Monday, May 30, 2016
Mmmm. Solder.
Fiddling with the miniature mystery tube finally cranked up my electronic gumption again. Last year's windstorm knocked most of my gumption down; I tried a few times to get going again but couldn't find a project that grabbed enough attention.
One of the addictive aspects of electronic work is the resin in solder. It's a nice pleasant smell that lingers for hours in the nose.
Back in the '90s when I was building things for work, the only solder I could find at Radio Shack had an acrid smell. I figured EPA Terrorist Army had eliminated the good stuff forever.
Nope. The current Kester solder from Jameco is just as good as the old '60s solder. Now I'm curious to see if these mini tubes emit something like the old cozy tube smell when they warm up. Probably not. Tube smell was more from the Bakelite base than the glass, and these minis are all glass. [Later: The mini tubes don't get hot enough to emit any smell. Barely warm.]
6/24 update, mainly to kick my own memory the next time I need it. Today soldering was damn near medicinal. I slept poorly then ate some stale ramen, ended up feeling gucky with a bad taste in pharynx and mouth. After several hours of gucky, I opened up the desk and soldered some leads onto a pot. The task wasn't really necessary but it pulled my nerves and muscles back in line, and best of all the resin completely replaced the stale-ramen gucky. MMMMM!
Nope. The current Kester solder from Jameco is just as good as the old '60s solder. Now I'm curious to see if these mini tubes emit something like the old cozy tube smell when they warm up. Probably not. Tube smell was more from the Bakelite base than the glass, and these minis are all glass. [Later: The mini tubes don't get hot enough to emit any smell. Barely warm.]
6/24 update, mainly to kick my own memory the next time I need it. Today soldering was damn near medicinal. I slept poorly then ate some stale ramen, ended up feeling gucky with a bad taste in pharynx and mouth. After several hours of gucky, I opened up the desk and soldered some leads onto a pot. The task wasn't really necessary but it pulled my nerves and muscles back in line, and best of all the resin completely replaced the stale-ramen gucky. MMMMM!Labels: defensible thymes, Make or break
¶ 5:35 PM
