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TOPIC: Gathering materials...
Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53055
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I got a decent Amazon giftcard from my in-laws for my birthday, which has prompted me to commit to learning how to do my own installs. So right now, I'm trying to decide on the right long term tools, starting with a soldering iron. Sources I've read have said that anything from a 15-40 Watt will work, though I haven't found anything in the way of specific recommendations. Right now, I'm leaning toward this one from Weller:
I really only settled on this one because if I'm not mistaken, it's the one Shameem used in his install video. It seems to be a straightforward, plug-into-the-wall affair, rather than needing to be attached to a soldering station. To those who've done installs, Is the 40W advisable, or is the 25W safer? Right now I figure (probably naively) that once I've got the iron, picking out the other elements will be fairly simple and less particular. |
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Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53066
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Here's what I use:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AS28UC The variable power is nice for letting you adjust to the situation; if you go with a straight 40-watt, you need to be a little more careful around more sensitive components (like, say, $120 sound boards), while a lower-power iron can slow you down a bit if you're just doing a bunch of quick wire-to-wire connections. Also, you're going to want a sponge and a stable iron rest anyway; that station gives you everything in one place. Obviously, it's not my money (although when it was my money, that's what I bought  ), but you're probably going to be using this thing for a while, so I'd suggest something with some versatility.Of course, you can go way up in price from there, but that one should hold you unless you get a lot more hardcore than I am. |
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Yoda of Borg am I! Assimilated will you be! Futile resistance is, hmm?
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Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53067
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That looks to be a good iron from a good brand; I can't tell from the picture, but is one of the extra tips a conical (pencil) one? Because that's one you'll want when working with a soundboard (and is like $8 if you have to get it separately like I did). You just need to get the sponge and/cleaning wire to keep you tips in good working order. And for solder make sure to go with a lead/tin mixture instead of the lead free. Some flux wouldn't hurt either.
As for the wattage question, I have this one 40 watt station from Weller, and it gets the job done with ease. The wattage actually doesn't have as much to do with the temperature of the iron, but more so with the size of jobs you can do. And just like with dremels, never get a battery powered one; you'll regret it. I got one by Weller back when I was refinishing one of my bass guitars and needed to get the electronics out. The batteries only lasted a few minutes before being drained (checked before and after being used with a battery tester), and the iron never got hot enough to be useful. I ended up just cutting all the wires and ended up replacing the electronics with ones that came with quick connects. EDIT: Vyk beat me to it! |
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Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53072
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Jaden Korr wrote:
And just like with dremels, never get a battery powered one; you'll regret it. I got one by Weller back when I was refinishing one of my bass guitars and needed to get the electronics out. The batteries only lasted a few minutes before being drained (checked before and after being used with a battery tester), and the iron never got hot enough to be useful. I ended up just cutting all the wires and ended up replacing the electronics with ones that came with quick connects.
I second this. I've literally never heard of somebody who has had a battery-powered one and liked it. If you need a soldering iron that doesn't need power, get a butane one. On the other hand, don't have that as your only soldering iron; getting them to the right temperature without being too quick about it is tricky business, and if you get it wrong, you'll oxidize the tip and it'll be useless until you replace it. And, because most of them have the mantle in the tip, it's more expensive than an electric tip.If you couldn't tell, I tried having a butane one as my only iron. Worked great for a while. Then I realized I had forgotten something, got a little overzealous trying to bring the iron up to temperature, and solder never stuck to the tip again. That's when I got the Weller station, and I wish I had done so sooner--it's much easier to work with. |
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Yoda of Borg am I! Assimilated will you be! Futile resistance is, hmm?
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Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53075
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Great to know. That station is actually only a little more expensive than the iron individual "LED" iron I was looking at. Thanks, guys!
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Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53723
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New question: Is there anything in particular I should be aware of when looking for Li-Ion batteries? Or does it particularly matter as long as they are 18650?
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Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53728
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The capacity or amps, will play apart. Depending on your build and the duration of run time, will factor in on the type you get. I wish I knew more, hopefully Kouri or another forum member can further enlighten your path. Good luck Bor'om, sorry I can't gives specifics, but it's definitely something that you'll need to consider.
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The following user(s) said Thank You: Borommakot
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Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53729
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FWIW, a friend of mine who does a lot of his own electronics work has one of these and it's been great the last few times I've borrowed it - I plan to get one of my own when I start working on an install for myself this summer.
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The following user(s) said Thank You: Borommakot
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Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53744
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Borommakot wrote:
New question: Is there anything in particular I should be aware of when looking for Li-Ion batteries? Or does it particularly matter as long as they are 18650?
You'll want one with a PCB (protection circuit), and somewhere in the 2600 to 3400mAh range. There are battery retailers online that carry these, but to be honest, many of them seem kinda sketchy. I'd stick with TCSS or Solo's Hold for packs/wired cells or SF for their Panasonic single cells. |
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The following user(s) said Thank You: Borommakot
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Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53755
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=Ottomatix= wrote:
The capacity or amps, will play apart. Depending on your build and the duration of run time, will factor in on the type you get. I wish I knew more, hopefully Kouri or another forum member can further enlighten your path. Good luck Bor'om, sorry I can't gives specifics, but it's definitely something that you'll need to consider.
Every little helps, Otto, thanks. I'll keep digging. BZArcher wrote:
FWIW, a friend of mine who does a lot of his own electronics work has one of these and it's been great the last few times I've borrowed it - I plan to get one of my own when I start working on an install for myself this summer.
Awesome, I'll throw it into the running. Thanks, Archer. Jaden Korr wrote:
Borommakot wrote:
New question: Is there anything in particular I should be aware of when looking for Li-Ion batteries? Or does it particularly matter as long as they are 18650?
You'll want one with a PCB (protection circuit), and somewhere in the 2600 to 3400mAh range. There are battery retailers online that carry these, but to be honest, many of them seem kinda sketchy. I'd stick with TCSS or Solo's Hold for packs/wired cells or SF for their Panasonic single cells. I want to be able to run my hilts off a single cell, so this is good to know. Thanks, Jaden 
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Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53824
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Whew; it seems like every step of the way there seems to be another wave of overwhelming information to absorb!
Buckpucks: If I understand correctly, they're optional; you can choose to use a puck, or resistors to the LED. Is that right? From the looks of it, pucks are huge, though (comparatively speaking). I dunno if I'm willing to spend the in-hilt real-estate on that. I also can't tell just how much more wiring that requires. Speaking of wiring... Wires: Anxiety has set in about my first potential mistake. I've started buying things, and in the first round of materials I bought a set of 22 gauge wire spools. I had seen a number of posts on different forums saying they worked, but I noticed that they don't even sell 22 gauge on TCSS, so I'm wondering if that was an inferior choice. Thoughts? Finally, LEDs: I vacillated between getting SF QC LEDs and assembling my own, and I think I'll end up doing a bit of both for different colors. I'm just wondering if this is the right heat sink for my purposes. Once I've got that(and wired it), I basically just attach the LED star to the copper, put the lens on top, and screw it together for a complete LED module, right? Many thanks, again, for everyone's input thus far. |
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Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53830
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That'll work for SF hilts, yup. If you're building an MHS saber, you want the MHS version.
Don't forget the thermal sticker to stick the LED to it. Otherwise it's correct. Buckpacks are for higher voltages (min voltage is 5v, SF rechargable/standard 18650 batteries are 3.7v) 22g could work, but will take up a lot of real estate and tends to not be as flexible for cram-fu. Check out TCSS's youtube videos on building your own saber, Rob uses 26/28awg wires. Some hilts need 30 from 0 space. Is this a stunt? Some more details on what you're building will help tailor advice. I.E. if you're building with sound, some boards don't run the 12W SF LEDs, etc. Fill in some blanks! |
Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53834
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I'm building with sound; I'll be using a NEC board, probably a Spark 2 since it'll be my first. Based on Kouri's Soundboard breakdown, I've been operating on the assumption that NEC's can power and take full advantage of SF LEDs compared to the Plecter equivalents. Haven't got the board yet, though.
I'm just planning on having a 2W bass speaker, a single cell rechargeable battery (removable, rather than in hilt recharge), sound board, main and aux switch, and LED. I intend to wire it all for quick connects so that I can put the internals in a couple of different hilts. |
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Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53853
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Don't worry about the buckpuck, as BoostinIX stated.
There's nothing wrong with 22 gauge wire electrically, it will just be thicker, which means your cram-fu game will have to be on point if you also want to use quick connects (which take up some space). |
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Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53857
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Thanks Jaden
Just a few minutes ago I bought my board; a Spark 2, and earlier I got shipping notification on the first part of my equipment order, including the soldering station. Excitement building.
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The following user(s) said Thank You: =Ottomatix=
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Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53868
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Ack! He must have restocked since last night. Aaaaand ordered. Wooooot, thanks for the heads up.
Wish TCSS had discs for the NEC line. |
Gathering materials... 1 year 8 months ago #53900
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BoostinIX wrote:
Wish TCSS had discs for the NEC line.
That would be awesome.  There are some decent looking sleds/chassis out there, though.Edit: I should save these here for future reference http://www.shapeways.com/product/7ZGK7D8MT/all-in-1-spark-igniter-mini-chassis-1-24-quot-od?optionId=43215364 http://www.shapeways.com/product/VJYN92GSH/igniter-2-spark-2-adaptor-for-all-in-1-chassis?optionId=55980541 http://www.shapeways.com/product/9FT2EGMJ8/all-in-1-igniter2-removable-battery-1-14-quot-od?optionId=56348557 http://www.shapeways.com/product/RQU4ULAXH/1-10-quot-o-d-lightsaber-sled-by-darth-alice?li=my-models&awc=6920_1462037162_ebb0a54eb38517e2a1c9983291478d0d&utm_source=affiliatewindow&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=affiliate&optionId=18155933 |
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Gathering materials... 1 year 7 months ago #54343
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Just got the first batch of supplies in.
Not pictured are a pair of black 12mm switches and the pair of micro dean connectors I bought to check the size. I think I'll get 'em off ebay rather than amazon in the future. I also started looking at battery holders and noted that on TCSS the holders have an important caveat:
These are the newer polarity keyed style with only 1 spring connector so they will not work with flat tops cells. These will not work with the Panasonic Protected 18650 button top batteries as they are too long
The Panasonic protected cells are, from what I understand, the ones that come with SF sabers. At least, that's what's in the ASP electronics kits. So does anyone know how if there's a reliable way to match cell height with holder dimensions to get batteries that fit? Actually, the easiest thing would be to simply find out which holder fits SF's batteries, or which protected battery fits in TCSS holders; presumably the Trustfire ones they sell fit, right? I just want to make sure I don't need to wire a PCB. |
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The following user(s) said Thank You: Jaden Korr
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Gathering materials... 1 year 7 months ago #54349
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Borommakot wrote:
I also started looking at battery holders and noted that on TCSS the holders have an important caveat:
These are the newer polarity keyed style with only 1 spring connector so they will not work with flat tops cells. These will not work with the Panasonic Protected 18650 button top batteries as they are too long
The Panasonic protected cells are, from what I understand, the ones that come with SF sabers. At least, that's what's in the ASP electronics kits. So does anyone know how if there's a reliable way to match cell height with holder dimensions to get batteries that fit? Actually, the easiest thing would be to simply find out which holder fits SF's batteries, or which protected battery fits in TCSS holders; presumably the Trustfire ones they sell fit, right? I just want to make sure I don't need to wire a PCB. BoostinIX and I have been trying to figure out which brand SF uses. BZArcher said he couldn't see any identifying marks on his ASP saber's battery holder. I've found some online, but they've all either been for multiple cells or not for button tops. At the moment, the easiest solution would be to use TCSS's holder and single cells. |
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Gathering materials... 1 year 7 months ago #54393
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I did get some from Amazon that fit the SF button-tops, but I haven't had time to test in a saber. The only concern I had was that the wires were a very small gauge. I tend to like thicker (22ish) on batteries. When I'm home and can get to Amazon I'll look up what I got. They did fit though.
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The following user(s) said Thank You: Borommakot
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