Homeade soldering iron tip for memory cell install

[zz0468]

Drop'd and lost screws, oh don't I know!

Reminds me of the time I was doing a bench repair on some microwave assembly or other, I don't recall what, exactly. I dropped a small part on the floor and I heard it ricochet off the trash can under the bench.

So, I got on my hands and knees and started looking.

About that time, the boss came in and asked what the hell I was doing.

In my best Elmer Fudd voice, I said "Be vewy vewy quiet! I'm hunting wabbits!".

I didn't hear him, but from under the work bench, I saw his feet back out of the room. I never did find the damned part.

 

[majoco]

In hindsight I made a very bad choice when I re-carpeted my house before actually moving in 3 years ago - a nice wool tight twist carpet of a multi coloured weave - mottled flecks of black, white, brown, brick red and grey. From a few feet away, it's a nice muted warm shade, BUT drop something on it like a small screw and it completely merges with the carpet - lost and gone forever!

I did discover a trick though - get a good bright torch (flashlight) and lay it down so that the beam of light shines across the top of the carpet - the shadow of the lost part is quite easy to spot.

 

[wrath]

In hindsight I made a very bad choice when I re-carpeted my house before actually moving in 3 years ago - a nice wool tight twist carpet of a multi coloured weave - mottled flecks of black, white, brown, brick red and grey. From a few feet away, it's a nice muted warm shade, BUT drop something on it like a small screw and it completely merges with the carpet - lost and gone forever!

I did discover a trick though - get a good bright torch (flashlight) and lay it down so that the beam of light shines across the top of the carpet - the shadow of the lost part is quite easy to spot.

I'm a "lumenaut" as well, my brightest flashlight 120,000 candela i can find things you lose Wendsday of next week today .

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

 

[bb911]

Drop'd and lost screws, oh don't I know!
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Long ago I learned to never work on anything with small parts over a rug (might as well be a jungle,) -- that the tiny'est falling screw can generate the most remarkable kinetic energy- and bounce off into space (and the attendant Black Hole) with the ease of a minor god. Today anything that remotely approaches such a risk I do with almost as much attention to the possibility of such an accident, as the operation itself - or usually.........usually..............
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..................CF
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Great story. I've trolled a large area with one of those magnetic boxes designed to hold car keys to a car chassis. Very strong magnet. Wish I had thought of using it before I lost the darn things.

 

[bb911]

Wrath:

So far in almost 27 years electrical tape has been a good friend what ever I take out gets stuck to the inside of the case until I need it again, what's really more frustrating about having all the pieces, is when you reassemble it and have extra's left over ?

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Don't you know it! 3M 33+ electrical tape is our friend.

 

[bb911]

+1 on the use of tape and of avoiding work over carpets. I use both methods. Another excellent tool in the arsenal is a locksmithing mat. It is a rubber-like mat that has a pattern of small, raised cylindrical dots molded into the mat. The dots limit bouncing and rolling. You do need a small pair of needle-nosed pliers to pick up little screws out from between the dots. The mat makes parts much harder to lose. If anyone is interested, Google it. You know: picture = 1K words.

Now you tell me.

 

[wrath]

Great story. I've trolled a large area with one of those magnetic boxes designed to hold car keys to a car chassis. Very strong magnet. Wish I had thought of using it before I had lost the darn things.

If you want an awesome trolling magnet here's one that's perfect for us look up the "magnetic mic",I use one to hold my mic on my wheelchair , its really for emergency vehicles and All terain vehicles for patrol but can be used on just about any mic made and of course hunt tiny parts as a night job , ITS A great device you get the mic near where it goes and it hangs itself up,no taking eyes of the road .
Or in my current configuration the sidewalk.

It works great and is simple for Kenwood and most Yaesu, Icom on the other hand needs a little modification with a dremel tool, but we are hams ITS in our DNA unless your call is N0DNA
Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

 

[bb911]

Reminds me of the time I was doing a bench repair on some microwave assembly or other, I don't recall what, exactly. I dropped a small part on the floor and I heard it ricochet off the trash can under the bench.

So, I got on my hands and knees and started looking.

About that time, the boss came in and asked what the hell I was doing.

In my best Elmer Fudd voice, I said "Be vewy vewy quiet! I'm hunting wabbits!".

I didn't hear him, but from under the work bench, I saw his feet back out of the room. I never did find the damned part.

Vewy, vewy funny.

 

[N4GIX]

Drop'd and lost screws, oh don't I know!
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Long ago I learned to never work on anything with small parts over a rug (might as well be a jungle,) -- that the tiny'est falling screw can generate the most remarkable kinetic energy- and bounce off into space (and the attendant Black Hole) with the ease of a minor god. Today anything that remotely approaches such a risk I do with almost as much attention to the possibility of such an accident, as the operation itself - or usually.........usually..............

------------ it was a small spring that zing'd out into the nether-world-- lost somewhere into the dark myriad of cracks and crevasses of that ancient cabin. I knew approximately where it landed, but even with a group searching with bright pressure lanterns- Nothing...

CF, you write so well that you should author a series of stories about your (mis)adventures!

 

[SCPD]

Its neat to see others can keep their sense of humour when someone (like me) would be loosing their's....
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The use of a magnet was something completely overlooked in the case of my lost spring. It was later pointed out that we had a great, high power'd magnet available- one that we use to hunt for meteorites up on the tundra barrens... it was made from one of those Mag Mount CB antennas; a super base, about 5" in diameter- one of those things found at a hamfest- now mounted on a short pole. It finds meteorites just great- but why no one thought of it during the Great Spring Caper maybe could be attributed to our friend Jack (Daniels)....
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In my field kit I have one of those long flexible magnetic probes that mechanics have for recovering bolts and screws. Unfortunately it seems whenever I need it, the bolt etc. is made of brass or something non-ferrous. Murphy's Law, I sure.....
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......................CF
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(............ and Smiles Bill, N4GIX... Thank You ! )
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[bb911]

If you want an awesome trolling magnet here's one that's perfect for us look up the "magnetic mic",I use one to hold my mic on my wheelchair , its really for emergency vehicles and All terain vehicles for patrol but can be used on just about any mic made and of course hunt tiny parts as a night job , ITS A great device you get the mic near where it goes and it hangs itself up,no taking eyes of the road .
Or in my current configuration the sidewalk.

It works great and is simple for Kenwood and most Yaesu, Icom on the other hand needs a little modification with a dremel tool, but we are hams ITS in our DNA unless your call is N0DNA
Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

I Googled it, and it certainly seems to be one heck of a mic holder. Given my DNA, it's probably best that I no longer have a Dremel tool -- I'd be even poorer -- considering how good I was at breaking the cutoff wheels. Seriously, I don't know how I'm managing to live without a Dremel.

https://magneticmic.com/

 

[majoco]

I made a mount for a VHF aero band antenna from a reasonably new but failed magnetron magnet and attached it to our work van. It's probably still there, we couldn't detach it without risking damage to the roof!

 

[SCPD]

Magnetron Magnets !... a great idea !
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They can be easily salvaged from defunct microwave ovens --and they are super powerful.
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But anyone salvaging them, Please (Double-Plus !!) be careful with the ceramic insulators on these tubes-- they might be of harmless Aluminium Oxide, but they could also be made with Beryllium Oxide. You break that,- inhale the dust, or get cut by the ceramics its always serious- it can even be fatal.
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(Personally I will not permit any beryllium insulator components in my lab- and I always ask--
..... If the bidding contractors insist on them.. next bidder, please...... )
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....................................CF
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[zz0468]

Magnetron Magnets !... a great idea !

Kid art is held in place on our refrigerator with magnets pulled from traveling wave tubes. And I haven't seen any beryllium outside the glass envelope of the tube, which doesn't get bothered at all when extracting the magnets.

 

[SCPD]

I think I came on a little strong about the Beryllium warning- but the stuff worries me
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..........Fortunately it has really diminished today to only some very special electronic uses. Aluminum Nitride ceramics have surplant'd almost everything I see now- though Beryllium is still very much out there. Its too bad that its so dangerous, because there isn't anything that works as well for heat transfer.
My particle physics friend uses Beryllium foil as a window on her particle accelerators- and treats it *very* carefully.
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Not wanting to cause a scare, it must be said that many transmitting tubes don't use these heat transfer ceramics at all.
I've a favorite little parlor trick to show if you should worry about the possibility of one containing Beryllium. Touch a soldering iron to one of the metallic exposed parts of the tube (like the plate of a 4CX250...)-- you should instantly feel the heat on the other side of the ceramic (like the cathode) if it possibly contains Beryllium-- its that good.
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Years ago, innocent me had a desk lamp made from a large magnetron tube. Nothing was drill into the tube- luckily.
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A visiting engineer saw that on my desk and said:
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"Lauri, do you know what you have there?..If that lamp should break......!!"
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-------------My beautiful lamp went immediately off to the environmental guys....
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................CF
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