Geeky Gifts -- Soldering Station
December 27th, 2007 by Mike Roberts
It has a digital readout that even displays tip temperature. Optional goodies include a solder sucker and a plethora of tips. Speaking of tips, one tip suspiciously looks like it could be used to mold proprietary or even open source penguin poop pellets. Maybe the solder sucker could even clean up said poop pellets. Definitely more "iron" than I need but that's what the holidays are all about, right? It is even Linux compatible, no special drivers required. For even more iron details you probably don't want, click here.
Addendum:
The movie "A Christmas Story" pretty much captures my youth. I grew up in northern Indiana with a Daisy BB gun(no compass in the stock). Now I'm all "grown up" and have a soldering iron with a temp gauge in the base instead of a shootin' iron with a compass in the stock.
__________________________
Mike Roberts is a bewildered Linux Journal Reader Advisory Panelist.
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Third Hand?
On December 27th, 2007 Shawn Powers says:
Unless that soldering rig comes with a third hand, it won't help my pathetic skills much. I have no idea how people do it. As I see it soldering requires a hand for each of the following:
* Holding soldering iron
* Holding spool of solder
* Holding thing being soldered
and sometimes
* Holding thing that the thing is being soldered to.
I really stink at soldering.
__________________________Shawn Powers is the Associate Editor for Linux Journal. You might find him chatting on the IRC channel.
Excuse for more geek stuff
On December 27th, 2007 Mike Roberts says:
You can do it, you just need one of these:
That's an updated version of one I have. Much easier to deal with than the smell of burning flesh. Time to update my wish list. Those are also handy as an impromptu phone docking station, using it to hold pencils, charger cords and headset cords. __________________________
Mike Roberts is a bewildered Linux Journal Reader Advisory Panelist.
metcal - oki
On December 30th, 2007 Kurt P. (not verified) says:
I personally like the Metcal ps-800 better and found that it works better with the RHOS-compliant solder -- when you get the right coil.