Reply to Modding 101

Alright guys as promised I'm starting this thread which is gonna be a walkthrough of my mod/tutorial page for basic electronics assembly, so stay tuned for the progression.

First I'm going to mod two of theese



into two controllers for traktor to sit between my mixer and decks.

So first off I'm gonna start with a few of my basic tools, these make life a lot easier and they are cheap as I'm a bit of a cheap bastard.

First up my Soldering Iron, Ideally I would like to have a Hakko 936 temp controlled station but I don't have the spare funds, although you kids in the states can usually find deals on them regularly for around $99 usd which is cheap for an iron of this quality. Any way this is my Iron



This Iron cost me about $50 NZD which is about $35 USD, so was cheap, but it has a nice grip, weighs stuff all, has a heat resistant cord (a must for an iron, don't buy one without), as well as interchangeable tips. Now it is only 13 watts which is low but all that means is that it will take longer to reach temp, not that it makes much difference, turn it on and watch some porn or something when its heating up, DON'T try and solder with a cold Iron.

Next is my tip for my Iron



This type of tip is my favourite, it holds it heat because of its size but you can use it for things as small as SMD devices, one common mistake is to use an extremely fine tip to solder with but the don't hold the heat at their tip, use one of these and you will thank me for it.

Next is solder wick use this to remove solder, pumps suck ass wick is inexpensive and works like a charm



And last but not least is solder, I use fine resin cored solder, fine solder is key to me as you never run the risk of adding to much to the join, it also seems to melt a lot quicker as well.

And I almost forgot, the good old Flux Pen oh what a treat to have.



So stay tuned as my next update will be the disassembly of the controller with a few helpfull hints.

Stay tuned kids.