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Merry Xmas to all! I too am glad for this year to be over, at least symbolically. Looking forward to finding good things together in 26!

Cool Beans! I did a double take on their email title this morning. This is gonna be like the candy bars at the checkout counter.

Same here, Kester 44. I use .5mm in order to do the occasional SMD things. It needs to be flowed in fast for bigger joints.

I also use Kester 303 (water soluble) in .8mm for a lot of stuff, mostly because I still have a lot of it. I think I slightly prefer the .5mm but I don't plan to try anything thinner.

Nils temporarily drops the ball from time to time. I've sometimes waited past the point of despair, but they eventually show up--and I don't know of anyone reporting that they never received their boards. Apparently he can get really down, and it can snowball. Not a way to run a business, but that seems to be one part of his reputation as a member of this hobby community.

That's a sweet ass build!

Got mine today! Sweeet!

Oh yeah count me in!

Sometimes the cable connector on my station loses a contact and it temporarily goes cold. If I have the presence of mind to look, it shows a problem code on the display. Maybe a really intermittent bad connection could make the temp swing without a clear indication?

Welcome! I've learned a lot from others' help threads. There's something about a troubleshooting thread that restores some faith in humanity.

I think it's definitely an "if it works it works" thing with the cheap T12 stations. I grabbed it as a backup for the FX888D, though I primarily use it nowadays and moved the FX888D to my work office. I prefer the sleep timing, and the single knob control. But I still wouldn't call it 100% dependable.

I'm not going to make a big deal of the FX888D's button control scheme, but I did notice that the new FX888DX went back to a single knob. 

D16 is great for general work, IMHO. I've used it on dozens of neopixel strip connections, including the narrow strips, with no discomfort. I'm still using the original stock tip (I also use a D16 on a T12 knock-off iron).

Conventional wisdom is that pointier tips give less heat transfer, though sometimes a necessary trade-off. I like the BC1.5 for SMD, and I'm interested to try the BC1, as soon as this BC1.5 stops looking brand new.


People seem to like the Aoyue 936, which is a little cheaper.

Nice! Digging the graphics. Gonna bump this board up a few spots in the queue.

Things seem to be coming together on mobile. Haven't tried signing in on desktop today

At least I'm not able to change derevaun's info anymore

I'm looking forward to enjoying any improvements you've made

FWIW it seems to be closer to normal now, showing logged in on all the pages I've tried. It is a great mystery. Also a great use for those eclipse glasses, with the light mode an all.

FWIW, I found some variation among legit LM308s WRT resistances between pins, using Chromesphere's test. I think the most important ones are that pin 5 isn't connected, so no resistance with any other pins, and a few megaohms between 1 and 8, although there's a range with mine. Two tests that are more dispositive are that it sounds harsh(er) with the 30pF cap removed, and the chip itself draws below 400 microAmps. In any case, I have a fake one (from Jameco) that is my absolute favorite in a DOD250 

wicked cool!