13 Aug
2006
13 Aug
'06
10:40 p.m.
On Sunday 13 August 2006 10:13 pm, Ethan Dicks wrote:
On 8/14/06, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com>
wrote:
Hehe. My "standard" iron is a 45W element with a 1/8" chisel tip and it
could
probably cope with that, though I do have my 100W/140W gun as well, for the
really big stuff like ground connections and such. I've done a fair amount
of tearing things apart like that...
I think the big problem was a shift in thought.
Anyone who learned to
solder back in the handwired days remembers being told over and over
again that "Solder does not make a mechanical connection". Or in other
words, good wiring practice demanded that a wire be mechanically attached
to its terminal before solder was applied. Along come PCBs and what's
holding everything together? Solder.
My dad (who was a Ham in the 1950s) told me over and over that solder
is not a load-bearing material. Of course, given the weight of 1950s
components, if you _don't_ make a good mechanical connection first, a
solder-only joint is likely to fail eventually. I remember how hard
it was to tear apart stuff from those days... I needed a solder gun
and a quick hand with the needle-nosed pliers to start to unwind the
leads from the solder tabs before the mass of the pliers cooled the
joints. OTOH, a technique I've picked up from a co-worker
here for nice
faraday-cage-type enclosures (for RF-emitting/using projects) is to
solder a box from chunks of copper-clad board. It's easy to work with
and for stuff that small enough to fit in your hand, *very* strong.
I think I first saw that technique mentioned in one copy or another of the
Radio Amateur's handbook, though I haven't had the chance to try it out yet.
It does look pretty good, though.
--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space, a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed. --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James
M Dakin