Tag Archives: tutorials

Learn to solder with eevblog’s David L. Jones!

Hello Readers

How is your soldering? Have you always wanted to improve your soldering skills, or never heated an iron in your life and didn’t know where to start? No matter your level of skill you could do a lot worse than review the following video blogs in this article by David L. Jones.

Who? 

[David] shares some of his 20 years experience in the electronics design industry in his unique non-scripted naturally overly enthusiastic and passionate style.
Bullsh!t and political correctness don’t get a look-in.

Dave started out in hobby electronics over 30 years ago and since then has worked in such diverse areas as design engineering, production engineering, test engineering, electro-mechanical engineering, that wacky ISO quality stuff, field service, concept design, underwater acoustics, ceramic sensors, military sonar systems, red tape, endless paperwork trails, environmental testing, embedded firmware and software application design, PCB design (he’s CID certified), power distribution systems, ultra low noise and low power design, high speed digital design, telemetry systems, and too much other stuff he usually doesn’t talk about.

He has been published in various magazines including: Electronic Today International, Electronics Australia, Silicon Chip, Elektor, Everyday Practical Electronics (EPE), Make, and ReNew.

Few people know Dave is also a world renowned expert and author on Internet Dating, a qualified fitness instructor, geocacher, canyoner, and environmentalist.

Regular readers of this website would know that I rarely publish outside material – however the depth and quality of the tutorials make them a must-see for beginners and experienced people alike. Furthermore, if you have the bandwidth they can be viewed in 1080p. And as a fellow Australian I’m proud to support Dave and his efforts. So I hope you can view, enjoy and possibly learn from the following videos:

The first covers the variety of tools you would use:

And the second covers through-hole PCB soldering:

The third covers surface-mount soldering:

Finally, watch the procedure for soldering a tiny SMD IC using the ‘dead bug’ method:

And for something completely different:

If you enjoyed those videos then don’t forget to check out what’s new on Dave’s eevblog website and forum. Videos shown are (C) David L. Jones 2011 and embedded with permission.

As always, thank you for reading and I look forward to your comments and so on. Furthermore, don’t be shy in pointing out errors or places that could use improvement. Please subscribe using one of the methods at the top-right of this web page to receive updates on new posts, follow on twitter, facebook, or join our Google Group.

Update – Upcoming Electronics Industry Documentary

Hello readers

Today I am going to introduce something quite different, yet hopefully interesting to you out there. The renowned director and cinematographer Karl von Moller has just released the roll-call trailer for his upcoming documentary titled “State of Electronics” – a discussion on the Electronics Industry in Australia. Although the focus is on the Australian electronics scene, much of the content and discourse within the documentary can be related to by those from many other countries.

However, Karl can explain it better:

After several months of researching, interviewing and filming, I’m excited to present the first public Trailer to my new Documentary “State of Electronics” – A discussion on the Electronics Industry in Australia. Even though the documentary is focused on Australian Electronics Design and Manufacture, much of it applies to all countries from around the world.

The discussion is focused initially on the world of Hobby Electronics and how it’s decline could affect the Electronics Industry in the future. The Documentary then discusses many issues that face industry including the issue of “Repair and Recycle”, “Education”, “Surface Mount Technology”, “Globalisation”, “Opportunities” and many many more off the cuff & candid comments from Industry professionals.

The Documentary features interviews with famous Australians and Industry professionals including Dick Smith, Dave L Jones, Doug Ford, Leo Simpson, Grant Petty, Matthew Pryor, Jonathan Oxer, Andy Gelme, Andrew Griffiths, Eugene Ruffolo & Bill Petreski. In the future, I am planning to interview just a few more before the final release of the Documentary soon.

Shot completely on the Canon 5DMK2, using the Zoom H4N Audio recorder. Directed, Edited and shot by Karl von Moller, this version of the trailer is largely ungraded and only has an FCP sound mix applied. Music track is composed by Karl von Moller also. Enjoy!

Please visit karlvonmoller.com for more on the progress and information on “State of Electronics”

Here is the new roll-call trailer:

… and the original trailer for those unfamiliar with the project:

This will surely be a fascinating and insightful documentary that we are all looking forward to. Nice one Karl!

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Education – Soldering is Easy!

Soldering to some people can seem scary and dangerous. And if done incorrectly, or in the wrong state of mind, and/or with the wrong equipment – it can be.

A fine person by the name of Andie Nordgren has come up with a comic flyer that explains soldering in a very easy to understand method. Andie has been a champ and placed it into the public domain, so please print it out, email it, and generally distribute it far and wide.

More about the comic and Andie at their blog here. Have fun!

soldercomic1

And here is the pdf version of the comic.

Personally I highly recommend the use of a third hand. Furthermore, the use of a fume extractor… just blowing away the fumes isn’t such a good idea. A good extractor isn’t that expensive, a little noisy, but definitely worthwile.

This post brought to you by pmdway.com – offering everything for makers and electronics enthusiasts, with free delivery worldwide.

To keep up to date with new posts at tronixstuff.com, please subscribe to the mailing list in the box on the right, or follow us on twitter @tronixstuff.