On Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:18:59 -0500, Joe wrote:
On Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:18:04 -0600, Frnak McKenney
wrote:

On Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:29:58 -0500, Joe wrote:
I've salvaged lots of stuff from the drives, but not SMT chips; just
too much trouble to adapt them for my purposes.
-----snip-----
It's not as hard as you might think. I decided to back up my blithe
assertion that there was "lots" of "easily found" material on the
'web, so I used Google this mornig with the following string:

(unsolder OR remove OR salvage OR recycle) (parts OR components)
(smt OR smd OR "surface mount")

(That's one line of search terms)

Wow!

I found discussions of salvaging parts, such as this one:

How to Salvage Electronic Parts
http://www.neufeld.newton.ks.us/electronics/?p=213

------remaining examples snipped-----

Oh sweet Jesus, now you've given me yet more reasons to scrounge
stuff! My wife will have some choice words for you, sir.

Um. I've forgotten the USDA classification scheme. Are "Choice"
words better than, or worse than "Prime" words? grin!

I remember pulling multi-lead ICs (mostly the staggered 40 pin
Rockwell things) using a solder pot with an appropriately sized
opening; lay the board onto the molten solder, pluck out the chip, and
whack the board smartly on the work bench to clear the holes.
Piece-o-cake. Much more difficult with an iron and solder-sucker.

I've tried using that approach with an 1800W hot-air gun with...
well, let's be generous and say "mixed" results: many usable
components, but all of the boards were damaged.

Now, where did I leave that aquarium pump... grin!

Turns out that you can pick up a small aquarium pump and 25ft of air
line from WalMart for $6+3US. Probably cheaper at a thrift shop, but
I suspect the're fairly rare items.

Nowadays most of the electronics I putz with is audio-related; even
got a few tube amps from the early 60s I plan to rework. (Maybe a
direct-drive ES headphone amp?)

Going to stick with tubes? Or convert to solid state?

Solid State? My God, man - why would I want to take a giant step
backwards in "cool" factor? (Never mind the issue of efficiency.)
Glass is fun. Besides, tubes handle the high polarizing voltages much
better than semiconductors.

Much as I enjoy the compactness and low temperature of semiconductor
designs, I have to agree with the "coolness" part. It would take a
bunch of Pentium-IIs running flat out to warm a room, and it still
wouldn't have that "glowing campfire" effect. grin!

On the other hand, there were those tiny flat vacuum tubes used in
early electronic hearing aids and, as I recall, early radio control
receivers. They were cool-looking and _ran_ cool.

Speaking of tubes, did I mention the "Nixie Tube Clock" kit from
Nuts&Volts magazine?

http://store.nutsvolts.com/product.p...=16614&cat=341

Workwise, I do metrology now.

I assumed that that _wasn't_ a misprint and looked it up. "Science
of measurement"... okay. I'm curious: what kinds of measuring do
you do?

Quoting a subsequent post:
The bulk of my work is with temperature; most of the remainder is
pressure, vacuum (I like vacuum), flow, level, etc.

There is some stuff that uses gage "blocks" (very expensive feeler
gages, characterized to millionths of an inch). Hardness measured by
accelerometer-fitted hammers, optical haze, slip/peel, surface
resistivity, and other QC related stuff, but it's a relatively small
part of the work load. The more esoteric equipment is
calibrated/maintained by the manufacturer (bummer).

Sounds like you get a lot of variety in your work, which would help
keep it from getting stale. That's great to hear.


Frank
--
If you cannot -- in the long run -- tell everyone what you
have been doing, your doing has been worthless.
-- Erwin Schrodinger
--
Frank McKenney, McKenney Associates
Richmond, Virginia / (804) 320-4887
Munged E-mail: frank uscore mckenney ayut mined spring dawt cahm (y'all)

On 2010-01-22, Frnak McKenney wrote:
On Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:18:59 -0500, Joe wrote:
On Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:18:04 -0600, Frnak McKenney
wrote:

[ ... ]

Now, where did I leave that aquarium pump... grin!

Turns out that you can pick up a small aquarium pump and 25ft of air
line from WalMart for $6+3US. Probably cheaper at a thrift shop, but
I suspect the're fairly rare items.

Hmm -- what does "$6+3US" mean? six dollars and thirty cents?
Or was it some weird (extended ASCII) character which did not print
properly on my system?

As for a small aquarium pump -- that strikes me as something
which most of us could make rather easily (and enjoy making) in our
shops (and more in line with the "Subject: " header. We are only
overgrown kids, after all. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

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