EDM Soldering Question

[Max-Paul]

Boy aint that the truth about eyes getting old. I now use one of them visors that have the maginfying lens built into it. And right about needing more light to see clearly. But with the use of the visor, depth perseption has gone down the tubes. Thank God I dont have any kind of shakes, LOL.

Ya, this is one of the best looking kits I have seen in a long time. I never got into the heath kits. But from what I have seen of ones that I aquired years later, along with the manuals. Would you say that LOR kits are on par with Heath kits?

This kit was so well laid out. It was even a pleasure how they thought out the sequence of what part should go in first and which should go in last. It made it much easier. Could you imagine if one was to put in the two large electrolitic caps first then tried to get in some of the other parts. Like the quick connect males stayed tight to the board once it was turned over, for the fact that they were the tallest on the board at the time.

I think i will fire up the 100 watt gun next board to do those parts that sit on the large power traces. My little 60 pen iron just barely was able to get the solder to flow at times.

Max

BTW 81 - 86 active 86 - 89 FANG MoANG to be persice

[beeiilll]

Well since it has been 40+ years since I did the Heathkits I can't really compare these very well. :shock:

But yes I would say that overall these kits rate as some of the very best that I have ever seen for completeness, clairity of the instructions, and ease of assembly.

I used to write "tech" manuals for the automated test equipment that I worked on as well as assembly manuals for some of the fixtures that we produced, so at least I can relate to "trying to get the point across". LOR certainly has done their homework on making sure that everything is clear and informative for anyone to be able to do these.

I do have a 100 watt gun that I can use if need be, but my Weller station goes pretty hot and I haven't had any trouble with terminals taking on any of the boards that I have done so far.

I did 70 to 78 active. Boy will this date me. :cool:

Bill

[sjmiller]

I did Active Duty 1976 - 1980 - Lowery AFB, CO for tech school, stationed at Sumpter AFB, SC for the duration - last six months TDY to Homestead AFB, FL.

In retrospect, enlisting in the USAF was the single smartest thing I did in my younger years. It set the stage for the rest of my life, maturity, technical training, discipline, team work, responsibility - more importantly the gratification that I served my country.

Jeff - Got to "fly" the F-4 sim at Sumpter AFB a dozen times or so (inst. only) - what a rush!

Back to the subject at hand - I am enjoying the build, 1/2 way there. I can't wait to finish the first kit and power it up!

Steve

[Max-Paul]

Well lets see,

After basic Jan - Mar 81, went to Bolixi for 6 mo of electronics / Radio school. 3rd day get a letter from the deputy base commander of Insirlik Turkey welcoming me. Spent 6 months saying "To phase or not to phase, this is the question".

Went to Turkey with my wife and daughter Oct 81- Sept 83.

Then off to Kelly AFB Oct 82 - Jan 86. Gee this place looks familiar! next door to Lackland if you remember.

Palace Chased and gave the manitory 2 yrs and one more to the ANG at Jefferson Baracks in an electronics installation sq.

Agree, gave me some good electronics training that up to that time did not have. It also gave me a leg up on some others looking for a job when I got out. Seems that the two who interviewed me at my first job were previous military. One just happened to have spent time at Incirlik also. Was fun to talk about the base during the interview.

Max

[Denny]

May, 1967 -- Amarillo AFB, TX - Basic Training

Jul-Dec, 1967 -- Lowry AFB, CO - 461X0 Tech School (Munitions)

Dec, 67-69 -- Cigli AB, Turkey

1969 - 1970 -- Udorn AB, Thailand

1970 - 1971 -- Duluth IAP, MN

1971 - 1972 -- Break in service to get married

Dec 72 - Nov 73 -- MacDill AFB, FL

Nov 73 - Nov 74 -- Udorn AB, Thailand

Nov 74 - Nov 76 -- Eglin AFB, FL

Nov 76 - Nov 78 -- Clark AB, PI

Nov 78 - Nov 82 -- Luke AFB, AZ

Nov 82 - Nov 84 -- Homestead AB, FL

Nov 84 - Mar 86 -- Torrejon AB, Spain

[Max-Paul]

Denny,

On the surface it does not appear that you retired with 20 yrs. So, whats the scoop? Did you get retirement status with some kind of special deal?

Dang you moved around some.



Max

[Denny]

Max,

No, I didn't retire. Had 17 1/2 years of service and on my last enlistment. Then, the way my luck runs, they put me on the TDRL (Temporary Disability Retirement List) for about two years with 30% disability. At the end of two years, they did a re-eval and said I was less than 10% disabled. That really messed me up. Less than 10% disability meant "not fit for worldwide duty" and not eligible to go back on active duty. It also meant, No retirement benefits. So, after 17 1/2 years, I received a medical discharge. On the plus side, I got a temporary job with the federal govt., HUD mail room. I worked my way up to a GS-14, bought my military time and added it to the civil service years. Retired at 55 from HUD.

It was rough when I first was discharged from the AF; it came unexpectedly and I had four young children at the time. I had spent my entire AF Career in munitions, so I didn't have too much training to market myself in the civilian secter. I took the HUD mailroom job as a temporary GS-4 just to get some income. I got a training position about a year later and started climbing the ladder.

I see a lot on the forums about people loosing their jobs today, I know first-hand what they are going through. It's darn rough and at times, seems hopeless. But, if you take advantage of whatever comes along, you never know where you will go. I never had any interest in real estate, but it was a job at the time. Even if you aren't interested in it, learn everything you can, show interest on the job, ask questions, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE. You never know what will happen.

Thinking back on it, my AF Career entailed destroying real estate (bombs); my HUD career had me rebuilding!!!:cool:

[pdowns]

I too have done a lot of electronic assembly through the years. Ham radio, EE, etc. Not all soldering is difficult. All soldering is FUN and I love the smell of burning flux, geek incense for sure.

I wanted to post that last year I built a Ramsey FM30B transmitter kit. I would advise that is not a kit for the new kit builder. It has many small parts, my older eyes don't read resistor color codes as accurately, desoldering is its' own special skill, and they left out an important instruction. But it worked great last year.

This year I'm buying a new EDM-LCD-RDS-EP FM transmitter. I think the RDS feature will be very cool.