ilovefuzz.com

McSpunckle wrote:This thing is awesome and everyone should own one:

P1010658.jpg

http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10410

It's tiny, operates smoothly, and the vacuum base is WAY strong. I've been using the little vise from Harbor Freight, but this is way better.

The only issue with it is that it's mostly plastic. Some more critical bits are metal (the screw and pins the jaws move on and the clamp that locks the head in place), but it doesn't really seem cheap, unless you're the type that thinks everything plastic feels cheap. The only reason it bothers me is that a soldering iron can melt the plastic jaws if you hold it on them.

But yeah. If you do a lot of soldering, grab one. You'll be glad you did. Way better than soldering on your desk or in a 3rd hand.

And update on the Panavise.

They sell these neoprene (synthetic rubber) jaw pads that are -great.- They're only a few bucks. They won't melt when the soldering iron touches them, and they're squishy, so they hold circuits boards really well.

With those, this thing is -perfect.-

http://www.amazon.com/Panavise-204-Pana ... 188&sr=1-1

Mouser has them too. You'll have to search "Panavise 204", but they're there.

http://www.amazon.com/PanaVise-Model-20 ... 065&sr=8-1

bolt on Panavise Jr. for $22.08 free shipping. I don't like the suction cup on the spark fun anyway.

cheapest international 3pdt's i've found.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/360356696672 ... 470wt_1037

not half bad, never had one break on me.

eatyourguitar wrote:http://www.amazon.com/PanaVise-Model-201-Junior-Miniature/dp/B000B61D22/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321903065&sr=8-1

bolt on Panavise Jr. for $22.08 free shipping. I don't like the suction cup on the spark fun anyway.

I've been meaning to buy a second vise for when I need to hold a couple of things at once...

How heavy is the base? If it's too light it'll fall over when desoldering. The suction base on the other one works really well so long as its clean, so it's not really an issue with it.

Too, the vacuum one can hold things at a lower angle... which is worth noting for high desks.

ANYWAYS, what I really came to this thread for.

Cheap oscilloscope. Like, the DSO nano/quad. Fucking incredible for troubleshooting. You can feed a signal into the input, and find exactly where in the circuit your problem is. You may want a cheap signal generator too.. the DSO quad has one, which I use, but it's like 3V and you can't adjust the voltage. Accuracy isn't really an issue here, so there's no reason to spend much-- it's just really helpful.

http://www.saelig.com/product/PSHA026.htm
$50 scope for the breadboard





heres another useful $50 gadget
this is pretty cool if you actually care about getting accurate readings on current consumption

http://www.eevblog.com/projects/ucurrent/

Fudge! That Oscilloscope is nuts!

I might have to get one of those scopes. That seems really cool.

Can anyone recommend me some spraypaint that adheres to metal well and dries with a cool texture? Like a hammerite type thing? And the more durable the better of course.

Could anyone also recommend some fairly inexpensive drill bits that I could use to drill enclosures with a hand drill?

Officer Bukowski wrote:Can anyone recommend me some spraypaint that adheres to metal well and dries with a cool texture? Like a hammerite type thing? And the more durable the better of course.
Could anyone also recommend some fairly inexpensive drill bits that I could use to drill enclosures with a hand drill?

It's all about prepping and priming the enclosure properly. The cans will say what they work best with...I usually stick with rusto products. You could spend a little more money on graffiti specific paint, like Montana, that would prob work really well. I just painted a slant enclosure with rusto hammer finish.

By hand drill do you mean hand drill...

or an electric drill?

How do you go about prepping? Just a bit of sanding and cleaning?

Haha yeah I mean like a handheld electric drill. I had the image of one of those in my mind when I typed that though haha. Those things suck to use..

Officer Bukowski wrote:How do you go about prepping? Just a bit of sanding and cleaning?

Yea rough up the box, then get it nice and clean. I really don't like painting boxes...takes too long, conditions have to be right, etc, never know just how cured the clear coat really is until you've already scratched it ...not always though.

Yeah, spray painting things usually just leads to frustration for me, but lately it seems pretty promising and I want to try some different finishes ya know?

Got any pics of that slant enclosure? Is it gonna get filled with some sweet ptp goodness?

Officer Bukowski wrote:Yeah, spray painting things usually just leads to frustration for me, but lately it seems pretty promising and I want to try some different finishes ya know? Got any pics of that slant enclosure? Is it gonna get filled with some sweet ptp goodness?

Oh I know, haha, I'm doing a combination of powder coating and spray painting on some coming projects. I'll send you a pic of the box tomorrow, after I get the clear coats done. Going to be a NOS fuzz face (red dot ac128's, pnp) with bias. Got the board from PigeonFX.

Sickkk

I'm gonna have to check out PigeonFx cause I want to build a Bender.

Officer Bukowski wrote:Can anyone recommend me some spraypaint that adheres to metal well and dries with a cool texture? Like a hammerite type thing? And the more durable the better of course.

Could anyone also recommend some fairly inexpensive drill bits that I could use to drill enclosures with a hand drill?

Just go out to to the hardware store and pick up a drill bit set. Make sure it says "metal" on it somewhere. Things made just for wood obviously hate being used in metal, but it seems most drill bits are for both except a few specific types.

Harbor Freight sells a cheap step bit set that I've been using, too... the Irwin unibit was too long to use with my drill press, and these cheaper bits seem to work just as well. Smallbear sells the same bit, but it's more expensive and there's only one (the most useful one). If you're getting a step bit, you want one that does 1/8" - 1/2" in 1/32" intervals.

Also, I highly recommend investing in even a cheap drill press if you can. It's amazing how much of a difference they make.