First Project Necessary Tools & Advanced Suggestions

JC, I think you may have misread my OP.  You can get a used Fluke for $80 often under $50.  There is a difference between meters.  Cheap digital meters don't respond well to high resistances.  They are hard to tell if you have the reading you are looking for.  I have helped two Bottleheads find Flukes and they have never questioned a meter reading since. 

I can't tell you about the Vellman.  I have used only 3 meters since 1979, a Simpson and two Flukes.  I still have both Flukes.

The Bottlehead manuals have a picture for just about every step and full page shots of the assembled top plate and finished product.  Any mistakes in the SEX manual were ironed out years ago. 

denti alligator said:
Thanks, guys.

Looks like I can get a variety of digital multimeters for as low as $5. Is there a reason to go with the $100+ Fluke? Are there models or brands to avoid?  .  .  .  . 
Click to expand...
 
Solder does matter.  Lead can cause headaches, really bad headaches.  And there are all kinds of designer solders out there.  

As for the linked solder, I might find the 1mm size a little bulky (I'm not sure the size of what I have).  I use thinner solder.  But at that price, and if you are lucky enough to have a Harbor Freight in your town, go there and you will find most of the hand tools you need.  The small needle nose, side cutters and wire strippers are what I have in mind immediately.  There are better soldering stations than they sell.  And maybe the 1mm solder will work fine.
 
So as long as it's lead-less I'm good? Less than 1mm.

I was just going to get a cheap soldering iron ($4.99 at their site), with mini stand, and use a household sponge.
 
The 1 mm may be fine.  I prefer using a thin solder.  Right now I'm using leaded solder and a small fan to blow it out of my face.  Not to mention that the big magnifying glass I use makes it impossible for the smoke to float straight up.

This is the kind of light I use.
 
I do not recommend lead free solder, it's just harder to use. Radio Shack has plain old rosin core electronic solder, a little thick but will work fine.

Don't stick it in your mouth and wash your hands when you're done...John 
 
Lead-free solders can be difficult to work with.  I use it for plumbing, but mostly because that's all that's readily available for plumbing these days.

For electronic work, I generally use a "eutectic" solder, which has a ~ 63/37 ratio.  When cooling, this solder goes directly from the liquid state to the solid state, skipping that "semi-solid" state that other ratios have.  I suspect that movement during that semi-solid (when it appears that the solder has hardened, but it really hasn't) state has been responsible for many a "cold" joint.

Having said that, I would certainly use standard 60/40 from Radio Shack, and often have.  You just have to be aware of its cooling characteristics, as with all 60/40s.

 
This is a great thread...I wish I had read it before my Stereomour build!  Especially on the 63/37 solder...that would have been an easy call. 

I built the amp with the following tools: medium small screwdriver, wire cutters, wire striper, swiss army knife (blade and scissors), hemostats (best tool for wiring EVER!!!), x2 glasses, solder, soldering station, tape measure, and a digital multimeter from Radio Shack.  That is almost nothing!  And none of it fancy.  I do keep a shrink wrap multipack handy.

For the case, wood glue, painters tape, strap style box clamp, sander. I will hand rub some stain with a shop rag (and then sand and reapply) and then do the same with some miniwax polyseal satin eventually!

The one other thing I did which I highly recommend if you don't have a dedicated work bench: I used a 2'x2' 1/2 plywood sheet as a work surface and I kept my parts in a CoolWhip container and my tools in a clear plastic box where I could grab them handy but not have them wander.  This let me set up on the kitchen table and then put everything away quickly. It makes a nice, organized area to work. 

Did I mention that you have to get the hemostats (I got mine from Radio Shack)?

John
 
I've only built one kit so far, but one thing that I did when building my S.E.X kit made things go smoothly so it might help others.  My wife likes to scrapbook so she has these plastic boxes with lots of small compartments in them.  Its the kind of thing that I'd use for flies (fishing) but it makes a great thing to organize the kit parts.
I went through the bag of parts that made up my kit, sorting the resistors and everything into separate piles according to the color bands.  Then I went through each pile with my meter making sure they were all the same value.  I put each pile into one of the compartments in the clear plastic box along with a little piece of paper identifying the parts.  It makes the pre-build parts inventory easier, and then when building the kit I didn't have to sort through parts to get what I needed.  When it was time to quit for the day all I had to do was close the box and put it away until the next time I got to work.

Ken
 
Here is a hand full of tools I took a picture of.  The pen of the soldering station is being held by the $3 Harbor Freight Third Hand.  

Across the top are solder, diagonal cutting pliers, needle nose pliers & nippers (for clipping leads).

The bottom row is my Fluke meter, Weller soldering station and the third hand.

The second picture is a close up of the third hand.

 
Grainger,

  Thanks for putting the time in to keep this post updated, and to everyone that added information.

  This is my first post, I just joined since I ordered a Crack and Speedball.  I have seen and heard about the Bottlehead products from the speaker world but never purachsed any.  Now getting into the headphone world I decided to give the DIY a try.  It will be my first DIY project and reading thru this site and the Head-Fi site is really helping.

  I went to the site that Doc mentions in your first post and I'm going with the items he mentions.  I don't know if I'll be doing to many DIY projects so I'm just getting the basic things.  I did find a good looking third hand with magnifier so I'll pick that up also.

Thanks again everyone,
James
 
Maybe I missed it, but I use a tool that is non conventional, and I wouldn't trade it for any wire cutter when it comes to trimming wire leads on a pc board. Nail clippers    yup, they are perfect! Just don't tell my wife.
 
4krow said:
Maybe I missed it, but I use a tool that is non conventional, and I wouldn't trade it for any wire cutter when it comes to trimming wire leads on a pc board. Nail clippers    yup, they are perfect! Just don't tell my wife.
Click to expand...

I do the same thing.  They get dull quicker but I just buy a couple of the 98 cent clippers at wallyworld so I have them.  Toss when too dull.  I've also used them for as long back as I can remember for cutting the extra line when tying fishing knots or making up monofilament leaders.  Never did like using my teeth for that.  They work great for trimming you nails too :-P
 
Cutting nails too? Then it's a no-brainer!
  I know that it has been mentioned here before about the quality of tools and how they might affect your job. But it bears repeating, because I just used a Rat Shack soldering pencil last night on a project and the heat was not steady. After ruining a couple of circuit traces, I switched to a Weller. The difference is the difference between a good job, or instead, a few tears. In this case, tears won. Yah, a certain quality of tool matters.
 
I would like to add that one of the best recent purchases is a solder station that I bought from Parts express for $40. It is made by Stahl, has replaceable tips, variable heat(300-650 I think), and the stand is separate from the station. So far, I am kicking myself for not buying something like this years ago! I have drawer full of irons that are so-so, and might just have a yard sale this summer...Also, I got the headset/lens that was recommended here, and again, what was I thinking all those years? Tools, proper ones, make all the difference. That is what I have enjoyed about this site. Lots of experience, and great advice. I'll keep reading. Thanks
 
The rest is what you'd expect any joiner to have like saws, mortise gauge etc. As for wood work experience, I have hand cut mortise and tenons with great success, finger joints, half flaps and even dovetails although not perfect are almost there!
 
Hello all,

I don't have a soldering "pen" I was wondering what ones people use and what ones they feel seem to do the best job and why that is. I would like to do this as close to once as possible.  ;D


Thanks

Mark
 
See Greg's post above. This or a similar station would be a good step up from a simple pencil iron.

I just took a quick look at what is available. Half decent looking ones for as little as $15. Very good ones for $40 or $50 or so.

It is much easier to solder, with an iron that has even rudimentary temp control. Especially if you're learning...John
 
Kristel

There are a number of threads on suggested soldering irons/stations in this folder.  Jump to the Tech Tools folder and search for "soldering iron."  It will search in only the Tech Tools folder. 
 
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