I posted this on Instagram b/c I thought it was funny and very telling of how I've spent the last several years. I spent all of Sunday recovering hardware from old prototypes, abandoned projects, etc. This pic is about 60% of what I got. I think in the end it was like 200+ pots and maybe 50+ switches. The FR-300 desoldering gun and my heat gun made pretty quick work of it although it was like a 6 or 7 hour session!
I still have 2.5 boxes full of old boards still waiting for parts recovery. Mostly transistors and caps (I'm sure a bunch of J201 and tone of Panasonic and AVX caps). Not worth it for resistors.
Man, that's awesome. I'm starting to build up quite a few boards that sound good, but not great. I was thinking about doing some recovery too. I needs a desoldering iron.
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I have stashed or recovered parts that have been given to me by a friend who has been into electronics for years. There's a particular smell to them! Old rosin? Mojo? Don't know what it is but it's real.
Quote from: Leevibe on January 25, 2022, 02:10:17 AM
There's a particular smell to them! Old rosin? Mojo? Don't know what it is but it's real.
Perhaps phenol formaldehyde resin. Nice sweet smell of electronic nostalgia.
Quote from: Leevibe on January 25, 2022, 02:10:17 AM
I have stashed or recovered parts that have been given to me by a friend who has been into electronics for years. There's a particular smell to them! Old rosin? Mojo? Don't know what it is but it's real.
(https://c.tenor.com/85wgP9eU3M0AAAAC/good-morning-apocalypse-now.gif)
That is incredible! My de-soldering method is heat it up, burn myself, swear, melt the part I wanted, swear some more and then throw it out with a very loud swear word that rhymes with duck.
Wait Jimilee, you don't box everything?!?!?! I think I have been doing this wrong for so long....
Last step is pulling some FV-1s off old builds. I've been able to do this before but I'm going to try a new method this time (ChipQuik) and see if it really is as easy as advertised.
Quote from: jjjimi84 on January 25, 2022, 03:12:37 PM
That is incredible! My de-soldering method is heat it up, burn myself, swear, melt the part I wanted, swear some more and then throw it out with a very loud swear word that rhymes with duck.
Wait Jimilee, you don't box everything?!?!?! I think I have been doing this wrong for so long....
I have been up until recently. Some of the stuff I've built in the last few weeks just aren't getting a box now that I'm having PCBs fabricated.
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Quote from: jimilee on January 25, 2022, 03:49:01 PM
Quote from: jjjimi84 on January 25, 2022, 03:12:37 PM
That is incredible! My de-soldering method is heat it up, burn myself, swear, melt the part I wanted, swear some more and then throw it out with a very loud swear word that rhymes with duck.
Wait Jimilee, you don't box everything?!?!?! I think I have been doing this wrong for so long....
I have been up until recently. Some of the stuff I've built in the last few weeks just aren't getting a box now that I'm having PCBs fabricated.
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Jimi has ascended to the meta-verse of pedal building ;D
I pretty much box everything.... then rock it... then to the shelf where it will stay most of the time
Quote from: matmosphere on January 25, 2022, 04:33:26 PM
I pretty much box everything.... then rock it... then to the shelf where it will stay most of the time
same here
Quote from: peAk on January 25, 2022, 04:46:49 PM
Quote from: matmosphere on January 25, 2022, 04:33:26 PM
I pretty much box everything.... then rock it... then to the shelf where it will stay most of the time
same here
I didn't know there was another way
Hah, I bet de-soldering all those parts from all those old projects is a trip down memory lane.
I've been robbing parts off old boards to build new stuff, but I don't have a nice gun like that. I'd love to have one but man, the good ones are pricy. I've seen off brand ones going for a little over a hundred but really have no idea how dependable they are in the long term.
Quote from: harryklippton on January 25, 2022, 04:56:47 PM
Quote from: peAk on January 25, 2022, 04:46:49 PM
Quote from: matmosphere on January 25, 2022, 04:33:26 PM
I pretty much box everything.... then rock it... then to the shelf where it will stay most of the time
same here
I didn't know there was another way
This. I don't know what's taking up more room, guitars or pedals.
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Damn Jimi, I'm looking at selling off the Music Man which will be the last of my big ticket guitars. I'll reduce to a few cheap mutts that play like $$$. My holdouts are a heavily modified 71 Strat (worthless now with all the mods), and a couple of Lados that were big money in their day but not so much currently. I offed my Hamer to a guy that thinks it's the greatest thing since sliced bread so big win there. I swapped my 77 LP Special (badly scarred) for a bottle of bourbon (owner was destined to be it's rightful owner anyway) and I pretty much quit over-drinking over that bottle (not a bad thing).
Quote from: jimilee on January 25, 2022, 07:03:39 PM
Quote from: harryklippton on January 25, 2022, 04:56:47 PM
Quote from: peAk on January 25, 2022, 04:46:49 PM
Quote from: matmosphere on January 25, 2022, 04:33:26 PM
I pretty much box everything.... then rock it... then to the shelf where it will stay most of the time
same here
I didn't know there was another way
This. I don't know what's taking up more room, guitars or pedals.
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Amps for me by far are taking up the most room, and I only have a fraction of what I used to. When we moved into the house almost 8 years ago, half the moving truck was cabs
Quote from: gordo on January 25, 2022, 07:39:04 PM
Damn Jimi, I'm looking at selling off the Music Man which will be the last of my big ticket guitars. I'll reduce to a few cheap mutts that play like $$$. My holdouts are a heavily modified 71 Strat (worthless now with all the mods), and a couple of Lados that were big money in their day but not so much currently. I offed my Hamer to a guy that thinks it's the greatest thing since sliced bread so big win there. I swapped my 77 LP Special (badly scarred) for a bottle of bourbon (owner was destined to be it's rightful owner anyway) and I pretty much quit over-drinking over that bottle (not a bad thing).
60ish guitars is still a small number. I need to sell some, but I like them all. 7 Les Pauls should be the minimum anyone owns.
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Quote from: madbean on January 25, 2022, 03:47:27 PM
Last step is pulling some FV-1s off old builds. I've been able to do this before but I'm going to try a new method this time (ChipQuik) and see if it really is as easy as advertised.
I'd be keen to hear how this goes, just checked out the video below.
Where do you get the quckchip low meting point solder? I couldn't find it at Mouser.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTQqjggeklo
Holy crap, this is a thing? That looks awesome!!
Quote from: harryklippton on January 25, 2022, 04:56:47 PM
Quote from: peAk on January 25, 2022, 04:46:49 PM
Quote from: matmosphere on January 25, 2022, 04:33:26 PM
I pretty much box everything.... then rock it... then to the shelf where it will stay most of the time
same here
I didn't know there was another way
Sounds about right, it's all about the journey... finishing is pretty anti-climatic.
Quote from: davent on January 26, 2022, 04:54:34 PM
Quote from: harryklippton on January 25, 2022, 04:56:47 PM
Quote from: peAk on January 25, 2022, 04:46:49 PM
Quote from: matmosphere on January 25, 2022, 04:33:26 PM
I pretty much box everything.... then rock it... then to the shelf where it will stay most of the time
same here
I didn't know there was another way
Sounds about right, it's all about the journey... finishing is pretty anti-climatic.
Yes and no. At the end you have a new toy, then you notice something else all shiny, and you need to have it.
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Quote from: jimilee on January 26, 2022, 06:49:44 PM
Quote from: davent on January 26, 2022, 04:54:34 PM
Quote from: harryklippton on January 25, 2022, 04:56:47 PM
Quote from: peAk on January 25, 2022, 04:46:49 PM
Quote from: matmosphere on January 25, 2022, 04:33:26 PM
I pretty much box everything.... then rock it... then to the shelf where it will stay most of the time
same here
I didn't know there was another way
Sounds about right, it's all about the journey... finishing is pretty anti-climatic.
Yes and no. At the end you have a new toy, then you notice something else all shiny, and you need to have it.
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The shiny new distraction usually appears midway through the current project.
Man, I really need to do this. I just got a 1.6MM tip for my FL-300, which makes desoldering pots so much easier than the smaller diameter tip that came with unit.
I've got probably 50 JFETs in need of rescue on failed/crappy project boards. And a slew of AVX caps.
Update on the ChipQuik adventure:
Over the weekend I used ChipQuik to remove three FV-1 from old builds. In the end, I was able to recover all three with acceptable results. However, I'm not sure if it's really any better or worse then other methods. Previously, I've used my heat gun to remelt the solder connections and simply pull the FV-1 after a few minutes of heating. With the ChipQuik, I used the same method but was able to set my heat gun to a much lower temperature to do the removal. However, there was a lot of cleanup afterwards with the ChipQuik. Each chip came away clean from the pads but I had to use my desoldering gun to clear all the blobs leftover on the FV-1 pins to get them back in to shape for re-soldering. So, I don't know if it's really any better or not. I think ChipQuik is probably great if you are trying to pull a chip clean from a PCB you want to re-use. But, maybe it's not the easiest if you are trying to use the actual chip you are pulling! Unless you have the right tools and patience. FWIW.
What heat gun do you use?
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Another follow-up on Chipquik. I had another PCB to recover an FV1 from. Went through the same process as before. To my surprise the chip released just from a few seconds of heating both sets of pins in quick succession with my soldering iron. I didn't even need the heat gun - it just came right off. After cleaning up the leftover solder with wick the FV1 was nearly good as new.
So, I am a believer now. There's not of ton of solder in the package but I've used it 4 or 5 times now and I still have plenty left. I think it's worth recommending it.
That sounds awesome!
Quote from: madbean on May 05, 2022, 11:14:29 PM
Another follow-up on Chipquik. I had another PCB to recover an FV1 from. Went through the same process as before. To my surprise the chip released just from a few seconds of heating both sets of pins in quick succession with my soldering iron. I didn't even need the heat gun - it just came right off. After cleaning up the leftover solder with wick the FV1 was nearly good as new.
So, I am a believer now. There's not of ton of solder in the package but I've used it 4 or 5 times now and I still have plenty left. I think it's worth recommending it.
Is this the de-solder alloy ? (apologies if you've already said). I've been eyeing a tube.