SHOP TIPS

Throughout my years in electronics I find
better ways of doing things. So I comprised
this Instructiable that it may help you.
I listed my better tips and the obvious
tips you probably allready use...
like... helping hands, a good head loupe,
clothespins for clamps, masking tape,
3x5 index cards, daily pill boxes,
400 grit sandpaper, scotch birte scrubbers,
a comfortable chair, your OWN room on
the other side of the house.
A tip should be tride and true, used often,
and difficult to improve on.

Tired of fishing your PC from it's bath.
Cut hard plastic (milk jug, muffin plastic)
into strips and use double sided tape.
Bend the top of the strip over the tank.
Don't try thick plastic bags, they droop
and flop into the acid. No more green
fingers getting that small PC out.
AND THANKS for posts on bubbling and
muriatic acid and peroxide.

Double sided tape to hold PC on the bench.
The tape keeps you from chasing the PC
all over the bench.
'Helping hands' are great but for placing
components on the PC while in mid air is
tough. And when the components fall to the
floor they go into the black holes we all
have under the bench. I eistimate there are
at least 4-5 billion black holes on the
planet. We are safe for now, as the holes
are far appart. But a billion more benches
may cause the black holes to gravity feed
on one another and no more earth. I know
this is the REAL reason we have not found
'life' in the universe.

My bench tops have varried from painted
plywood, all sorts of carpet types,
to formica. Now I use the foam rolled
flooring. You don't glue it down so cut and
set on the bench. It can stand some heat
almost like formica. Soft, nice to work on.
If you damage the surface just pick up and
replace with another.
Scraps are good bottoms for razor cut mats.

When soldering...years ago the flux had a good
pine smell. It almost made you enjoy soldering.
It preformed so much better than
todays flux. I bought 4 types of flux from
4 different places and they all preform
poorly. One flux turned rock hard if left out.
They all will eat the pc if you did not clean
off with expensive flux remover.
So I use old fassion petroleum pluming
flux. (NOT ACID). I use COLEMAN (camping)
white gas to clean PCs. Though it will leave
a very slight oil film on the pc.
When soldering and I get solder on a foil
run that needs to be flat, not swelled up
with solder. I use a Q-tip and wipe the hot
solder from the foil.

If you glue anything...and I mean anything.
Glue has come a long way with improvements.
GOOP..E6000, (the same) Is the best.
nuff said.
For clean ups, instead of paper towles, rags.
I use cheep toilet paper. The expensive type
is too soft. 3-4 sheets and epoxy is cleaned up.
Lacquer thinner and TP to clean PC and remove
ink, oil, anything. But TP will scratch your
phone glass.
For those who bought the leds reel lights...
And you had 3 feet leftover. I made a stick
lamp. Better than fluorescent (whiter) with
no shadows that a single bulb throws.
A long (24-36 inch) fixture with 3-4 rows
gets rid of glare and spreads the light
evenly over the area.

My most used tip is taken from a PBS show.
The show was woodworking and aired 10-15
years ago. I think the host name was David.
He always closed with his own formula of wood
stain/finish. "See how the natural beauty of
the wood comes out". I learned more from this
show than ALL others combined. I enjoyed seeing
him take a SLAB of wood from his collection and
create beautiful furniture (like sculptures).
HIS tip, is a sled for your table saw. Easy to
make and gives consistant accruate cuts.
A place to clamp stop blocks to.
Way better than the 5 inch faced miter T square
that came with the a saw. The sled is
handy for small pieces that I need. And clamp
on a 45 for perfect fit mitered corners.
And the zero width blade slot makes for
less tear outs. With no 'bump' from the
factory blade access cover plate.

My last tip is more of a complaint and maybe
stupid. But here goes. I vacuum a lot. I use
the brush a lot too. But you know after a few
times the hairs all bunch up in the center.
My complaint is the 2.5 inch brush was fine
and didn't clog. But now they don't sell a
2.5 only a 1.5 inch. And they don't give it
away...about 12 dollars. So repeatedly you pull
hard to force the hairs to the outside edge.
If you could just hold the hairs outward it
would be better. Well I found a plastic
bottle lid that fits like a glove. Used a
1.5 inch hole saw to make a hole. You could
just use a razor. This spreads the hairs out
and away from the center so debris can get
sucked up. This dosen't work well for hairs
that have already bent to the center. Best
for new brushes.

Maybe you can benefit from this list.
If you have a GOOD tip please leave a post.