18-07-2011, 10:45 AM
Although not as plentiful as they once were due to the advent of digital photography, 35mm film containers are ideal for storing screws and small components from dismantled equipment awaiting repairs, or even long term storage of whatever will fit inside. They can easily have notes written on them for future reference.
Always have a magnifying glass or jewelers loupe available for examination of suspect dry or faulty soldered joints, it's surprising what escapes the human eye, even younger eyes !
To test infra red remote controls from TV's etc, point the remote into the lens of a digital camera, still or video, they are sensitive to infra red so will see the light from the diode on the remote if it's working.
When removing IC's from PCB's, if the IC is definitely known to be faulty, cut the legs with miniature cutters or a dremel first to detach the IC. Then the legs can be desoldered individually with less chance of damaging the tracks on the PCB.
Always have a magnifying glass or jewelers loupe available for examination of suspect dry or faulty soldered joints, it's surprising what escapes the human eye, even younger eyes !
To test infra red remote controls from TV's etc, point the remote into the lens of a digital camera, still or video, they are sensitive to infra red so will see the light from the diode on the remote if it's working.
When removing IC's from PCB's, if the IC is definitely known to be faulty, cut the legs with miniature cutters or a dremel first to detach the IC. Then the legs can be desoldered individually with less chance of damaging the tracks on the PCB.
