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Hakko Soldering Iron Fix

Hakko Soldering Iron Fix

Once upon a time at the museum we found an old Hakko FX-888D soldering iron for Sam to use. He tried to solder things, but it did not work. I tried soldering things with my Hakko FX-888D soldering iron and it worked great! I looked at his iron and declared it “not working properly” and then we stopped using that one.

This week I tried using my Hakko FX-888D soldering iron and it just did not work. I ‘raised’ the temperature and it still didn’t work. Meanwhile, Becky soldered about a dozen buttons with her iron while I was still trying to do one. The solder would melt but not stick. Weird, and then I discovered that I probably managed to “adjust” the temperature instead of “change” the temperature. Yeah, confusing, right?

This is (sort of) explained in the Hakko FX-888D soldering iron manual, very poorly, but start on page 5 and see if it makes sense. If not, watch this video.

If you don’t want to watch the video, here’s the procedure for resetting the Hakko FX-888D soldering iron to the factory defaults, which totally fixed my problem of it not getting hot enough to make good solder joints.

  1. With unit turned off press both UP and ENTER buttons
  2. Turn the unit on while continuing to press both UP and ENTER buttons
  3. The display will flash the letter “A”
  4. Release both the UP and the ENTER buttons
  5. Press the UP button
  6. The display will show the letter “U”
  7. Press the ENTER button
  8. Your iron is now reset!

I’m posting this here because future me will probably screw it up again, and then I’ll read this post and know how to fix it. Also, if Becky ever screws it up, she can look here too!

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CAD Things…

Stand

I recently had to design a simple cabinet to serve as a stand for a mill/lathe. I thought about pulling out some rulers and triangles (yes, I used to actually do drafting with pencils and paper) but instead I decided to try using OpenSCAD.

Stand

I used specific colors in my design, of course when you actually render a thing in OpenSCAD the color goes away, but you can export the different views just fine without rendering. Here are the various view of the thing. Oh, since OpenSCAD is a “unit-less” thing which mostly outputs in millimeters (at least for STL files) I just assumed the units were inches.

Stand

I used the OpenSCAD “scale” feature to scale up the thing by 25.4 times in each direction, which means my 1 millimeter became 1 inch.

Stand

But in a real drawing you plan to hand to someone you need dimensions for things. While there’s been some experimentation in adding them, there just doesn’t seem to be an easy way to show dimensions of things in OpenSCAD. I resorted to printing out paper and marking it up… with a pencil.

Stand

I probably need to learn how to use FreeCAD for this sort of thing. I’m sure I can easily add dimensions with it. One of the really interesting things about FreeCAD is that it has an OpenSCAD Module. You can import a CSG file which you’ve exported from OpenSCAD, and you can just open .scad files as well.

Much more to explore here… stay tuned!

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Adjustable Rectangular Mount

Adjustable Rectangular Mount v1

I finally got around to creating a parametric version of the 3D printed mount I’ve been using for the past few years. Typically I’d just open a previously designed thing in OpenSCAD, make some adjustments, and export an STL to print. Eventually I realized that I should just create a bunch of variables so I can easily just make minor adjustments each time and not have to do a bunch of find & replace operations.

The result is Adjustable Rectangular Mount v1 which you can find on Thingiverse and Youmagine.

It’s a work in progress, and it still needs some tweaking, but I figured it was worth releasing to the world. (Hey, make it better if you can!) It doesn’t work for all sizes and configurations, but for most of my needs, it’s good enough.

Adjustable Rectangular Mount v1

I should probably do more research on how to improve things by reading through other OpenSCAD code, but as mentioned, you’ve gotta start somewhere. I’ll probably be using this one quite a bit in the future, and I’ll update it as I can.

This mount specifically expects that you can use screws (or bolts) to mount it to a surface you can screw into or drill through. I also often add some double-sided foam tape to the inside of the mount and stick it directly to the object being mounted.

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Screw/Bolt Diameters

Borrowing a bit from our friends at Bolt Depot, their chart showing US Machine Screw Diameters is helpful, but often I’m designing with Metric units (or a unit-less system that outputs in millimeters) and I need to convert Imperial units to mm. (I tend to do a lot of work using OpenSCAD and Inkscape for 3D printing.)

The chart below allows me to specify screws and bolts and then design holes that will work. For instance, I used a lot of #4 screws, and the chart tells me I need a hole diameter of approximately 2.794mm. Handy!

Size Thread Diameter
Decimal Nearest Fractional Metric
#0 0.06″ 1/16″ 1.524mm
#1 0.07″ 5/64″ 1.778mm
#2 0.08″ 3/32″ 2.032mm
#3 0.09″ 7/64″ 2.286mm
#4 0.11″ 7/64″ 2.794mm
#5 0.12″ 1/8″ 3.048mm
#6 0.13″ 9/64″ 3.302mm
#8 0.16″ 5/32″ 4.046mm
#10 0.19″ 3/16″ 4.826mm
#12 0.21″ 7/32″ 5.334mm
#14 0.24″ 1/4″ 6.096mm

See Also: Millimeters, Inches, Fraction, Decimals

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How to cut Zip Ties

How to cut Zip Ties

I had to make a short illustrated guide showing how to properly cut zip ties to avoid damage and injury, so I figured I should share it here as well.

When using zip ties care must be taken in cutting off the excess ends. To cut the ends off properly, we should use the right tool. Do not attempt to cut the zip tie ends with a knife or scissors, instead we will use a diagonal cutter, typically used for electronics work.

How to cut Zip Ties

The cutter we use is the Hakko CHP-170 Micro Soft Wire Cutter. These can be purchased from Amazon and other online shops as well as local stores. Other cutters can be used, but you should look for fine point flush cutters that are meant to cut small things.

How to cut Zip Ties

Once you put a zip tie on something you’ll have an end sticking out which needs to be trimmed shorter. Depending on the application you may be able to leave the longer end on, but for some specific purposes cutting them off makes sense. (One example where leaving them longer could cause issues if there were chance of eye injury caused by the end of a zip tie.)

In the photo above we see the start of the incorrect method of cutting off a zip tie end. Using this method will result in a sharp edge.

How to cut Zip Ties

Here’s a zip tie cut incorrectly which now has a sharp edge. The short piece of plastic is much more rigid than the longer piece which has some flex to it. We’ve effectively made a small blade.

How to cut Zip Ties

This one is even worse! We’ve now got a sharpened edge with a point. The edge of this zip tie can cut through fabric and even skin. We usually want to avoid damage and injuries. (Of course if you want to use zip ties as weapons, you can stop reading now.)

How to cut Zip Ties

Here is the correct way to trim the excess from a zip tie. Hold the cutter as close as you can to the head of the zip tie, and cut off the end. (Obviously you should start with this cut and skip the steps where I cut the zip tie end into a blade… I forgot to get a photo of cutting a long one for this step!)

How to cut Zip Ties

Get your cutter nice and flush against the head of the zip tie. Make sure there’s no excess sticking out before you cut it.

How to cut Zip Ties

Here is the result of properly trimming a zip tie. There is no excess to cause injury or damage. Consider this safe(r).

You should be able to run your finger over the head of the zip tie where you cut off the excess and it should be smooth. You should not feel any sharp edge. If you do feel a sharp edge, try the trim again, and if that doesn’t work, replace the zip tie with a new one and trim it properly.

How to cut Zip Ties

I hope you found this short guide to properly cutting zip ties useful. Let’s all be careful out there!