PCB pencils

[Tony Allgood]

>....and they had these pen things with a bobbin of copper wire on top.
Designed for PCB repairs etc.

Used to be called Road-Runner pens in the UK. I have one, but I don't
use it that often. I built my old polyphonic keyboard decoder out of
this stuff. Once I knew it worked, I sprayed it with PCB acrylic coating
to hold all the wires in place. The wires themsleves ran along little
gutters with castellated edges. They are ideal for doing digital boards,
less so with analogue because of crosstalk. But, as you say the smell is
bad when you melt through the insulation... open your windows time. Try
to get one with a metal tip, some of the cheaper ones have plastic grips
and melt too easily if you are not looking where you put your iron.

Regards,

Tony Allgood  Penrith, Cumbria, UK

Modular synth designs, TB303 clone and filter rack

http://www.techrepairs.freeserve.co.uk/projects.htm