Toolbox Thursday #10 Draper soldering Iron 61478

Good afternoon folks and welcome to another Toolbox Thursday this weeks tool is Draper soldering Iron 61478

How my toolbox Thursday reviews work the first thing I will talk about is what its like to setup  then I will move on what its like to use and to where you can get one from (there may be an affiliate link if you would like to help me out ) and if its good value for money and the last thing in the review will be my overall rating of the item it will be a 5 star system with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest .

Setup 

The soldering iron is easy to set up out of the box after a quick tinning of the tip its ready to go .

Use 

this is a very versatile iron thanks to its adjustable temp control I have used this on tiny smd components to heavy gauge wire and components I can happily say this my main iron I have used it nearly everyday since I got it. I have found it feels very nice to hold and use for long periods of time . 

Where can you get one 

there are number of places where you can pick one of these up such as ebay and amazon . 

Rating 

this is a fantastic iron to use and I couldn't give it any less than a full 5 stars 

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Thanks for taking the time to read this if you liked what you've read then please check back tomorrow after 17.00BST for another update thanks again. Dobby 

Project day #9 Display stand

Good afternoon folks and welcome to another Project day this weeks project is a simple display stand 

Why I made this project 

I made this stand so I have a way to show off a few different models and other things that I have .

Parts Needed

• 1 white led 
• a 22ohms resistor 
• a cr3032 battery holder 
• 2 pcb stand offs 
• a small piece of wood 
• a small piece of strip board 

Step one 

Use a hole saw to drill out circle of  wood then drill 2 small holes  in the wood and attach the  stand off to the wood .

Step two

The next step is to give the wood a piece a coat of primer then paint I used white paint for this but you can use any colour you like 

Step three

Now its time to get soldering  take the led and place in the middle of or strip board and the place the resistor into the same row as the anode of the led (on most leds the anode is the longer of the two leads )

Step four

now flip the board over and solder the leads into place 

Step five

the next step is to make a solder bridge between the anode of the led and the resistor then make a solder track for the cathode of the led 

Step six

The sixth step is to cut and strip the wires coming from the battery holder  and then tin the ends 

Step seven

Next step is to solder the positive( red ) wire of the battery holder to the resistor and the negative (black) wire to the cathode solder track 

Step eight

the final step is to hot glue the strip board circuit and the battery holder to the circle of wood we painted 

Now that your done it should look something like this 

 And here it is in action 

How I could make this better  

there are a few improvements id like to make to this project the first being the power supply i would like to add a mains power supply instead of the battery I'd also like to make a bigger base with dimmer control and a dark sensor so that it can turn its self on and off .

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Thanks for taking the time to read this if you liked what you've read then please check back tomorrow after 17.00bst for another update thanks again. Dobby 

Project Day #5 Solder fume extractor

Good afternoon folks and welcome to another Project day this weeks project is the solder fume extractor 

Why I made this project 

I made this to help deal with the fume that come from solder which I find can make my eyes sore after a long build. the main part to this was two pc fans that I got from a old computer. so it was a pretty cheap build using things I had to hand the only item that I needed to order was the active carbon filter which I got from ebay but you can pick them up from garden centres and diy stores. by fitting the half a hose pipe joiner to the I can also vent the filtered fumes outside and well away from the work area thus making my soldering cleaner and more enjoyable .

Parts Needed 

2 12v pc fans
1 active carbon filter
1 red led
1 100k resistor
1 2.1mm female power jack
1 12v power supply
6 pieces of wood cut to fit around the fans
1 hose pipe joiner
1 switch

 


 Step one

the first this to do is to glue the pieces of wood together leaving the biggest parts for  the front and back unglued

Step two

on to the next step now which is to cut the hose pipe joiner in half as you can see in the picture   I used my dremel for this you want to cut so that there is a lip left on it .

Step three

the next step is the drill a hole big enough to fit the front end of the hose pipe joiner through and then glue it into place 

Step four

the forth step is the drill the mounting for the fans into both the front and back pieces to make sure these where in line on both pieces I marked the front and drilled through both pieces at once then I drilled holes in the front  for the led and switch as well as a big hole for the fans to suck the fumes in and one more in the back for the power jack.

Step five

the next step is to add 4 bolts through the holes join both fans together  and cut the filter to size to fit between the fans .

Step six

now on to the wiring I started by soldering a wire to the positive and negative pins of the power jack using a red wire for positive and a black wire for negative .

Step seven

then I soldered positive wire to the first pin on the switch and then I soldered positive wires from the fans and the 100k resistor to the second pin on the switch the I attached the resistor to the anode of the led 

Step eight

next join all three of the negative wires together and solder them to the cathode of the led 

that finishes of the wiring for this project

Step Nine

the next step is to bolt the fan to the back panel and place through the square that was made in step one .

Step Ten

the last step is to put the switch and led into place and bolt the front on I found one of the grills from the pc case and used that on the front to make it look a bit nicer 

How I could make this better  

there are not to many improvements I would make to this but if I had the chance I would use bigger fans and make the case bigger .

Thanks for taking the time to read this if you liked what you've read then please check back tomorrow after 17.00gmt for another update thanks again. Dobby