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In practice I find the Gemini models to be the worst for coding and design.


Recommendations?


No particular channels or videos come to mind, but here are a couple good ones (with timestamps to skip the intro fluff):

https://youtu.be/0LSG5uIdqJc?t=190s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUyetZ5RtPs&t=40s


I would not call 2nd video "skillful", that SOIC was molested, not soldered :(


Fair enough, perhaps I'm easily impressed. :)


With the exception of a hot air rework tool, a soldering iron should complete a nice fillet within 3 seconds. Adjustable temperature kits tend to hide the skills needed to work with the thermal mass of the iron itself.

Soldering with an iron:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvl_KYif9zA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RXugDd0xik

Drag soldering with a hoof tip iron:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUyetZ5RtPs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyele3CIs-U

Hot air techniques (mid size QFN, soic, and other SMD):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v58m-S35s24

Recommended equipment:

WE1010EDU for fine and medium work (remember the 3 second fillet rule)

https://www.amazon.com/Weller-WE1010EDU-Soldering-Education-...

A set of hoof and screwdriver tips:

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Weller-WE1010-Soldering-ETSET...

Flux and solder wick for cleaning pad areas on PCB:

https://www.amazon.com/Lesnow-Desoldering-Electronics-Disass...

CREWORKS 858D cheap hot air tool for basic SMD rework:

https://www.amazon.com/CO-Z-Soldering-Temperature-Desolderin...

1. never use metal wool to clean the iron tip coating

2. Before use, clean by dragging a hot iron across water dampened sponge (or paper) to smear off oxidized material.

3. Never use Bismuth solder, it was invented by fools for fools. Also, indium contamination can make you go bald.

4. Your iron should choose one (and only one) of the following

i. Sn63/Pb37 No-Clean eutectic solder for low temperature industrial machinery

ii. RoHS compliant SAC305 Lead-Free No-Clean Solder

5. No Clean means the flux core in the solder may be left on the work. However, it is recommended to clean it off with 99% IPA.

6. Fume extraction blows crud outdoors, and charcoal filters just makes crud smell nice.

7. Practice PCB kits are cheap, and getting 2 in case you cook something by inserting it backwards may be wise.

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/soldered-electron...

Best of luck =3


Why not use brass wool? I've used it for a long time and not noticed any problems. My soldering iron tip looks and works great.


Brass wool is often just copper plated steel, and will damage the plating. Thus, pin holes in the tips iron, nickel, or chrome plating begin to pit the copper core.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/brass-sponge-has-rui...

Anecdotally, all wool seems to accumulate abrasive crud, various amalgamated solder waste, melted plastics, and trimmed bits of steel etc.

Best of luck =3


That's certainly a concern, but it's completely ameliorated by buying real brass wool.

The stuff that came with my (apparently genuine) Hakko 599B is non-ferrous (and is therefore not steel). Refills are Hakko part 599-029.

Soldering iron tips are usually made from copper with a thick iron plating. On Moh's hardness scale, iron doesn't care much about what brass thinks. :)


Yes I've only used the one that came with my Hakko soldering iron, and I just got a replacement from Hakko since my old one is getting pretty full of solder bits.

The tip on my soldering iron is perfectly fine though.


The 599B is a Hakko assembly that combines a (kind of cheesy-looking) gold-anodized, thin, stamped, aluminum housing and one of their brass wool inserts.

AFAICT, it works well with all soldering irons. I certainly haven't noticed any detriment to my soldering irons over the >decade I've used it. It really seems to be fine and it sure is simple to use.

(I really have needed to buy new brass wool for a few years now, though. It works, but it is not nearly as slick-and-clean to use as it once was. Sourcing this from Hakko directly seems like a safe route and it's probably cheap-enough -- maybe I'll buy a few refills and have some for the rest of my life.)


Was never a fan of spendy rapid PID based mini-heaters, but some people do prefer that design.

In situations where PCB ground pours removed thermal-reliefs for power handling reasons, mini-cartridge-heaters often simply don't have enough thermal mass to heat an area fast enough without the control-loop missing temperature ranges and or time limits.

Anecdotally, same reason good portable butane catalytic iron units are often superior to USB-C/battery operated units.

Note Zinc contact is restricted in some places, and that ban includes zinc-brass sources. Best of luck =3


Thank you!


The irony is that the design and UX of the website is terrible.


Perhaps it's marketing to attract those who wear sweatpants to school. The author's other posts are written normally.


They took an investment from a new startup (Quantum Leap Research) focused on national security.


In the press release, the CEO of Quantum Leap Research, Jim Miller, said: “Quantum Leap Research believes FreeBSD is an excellent choice to serve as the foundation for a new secure computing initiative given its long history of security and stability,” said Jim Miller, President of Quantum Leap Research. "Quantum Leap plans to run FreeBSD on contemporary laptops as a hypervisor-like solution using Bhyve to virtualize other operating systems, including Linux and Windows."

https://www.morningstar.com/news/globe-newswire/9234109/quan...


> Quantum Leap plans to run FreeBSD on contemporary laptops as a hypervisor-like solution using Bhyve to virtualize other operating systems, including Linux and Windows.

Are they gonna sell laptops running FreeBSD with a virtualized Windows guest as "more secure" to the US government?



If it is not already, swatting someone should be considered a serious offense, like calling in a bomb threat. Baiting emergency police services to handle personal disputes is absolutely ridiculous.


lol


Can it be used completely offline, without an account, etc?


good question. they have a good product, but it seems like their marketing folks haven't figured out selling to engineers/geeks


I finished reading it, wondering the same thing!


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