MOTM

I've tried the soldering iron approach with almost no
success.

If your not squeamish, you can use a gas stove. Just
fire up a burner, and wave the part to be shrunken quickly
over the flames, until it shrinks. Note, don't put the
part IN the flames, but 4-10 inches above them. This
works, but you do have to be very careful not to heat up
other parts of the board. If you have some extra heat
shrink tubing left over, you can try the technique out
with it.

hdan

-----Original Message-----
From: andy@... [mailto:andy@...]
Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2000 4:48 PM
To: motm@egroups.com
Subject: [motm] Assembly question

Some of my modules have arrived and I am starting assembly. Starting
with the Power supply module first, there comes a step where it calls
for heat shrink wrap tubing. In the Power Supply instructions, Paul
suggests using an Alpha Fitgun3. I cannot find much on the web
about that product, but I do find lots of info on other brands of
heat guns.

Do I need a heat gun to shrink the tubing? Can I use something else,
like passing the soldering iron nearby? Is there a cheap way of
doing the heat shrinking? Is there a lot of heat shrinking done in
the other kits that would justify buying a quality heat gun?

Thanks for any help.
Andy Miller

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I asked those exact same questions when I started. :)

You don't *need* a heat-shrink gun. You can use the radiated heat from your
soldering iron. That's what I did. Did it turn out well...? It worked,
but a heat sink gun will do a better job, I believe. I feel like the wraps
I did are somewhat loose-- they wouldn't fall off on their own accord, but
if you tug them they'll slip without much effort. And with a heat gun, you
don't have to sit there for 20 to 30 minutes, attempting to get the durn gun
close enough to work, without touching, while keeping very steady. Don't
drink any abnormal amounts of coffee beforehand. ;)

Now the funny thing is that the last several kits I've done don't have any
heat shrink tube. The power supply did, and I think 2 more modules
thereafter, but not since, which seems odd because (power supply aside) the
wiring isn't radically different. I think if I were feeling fetishistic
about my assembly jobs I'd go out and get myself a gun and my own tubes, and
stick some on everywhere... But that hasn't seemed necessary.

If you have the cash to blow, or find a cheap but nice gun, I'd say go for
it. You won't have to inhale molten shrink tube. ;)

Good luck!

--PBr

> -----Original Message-----
> From: andy@... [SMTP:andy@...]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2000 2:48 PM
> To: motm@egroups.com
> Subject: [motm] Assembly question
>
> Some of my modules have arrived and I am starting assembly. Starting
> with the Power supply module first, there comes a step where it calls
> for heat shrink wrap tubing. In the Power Supply instructions, Paul
> suggests using an Alpha Fitgun3. I cannot find much on the web
> about that product, but I do find lots of info on other brands of
> heat guns.
>
> Do I need a heat gun to shrink the tubing? Can I use something else,
> like passing the soldering iron nearby? Is there a cheap way of
> doing the heat shrinking? Is there a lot of heat shrinking done in
> the other kits that would justify buying a quality heat gun?
>

I've gotten away without a clamp for my assemblies so far. I just lie the
pcb board flat on the plastic slip it came in on my table. What advantages
does the clamp afford?

Pliers? I use a small set of nutdrivers... I'd be far too afraid of
slipping and stripping the hell out of the nuts with pliers. :)

I just got a lead bending guide this weekend. Certainly not required, but I
think it will move things along quicker. And they're cheap, so if you run
across one, spring for it.

--PBr

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doug Pearson [SMTP:ceres@...]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2000 2:56 PM
> To: motm@egroups.com
> Subject: Re: [motm] Assembly question
>
> Not enough for me. In a private exchange with Andy, I mentioned that I
> consider certain of the recommended tools for MOTM assembly to be
> absolutely essential (good soldering iron, good cutters & pliers,
> workstation with vise clamp) and some to be helpful to use, but optional
> (lead bender, for instance), at least for me. I'd definitely put a heat
> gun in the latter category - certainly useful, but not necessarily
> essential. Of course, YMMV and all that ...
>

At 03:16 PM 07/05/2000 -0700, "Brousseau, Paul E (Paul)"
<noise@...> wrote:

>I've gotten away without a clamp for my assemblies so far. I just lie the
>pcb board flat on the plastic slip it came in on my table. What advantages
>does the clamp afford?

Allowing a klutz such as myself to successfully build MOTM kits! *I*
consider that to be an advantage, although some people who have heard me
make sounds with successfully-assembled MOTM modules may disagree. ;^) So
if you're more coordinated than me, it may offer you little advantage. But
for me - Essential!

I have no problem soldering resistors to the board lying flat on a
tabletop, but once all the components of different heights start getting
added (electrolytic caps, xistors, pots etc.), it gets a lot more difficult
for me. And once you get to attaching the wires, I *really* like being
able to access both sides of the board with a minimum of movement.

>Pliers? I use a small set of nutdrivers... I'd be far too afraid of
>slipping and stripping the hell out of the nuts with pliers. :)

I should have included the (hollow-shaft, so you can use them to put nuts
on pots & switches) nutdrivers in my (incomplete, I'm sure) parenthetical
list of "essential" tools. The pliers (needle-nose jewlers variety) are
for things like putting the little "hooks" in panel-mounted pot leads and
the wires that attach to them (that get the heatshrink tubing slid over
them after being soldered). Or holding things like the power connectors
(that don't have "splay-able" leads) in place while they're being soldered.
Definitely NOT for front panel assembly!!

>I just got a lead bending guide this weekend. Certainly not required, but I
>think it will move things along quicker.

That they certainly do!

>And they're cheap, so if you run across one, spring for it.

A lot cheaper than a heat gun!

-Doug
ceres@...

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Doug Pearson [SMTP:ceres@...]
>> Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2000 2:56 PM
>> To: motm@egroups.com
>> Subject: Re: [motm] Assembly question
>>
>> Not enough for me. In a private exchange with Andy, I mentioned that I
>> consider certain of the recommended tools for MOTM assembly to be
>> absolutely essential (good soldering iron, good cutters & pliers,
>> workstation with vise clamp) and some to be helpful to use, but optional
>> (lead bender, for instance), at least for me. I'd definitely put a heat
>> gun in the latter category - certainly useful, but not necessarily
>> essential. Of course, YMMV and all that ...

In a message dated 7/5/2000 2:49:02 PM, andy@... writes:

>Do I need a heat gun to shrink the tubing?
>Can I use something else,
>like passing the soldering iron nearby?

I've done this, but you seem to need a lot of heat, and I always end up touch
the heat shrink tubing with it. You may want to try the lighter idea too,
though I'd do it outside due to the bad smoke stuff.

>Is there a lot of heat shrinking done in
>the other kits that would justify buying a quality heat gun?

That's the real question. Of all the kits that used heat shrink tubing, the
900 is the one that LEAST NEEDS A HEAT SHRINK GUN, IMHO. That's because your
not heating anything too close to a sensitive electronic component (like a
pot). The first kits that Paul shipped only had the one kind of pot (PCB
mounted) which were a bit of a challenge to get the wires connected properly.
He may now be using only solder lug pots for the non-PCB mounted pots. Look
at some of your other kits to see if you need to attach wires to a pot and
see how the instructions say to do it. If they say use heat shrink tubing
then buy a gun -- it will be worth it. The MOTM 110 would be a good kit to
look at if you've got one. And before you go out and buy a HS gun, look in
any thrift shop that has a fair selection of tools (I walked by a yard sale
yesterday and I think the guy had two or three he was selling, they are
fairly common).

JB

I myself don't have a heat gun, but while I'm working on the shrink tubing,
I sure kick myself for not having one. Where space allows, I use a careful
wave of a Zippo lighter (they smell, but they produce a cooler flame than
disposable butane lighters), and where space is tight, I do use the
soldering iron technique, which is slow, and I usually end up twisting and
turning the module in mid-air to get the heat to rise properly. Your iron's
temperature and design has a lot to do with how successful this will be.

(I'm a little surprised at those who answered that most MOTM kits don't use
heat shrink tubing, because a quick glance behind my panels reaffirmed my
memory of the *vast majority* of my MOTM modules having tubing on the
off-PCB pots. [?])



-----Original Message-----

Do I need a heat gun to shrink the tubing

Hi all,

I use a Bosch Hot Air Gun. But Black and Decker do one as well. All the
big DIY stores do them here. OK, its not specifically for heat shrink,
but you can get a little nozzle for it. And it strips paint work too :-)

As for jury service; if you don't want to get picked, dress smartly, but
not your best suit, be clean shaven... and look intelligent (!) I got
that tip from a defence barrister I know. Never had the chance to find
out if it works though.

Regards,

Tony Allgood Penrith, Cumbria, UK

Modular synth circuits, TB303 clone and Filter Rack

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

Re: Heat guns

Just got back from vacation. Looks like I missed a lot.

I have two observations on the subject. A guy at work who shrinks a lot of
tubing on wire has one of those small Bic powered torches. It works quite
well, but is not used around electronic components. They are about $20.

I broke down and bought a heat shrink gun. WOW. I should not have waited.
This is a very useful too for much more than MOTM stuff. Heat shrinking is
now simple on low heat. High heat will peel paint or ?? I used it to take
the permanent curve out of lawn edging from being rolled up in the box. If
you like tools, just buy one, you will thank yourself every time you use it
on MOTM and will find 100 other uses for it.

Larry H