Chris Pirillo » solder http://chris.pirillo.com News and Reviews! Geek, Internet Entrepreneur, Hardware Addict, Software Junkie, Book Author, Once TV Show Host, Technology Enthusiast, Shameless Self-Promoter, Tech Conference Coordinator, Early Adopter, Idea Evangelist, Tech Support Blogger, Bootstrapper, Media Personality, Technology Consultant, Thicker Quicker Picker Upper. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:06:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 © chris@pirillo.com () chris@pirillo.com() Geek, Internet Entrepreneur, Hardware Addict, Software Junkie, Book Author, Once TV Show Host, Technology Enthusiast, Shameless Self-Promoter, Tech Conference Coordinator, Early Adopter, Idea Evangelist, Tech Support Blogger, Bootstrapper, Media Personality, Technology Consultant, Thicker Quicker Picker Upper. chris@pirillo.com No no http://chris.pirillo.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg Chris Pirillo http://chris.pirillo.com 144 144 Solder Soldier http://chris.pirillo.com/solder-soldier/ http://chris.pirillo.com/solder-soldier/#comments Sun, 23 Sep 2007 16:55:42 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/09/23/solder-soldier/ Solder Soldier is a post from Chris Pirillo

So, another one of my TIX clocks failed a few weeks back. The routine involved packaging the faulty product and shipping it back to Cube Root for repair. However, this time the return was refused – without any apparent reason.

At one time, I was interacting with the TIX inventor via email. He noted that some of my TIX clocks had been plagued with a batch of bad capacitors. Yikes! Well, instead of trashing this colorful (yet broken) creation, I decided to do something about it myself.

I’ve certainly worked with an soldering iron before, but never to replace electronic components on an otherwise-functional circuit board. I was a little nervous (and excited) when I walked into Radio Shack to locate a 1000W / 25v piece for my mission.

I turned the live stream to my “work bench” and friends watched me fumble with the array of tools and trinkets. This was the first time I tried Cold Heat for soldering – and it was inelegant, not recommended. The process was far from smooth, but largely due to my general inexperience with electronic hardware (and I should’ve used wick, too).

Still, my repair was successful! It’s not pretty, but it works. I may have to do ‘er over again, should my patchwork not hold for an extended period of time. For now, that TIX will remain a backup unit should another one burn out.

]]> Solder Soldier is a post from Chris Pirillo

So, another one of my TIX clocks failed a few weeks back. The routine involved packaging the faulty product and shipping it back to Cube Root for repair. However, this time the return was refused – without any apparent reason.

At one time, I was interacting with the TIX inventor via email. He noted that some of my TIX clocks had been plagued with a batch of bad capacitors. Yikes! Well, instead of trashing this colorful (yet broken) creation, I decided to do something about it myself.

I’ve certainly worked with an soldering iron before, but never to replace electronic components on an otherwise-functional circuit board. I was a little nervous (and excited) when I walked into Radio Shack to locate a 1000W / 25v piece for my mission.

I turned the live stream to my “work bench” and friends watched me fumble with the array of tools and trinkets. This was the first time I tried Cold Heat for soldering – and it was inelegant, not recommended. The process was far from smooth, but largely due to my general inexperience with electronic hardware (and I should’ve used wick, too).

Still, my repair was successful! It’s not pretty, but it works. I may have to do ‘er over again, should my patchwork not hold for an extended period of time. For now, that TIX will remain a backup unit should another one burn out.

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