Soldering station?

[Vinny]

(11-25-2015, 12:30 PM)RobWilson. Wrote: Ps , not to hijack the thread ,,,,,,,,,,,,,just a quick hands up ,who is into electronics ? 



Rob

Me. I bought an XYTronic over 30 years ago and [knock on wood] it's still going strong today. Control temp (knob adjustable, analog meter to show the temp) and zero crossing. Back then I paid about $60 for it, as I recall. It was funny, one day my weller bit the dust, a few minutes later the UPS guy came in the door with the XYTronic. Timing couldn't have been better.

As to my electronics background, my dad started teaching me back in the 60s. Over the years I've worked in small shops, at a Radio Shack repair center, for myself and then 25 years ago at Chrysler. When Chrysler found out I was also a programmer I was quickly repurposed. During the transition I had the opportunity to make some equipment GPIB controllable by making a single board (I designed the board) that used a 6805 micro to talk to the GPIB bus and control the equipment. I was also tasked to populate an engine controller PCB that was 99% surface mount crap that I could almost see - and that was when my eyes were good! Now at home I'm set up with a couple of Tek scopes (2236 and 2430A) and a Simpson bench meter for doing any repair stuff I need to do. That's in the back corner of the shop, I also have a computer set up that I'm using now. The 2430A is also connected to the computer via GPIB.