 truly a circus and can be overwhelming, especially for a first timer. Players need a crutch and like most millennials, every one of Hollins’ teammates is married to their smartphone. Not Hollins, though. A throwback to a different era, Hollins had no phone his last season at UNC and prefers bikes to cars. Even when there is idle time to pass, like standing in line in a supermarket or riding an elevator, Hollins opts to live in the moment instead of scrolling Instagram.
Hollins’ magical Rubik’s Cube has helped diminish the prevailing screen time at team dinners. Though he is constantly practicing in hopes of improving his finger moves he will succumb to teammates’ frequent requests to see if they can solve it. They can’t.
Hollins is proud of his 90 second solving time until he thinks about the Rubik’s Cube elite who can solve it in just five seconds. Hollins would like to some day attend the World Rubik’s Cube Championship held biannually but knows he has a long road ahead.
“I have to up my game. A minute and a half is not going to cut it. I might not even get a table,” he says.
International experts use the CFOP method, which focuses on individual layers as a strategy. Hollins uses a beginner method, which takes twice as many moves. He plans to work diligently to improve his skills this offseason, and is confident the free time will boost his skills. “If I was sitting on an island I could learn to do it on my own, but I have a few things to do right now,” he says.
While the preparation from the Super Bowl is intense, Hollins’ trusty cube has provided a healthy distraction. If the Eagles win Sunday, he may even encase his first Rubik’s Cube. That’s because a newer Rubik’s Cube is on its way. A speedier, lighter version of the original that slides easier and is designed for true competitors.The great thing about quotes is, they have a way of communicating exactly what we’re thinking but can’t find the words to say.
When you doubt yourself, when you feel unappreciated, when you don’t feel special, remind yourself: Just by virtue of being human, you are worthy.
If you have trouble remembering that, these quotes might help.
That's a good question. There are several videos on YT showing such homemade irons and other similar devices. If you can afford a computer and software to edit a video, a camera to record it and have access to the internet to post it, you can't be too bad off. Personally, I am doing it because OP had asked and I've never been much of a bench racer or armchair quarterback.
It will take YT a while to get the higher resolutions sorted out. Here is the iron running closed loop with Labview. Better but I'm not giving up my old Pace any time soon.
Be careful with fibers. Any kind of long thin fiber is bad for your health if its inhaled because the lungs can't clear it.
For the gun type variant... Several folks made this using a transformer and a secondary wrapped around it. Unfortunately my google-fu is lacking and I could only find very detailed videos but only in portuguese.
Just popping in to thank joeqsmith for all the effort. Definitely getting some helpful hints here. Thanks everyone for that matter.
There are a few problems I see with this basic setup. First, using my bench meter to read the tip temperature is just too slow. I set the temperature for 650F or 343C. A K-type is 14.0mV at this temperature. There is more than enough thermal mass in the tip I used to keep it in tight regulation for small SMD work. Assuming the board has thermal reliefs and it would be fine but not when it comes to heavy work.
I had used Kapton to get the heater as close as possible to the tip. It may be better to allow even higher power levels with the faster control loop but that Kapton will need to go. You really need something that is rated for these high temperatures, is thermally conductive but an electrical insulator. Or you are going to have to push the heater harder to overcome it.
No doubt, even an analog control system with this basic setup would be usable to some degree.
It would be great to figure out a good way to make ones own safe, decent soldering iron for a very small outlay, in a way that was repeatable all around the world.
Consider answering James question. I am curious myself. Obviously you have some access to the internet to be able to view the videos and post. You also mention having already bought a few cheap irons already and was not happy with their performance. I wonder for the cost of these irons if you would have just bought a better class unit from the start if you would have been better off?
It seems like the time you build up a little controller, get some K-type wire and weld it, make up all the other parts, if you are out from under mom and dad, your time is worth something as well, it only really makes sense from a learning exorcise.
The fact you are happy with the alcohol burner, I am guessing what I have shown already would be far superior to that when working with SMD.
Is this a "because you can" type of thing? Because I can't think of another reason to build a soldering iron from scratch.
There are countries where people who make >$2 a day are considered to be middle class. There, a $14 USD item costs an average worker a weeks wages. Plus there may be value added taxes.
And if they go cashless, as some are pushing for (!!!) additional fees will likely apply.
I am one of those people who make >$2 a day but it's not really the point of the thread. I am sure there are many websites that you could join to discuss politics, health and poverty. It doesn't belong in a soldering iron thread or IMO, this site in general. Dave's call.
Back to the soldering iron.... I removed the Kapton and am trying some a braided fiberglass jacket. I attempted to keep the heating element as tight as possible. The brass ring on the end is used to attach the thermocouple and has been hex crimped.
Once reassembled, it seems to actually do better than the Kapton. With the same PI coefficients, you can see it oscillate. A little retune and it settles out.
Using the same thermal mass (ground plane) to attempt to tune it. It's definitely an improvement but I think the next step is to build a dedicated controller for it.
I mentioned that I wanted to run it from a 24V supply. This was not some arbitrary number but dictated by my bench supply which is an old 24V, HP 6285A. I also mentioned I could get almost 120 Watts with the heater I selected but that I would not use it, except when I wanted to heat the tip up from cold quickly.
Now that the insulation can handle some fairly high temperatures, I tried to tune the startup. It still needs a little work but this is about a 20 second ramp to reach 650F. It's quicker than my old Pace.
You can see, like any project, there is a bit to consider. I doubt I will do anything more with it but again, if you decide to roll your own, I am interested in seeing what you come up with.
Greybeards like myself can remember being paid wage rates like that.
Any useable soldering iron in those days would definitely have knocked a pretty savage hole in our pay packet.
From memory, back in 1959, when I was getting 5(A)Pounds ($A10) a week, a "Scope" brand iron was "Two Pounds ten shillings" ($A4.50) "on special".
Stuff was a whole lot more expensive back then. The upside though is that people could earn a decent wage building it. Now we borrow from our future by outsourcing manufacturing in order to be able to buy goods at far below the value of our own labor that would be required to build them. Then we complain about a lack of jobs.
I picked up a Hakko-style iron from a Chinese Ebay seller for £1. It was for some unspecified soldering station and I didn't have the right connector or control board, but it was easy enough to adapt it to work with a SMPS module as the temp control. Mainly wanted it for when two irons are needed on SMD work. Suppose I'd have been just as well getting a complete 'Yihua' or whatever station seeing how cheap they are, but sometimes there's satisfaction in achieving something at insanely low cost.In KPMG, LLP, B-420949, 2022 WL 16921986 (11/7/22), the GAO sustained a post award protest, ruling that the Agency’s best value tradeoff did not qualitatively compare the proposals before it selected higher-priced, higher-rated proposals for award.
In 2020, the Air Force (AF or Agency) issued a solicitation seeking IT type support services for various AF activities. The solicitation contemplated an award of multiple IDIQ contracts under which the Agency would issue fixed-price task orders. Award was to be made to the highest tech-rated offerors with acceptable small business commitments, fair and reasonable prices and realistic professional employee compensation plans. However, the solicitation also stated that the source selection decision would use a best value tradeoff (BVTO