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Woolworth??
I'm not going to admit to being old enough to remember that..
or the Ben Franklin nickel and dime stores .. wonder what you could get at a nickel and dime store these days? Half a guitar pick?
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Bob,
Do you have any S&H Greenstamps laying around?
James,
I use a standard Hakko 900 series soldering iron, but I use a variety of different tips with it, depending on the job that I'm doing. I can't speak to the cataract surgery, but I find that using the microscope gives me the best 3D ability, instead of using a flat screen. I just can't work that way, I've tried. It's near impossible...for me....to figure out where the tip of the iron is.
By the way, I only use the iron to put stuff on with, I use hot air to remove it. You have to be careful with that, too, or you'll burn right through the PCB. Where I used to work, we had a fancy Pace rework station, with all sorts of tips for all sorts of different kinds of chip packages, and the computer and stuff like that, and it was great for getting stuff off, but not so great for putting fine pitch DSPs back on. Had to do that by hand with an iron.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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CHIPQUIK http://chipquik.com/ Excellent product for fast, non-invasive removal of all types of Surface Mount devices where you can see the solder points, even those with hundreds of connections. (not the ball type, though) With CHIPQUIK you don't need a lot of those square and rectangular surface mount desoldering tips at all. The stuff works and works fast. Just get the kit and follow the included directions. I love the stuff, for repairs, reworks -- and prototyping in SMD where we sometimes have to experiment with device values. All I need is the ChipQuik, my standard SMD iron tip and a bit of desoldering braid for cleanup. Great stuff. --Mac
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Personally Mac, I prefer and am used to working with hot air. For me, it works pretty nicely. Admittedly, you have to be careful, and there are those days that I blow off neighboring components, but those are usually easy to stick back on (resistors and caps).
However, I will keep this in mind. Maybe I could use it for some of the larger DSPs and stuff I work with.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Thanks for the good info, Mac and Gary. There were several SMC how-to videos linked-thru that chipquik link very interesting. They make it look 'too easy' though. Reminds me of the "how to weld aluminum with a propane torch' demo videos at this site-- http://www.durafix.com/I haven't yet got around to trying that either, but somehow suspect it wouldn't go as smooth in my hands, as in the video. <g> One time there was a guy demoing e-bows at NAMM and he was playing it so easy and fluid I bought one. Subsequently neither I or my expert guitarist friends managed to ever get more than sporadic ugly honks out of it <g>. There is a knack to everything. When I used to make a lot of one-off circuit boards, drilling the thru holes was the most annoying task, so it is easy to see how SMC might make it faster-easier once one got the knack.
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I do no know why there is so much apprehension regarding SMT work, James.
*The smaller size is not a real problem, use magnifier if needed.
*Soldering/desoldering is actually much faster than thru-hole, consider that you do not have to turn the board over at all, looking for the footprint on the other side, for one thing.
*Pair of demagnetized tweezers comes in very handy for grabbing parts, whether putting them down for the first time or removing them.
As with any other soldering process, *practice* is the key. I recommend that you find any old PCB from any old thing that has SMT components on it and practice desoldering, soldering, etc. for a few minutes on that, start out with the chip resistors and chip capacitors, then move up to the 3-pin devices, then to the 8-pin.
It's a breeze.
Aluminum, I like to MIG weld, but there are times when I've had to do something out of the ordinary, such as that time we needed to solder a ground wire to an aluminum stick. There are special fluxes and solders for that trick, same rules apply, clean both surfaces bright and get in there and get out, solder follows the heat, etc. And again, it pays to practice on something else first before attempting to do the final job.
--Mac
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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XPro & Xtra Styles PAK Sets On Sale Now - Until May 15, 2026!
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Mac Videos
With the release of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac, we’re rolling out a collection of brand-new videos on our YouTube channel. We’ll keep this forum post updated so you can easily find all the latest videos in one convenient spot.
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Check out this forum post for "One Stop Shopping" of our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Videos!
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Holiday Weekend Hours
As we hop into the Easter weekend, here are our holiday hours:
April 3 (Good Friday): 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM PDT
April 4 (Saturday): Closed
April 5 (Easter Sunday): Closed
April 6 (Easter Monday): Open regular hours
Wishing you an egg-cellent weekend!
— Team PG
Update to Build 10 of RealBand® 2026 for Windows®!
If you're already using RealBand 2026 for Windows, download build 10 to get all the latest additions and enhancements.
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