Handy Tools to Have.

[3v0]

I was asked in a PM about lead spacing on IC's. They are too wide from the factory. Prior to getting this tool I used to press them against the table top to make them fit. Fuzzy image shows what you need to see. Not sorry deal with it

 

[dknguyen]

I use long nose pliers to bend em one side at a time. Not very pretty though.

 

[The Mad Professor]

I used to lever them them into place one side at a time... I also used to pull them out of my finger on occasion lol..



Other useful tools..
I have always found that a good size lump of "Blu-Tak" (about the size of a golf ball) makes for a most useful extra pair of hands when dealing with small circuit boards or as a secure place to put smaller items such as screws and other small easy to lose items when doing repairs.

A small bead of it on the end of a pencil ( or anything else close at hand) also makes for an improvised "pick & place" tool when dealing with surface mount devices.

 

[Speakerguy]

You got a P/N on that guy? I also use the table-bending method on DIP packages.

Why do they spread the leads like that? I notice my jumper wire kit for my breadboard does the same thing on the wires. Is it done to DIP packages for automatic insertion or retention reasons before wave soldering? That's the only thing I could think of.

The $5 cutters available at Techni-Tool and at variety of other vendors are indispensable as lead cutters. I think they also get branded as Xcelite and several others I can't remember. They're all about $5 and make excellent lead cutters.

Mouser sells red plastic lead benders for axial resistors, diodes, etc. A must-have if you do a lot of breadboard work as you can get exact bends on all .1" spacings, and a right angle bend on the lead helps in sticking a probe clip on the lead.

The Soldapult DS017 is the only solder pump extractor worth owning. OKi sells the same thing branded as their own, as does a third company I can't remember. Fry's carries them as does practically any online vendor.

A pair of Pakistani EROP-AASA tweezers from Digikey are excellent fine tweezers for only $3 a pair. You can get the Italian made version from Mouser for $8 if you are placing an order there.

Any blunted tweezers are great for putting in/pulling out jumper wires on breadboards, especially the single links. I use a pair I took out of the medicine cabinet that were next to the fingernail trimmers.

A set of six small phillips and small straight screwdrivers are indispensable. Available at lots of vendors.

Multi-turn cermet pots are nice to have on hand to get a particular resistance value if you don't have that value of resistor laying around. I like the Bourns 3296 series, but that are expensive. I have maybe a half dozen in various values.

An old toaster oven makes a great reflow oven if you find yourself having to use a leadless (QFN, DFN) package (or one with a heatsink pad on the bottom).

 

[philba]

tweezers? I use curved tip hemostats. They work a lot better for me and you can lock them closed if you want. The curved tip allows for better control of SOICs and other SM components.

For general bending and prodding of wires and leads, I have a tool that is like a straight double ended dental pick but fatter. One end is just pointed while the other has a slot that goes down the middle (bisecting the tip lengthwise for about 200 mils). Its great for making precise bends in wires, TH leads, and generally manipulating wires on a breadboard. I think it cost me $.99. I've never seen it again in stores.

I use a panavise all the time.

 

[3v0]

You got a P/N on that guy? I also use the table-bending method on DIP packages.

My wife gave me mine as a gift some time ago. I think Radio Shack may or may not have them.

tweezers? I use curved tip hemostats.

I agree. Picked up my first pair when I started with SMD parts. (not that I have done great things with them) Now I keep my eyes peeled for interesting variations at tool shows and surplus type web sites.

I use a panavise all the time.

I use a helping hands with two alligator clamps to hold the board. I have been thinking about getting a PCB vice or a tilt vice with adjustable slotted arms. I think there were a bit expensive by the time you had everything, not sure.

I have a gold colored metal solder sucker I found in a abandoned toolbox at work. I do not have a clue who made it but it has such a powerful spring that it make a loud noise and jumps when you trigger it. None of my students want to use it. They prefer the mild mannered plastic one from Radio Shack.

 

[mdwebster]

I've never met a plain solder sucker that I liked. There's a powered one from radio shack that does fairly well on large solder joints. The tip is heated and melts the solder, then you release the bulb and it sucks it up.

I still hold out hope for a solder station with a desoldering pump, but having never tried one, I can't say for certain.

That being said, I just tried the best desoldering braid I've ever used last week from a company called Chemtronics. Unfortunately, it was at a client site and I only wrote down the company name not knowing they sell 8 different types. It had this really tight weave that kept it from unraveling yet still sucked the solder right up.

Helpful tip on desoldering braid: It goes bad. The flux evaporates over time and I've bought more than one spool from discount surplus places that were pretty damned bad right out of the package. However, you can generally bring them back to life by squirting on a tiny bit of liquid flux or even rubbing on a little bit of gel-type flux.

 

[jpanhalt]

Here's a handy tool. Heat resistant, cheap, easily adapted. The one on the left has grooves to hold servo wire while soldering to header connectors. The one on the right is used to hold all sort of things in place while soldering.

John

 

[Externet]

Hi.
http://arcadecontrols.com/BBBB/straight.jpg

 

[Speakerguy]

I still hold out hope for a solder station with a desoldering pump, but having never tried one, I can't say for certain.

They are very nice. I have used the one included in the Pace MBT-350 re-work station. The only thing is that they do have a tendency to clog. This is usually caused by improper use (but I still managed to clog it often). When it was working nicely I could desolder a 28 pin PIC and just have it fall out of the board when I was done.

I'm about to buy a rework station, but I am leaning towards iron + tweezers since I am going to try and make myself stick to SMT devices as much as possible. Removing SMT resistors and caps is a terrible pain. The only through-hole devices I plan on using are things like molex connectors, power resistors, relays, etc. Anything really expensive (uC's, DAC's, modern stuff) will be SMT and I think I might get a hot air station for that.

 

[Speakerguy]

And hemostats? Really? What packages are they useful for? I can't imagine not having my Erem tweezers, especially for chip resistors and SOT-23 type stuff.

 

[jpanhalt]

I have hemostats, but don't use them very often for PCB, because they are usually a magnetic alloy and become easily magnetized. Some parts (like capacitors) will stick to them. John

 

[gerty]

Hemostats are handy for desoldering components. Just clamp onto a lead, turn the board
over,apply heat, and the weight of the hemostats usually pull the component free.

 

[Mikebits]

I have always found this tool useful for my most troublesome problems.

**broken link removed**

 

[Boomslang]

And for very big problems use this one:

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[gerty]

I may need the larger one for my pic programming problems

 

[dknguyen]

I just realize that I just got a bunch of tweezers at home that I never use and no hemostats. BUt at work I use hemostats for everything over tweezers! Gotta go buy some now.

 

[Speakerguy]

OOH! Forgot one.

Non-contact AC voltage probe. Fluke makes one for $25 called the VoltAlert, iirc. Several other companies make them too. Safety first!

 

[Sceadwian]

I just picked up one of those non-contact AC testers, 15 dollars at Lowes. Truly a life saver. No matter how sure I am I've disconnected the right breaker I've had a couple bad shocks in my life where there was an extra live wire in a PVC conduit that I didn't know about when I went to work. I had a spot in my vision for almost 2 days from looking dead at the arc 12 inches away from me when it shorted. A few good waves of one of these things on the outside of the PVC and then against any suspect wire insulation will give you a whole lot more peace of mind. Better than testing with a finger at least.

 

[Krumlink]

Cant believe nobody has said this but...

NIPPY CUTTERS! They are one of my favorite tools, not only because they can completely cut a solder joint down to the board (accident one time) but they can remove the "Volcano" of solder that soldering noobs can make. They are also handy for removing toenails

**broken link removed**