes loose.
Always a good idea to carry spare
tips for your soldering equip-
ment. In a pinch, a temporary tip
for the Weller and similar guns
can be made from a piece of 12
gauge house wiring bent to
shape. It will last quite a while.
Uh, remove the insulation first! Fair
Radio Sales has a portable ver-
sion of the Weller WTCP solder
station at a great price. Cornes in
a metal case with tip storage and
everything, check it out.
Solder Sucker- For solder removal,
most of us don't carry a desoldering
station, though it is indispensable
April 1996
on the bench. Personally I hate
braid or Solder Wick, though many
use it every day. I prefer a solder
sucker.
ticket notch sensor pulse can be
tough to catch on a meter, but a
logic probe will catch every one.
The spring loaded types work a
heck of a lot better than the rub-
ber bulbs. Surplus houses often
sell them at blow-out prices (pun
intended). Make sure to carry ei-
ther a spare sucker or a spare tip.
I can usually buy a new metal
sucker at surplus for less than a
replacement tip at a commercial
outlet.
SMALL TOOLS
There's a million of them. Try
these:
Meter - We can talk of selecting a
meter another time. A good
sturdy digital meter will hold up
better than an analog (moving
needle) model in a tool box en-
vironment. I have gotten great
service from my Fluke 75 for well
over a decade. These days a hun-
dred bucks or even less gets you
a lot of meter.
•
Tweezers. I use the squeeze-to-
open ones for holding small wires
in place while soldering to PC
boards and similar light clamp-
ing duty.
Logic probe - twenty years later
and I still use it! The probe is bet-
ter than a 'scope for some things.
Chances are that the field repairs
we do aren't going to get into
something really cosmic or too
esoteric, so I don't think we need
the most expensive and fancy
probe.
Paying extra for a probe to get
increased response from 50
nanoseconds down to 5 nanosec-
onds is a waste. Spend it on a
better meter. An inexpensive
probe from Radio Shack is fine.
The logic probe is useful to ex-
plore strobe and return lines on
a pinball switch matrix. The
MISCELLANEOUS
Hobby knife ("X-acto" knife). I like
the fat handle one. Carry extra
blades. Handy for trimming con-
trol panel overlays and cutting
out button holes during conver-
sions. Light carving, lots of uses.
Lock picks and broken key extractors.
The key is missing. Why break
in when you can pick the lock?
Remove broken off keys without
ruining the lock. Takes a lot of
practice.
Spring tools. No, not a garden
rake. Long thin rods with hooks
or notches on the ends like the
popular hook-and-scribe tool.
Indispensable for fishing springs
back into position as in a drop
target assembly. Handy for re-
trieving that little washer that fell
way down into whatever.
Mirror. Remember when the
monitor controls were in back
and the picture was in front? A
small hand mirror can be held
around front of the cabinet in one
hand while you fiddle with the
controls in back.
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