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Should we have a Tool Tips Thread?

This thread is costly. I've bought those screw gripping screwdrivers for a laugh and they seem useful but that 'Engineer' solder sucker arrived yesterday and I can't keep my hands off it! It's just a beautiful piece of kit that is sooo nice to use and looks bling.
Daughter even has tried it on blackheads :eek::D

They also make some nice looking screw removing pliers that look pretty useful too and some gas soldering irons.
 
Great tip Andy. You have just cost me £18:

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=252020536679

I have used hard tip solder suckers for years and find that they need "burning in" to get a better seal. This means that the plastic tip eventually develops a soldering iron bit shaped gap and this helps with the seal during the time when the tip is in situ. Anyway hopefully this will be all history if the flexy tip sucker does its job!

Just cost myself £18 too - that Engineer solder sucker is a thing of beauty, it just exudes quality. Haven't tried it yet, but as an executive toy it's delightfully tactile :)

Even better is the fact that the nozzle is just standard silicone tube, they give you a spare length to cut your own tips to size (or even angle I guess) but you could easily find replacements in the future. Based on my experience the silicone is likely to last years and years.
 
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Ah sorry, I should have posted my updated findings earlier...
I had a much more challenging bit of desoldering to do; a tight fitting 4 way connector in PTH board with lead-free solder. I had to revert to my "burned-in" standard solder sucker. The problem with the sillycone tip was that it was just too wobbly and I could not achieve a good seal to evaucate the solder, the tip just squished :(.

Maybe a bit more practice or a different technique is needed?
 
I used the solde sucker for the first time today and I'm very pleased with it. Clearing all the solder from a PTH hole is always a challenge with an unheated desolder tool, and depends so much on the hole size relative to the component leg and how cleanly it passes through the hole, but I found the tip sealed well. If anything it would be nice to have a longer barrelled version, it's really dinky in the hand but that makes it easy to use and it feels very solid.

Compared the the RS one I have, it unclogs itself remarkably well, which is definitely a positive and overall I'm really glad I bought it.

Ultimately if you want to cleanly desolder PTH holes you either need expensive heated tools or you sacrifice the components to save the PCB (e.g. cut legs and remove individually and remove).
 
Any recommendations for top quality but reasonably priced Torx bit sets? Obviously in small sizes for hi fi gear rather than ones that may be used in car engines etc! Too many of the ones I have from Lidl's etc have stripped their splines when I've come up against a really tight bolt.... haven't run out of serviceable ones yet but better quality really needed and soon as known top quality brands from likes of RS the price jumps up to like £40+ for a set of ten! If that's the going rate than that's that but are there really good ones around for say £15 - 20 or is it crap from Lidl's at £3.99 for ten OR £40 for genuinely good quality?
 
Any recommendations for top quality but reasonably priced Torx bit sets? Obviously in small sizes for hi fi gear rather than ones that may be used in car engines etc! Too many of the ones I have from Lidl's etc have stripped their splines when I've come up against a really tight bolt.... haven't run out of serviceable ones yet but better quality really needed and soon as known top quality brands from likes of RS the price jumps up to like £40+ for a set of ten! If that's the going rate than that's that but are there really good ones around for say £15 - 20 or is it crap from Lidl's at £3.99 for ten OR £40 for genuinely good quality?

I use Wera at work for a lot of stuff, they make decent Torx sets, not silly money either, RS stock their stuff if that helps
 
I'm also a fan of Wera. Have one of their ratchet screwdrivers with a bit holder in the handle. Very nice quality and sensible prices.

I often find the bit sets too restrictive, you often need to get in a hole that's too small for a magnetic bit holder, so longer bits or just going for individual screwdrivers are frequently more useful for audio / consumer goods.

These look cool, might be ball-ended: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E8HM9N2/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

or these: https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/wera-967-sl9-torx-hf-multicolour-l-key-set/
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
One of my favourite tools is an Abeco solder sucker (https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/desoldering-reworking-tools/2037789/).

Most hand held solder suckers have hard tips that don't seal to the PCB and get deformed / damaged over time. They frequently damage delicate PCB tracks with the kick and combination of hard tips if the user isn't careful.

The ones with flexible silicone tips are the most effective hand solder suckers I've use, the silicone tips seem to last forever (I've never changed one yet) and seal well to the joint, making them very effective.

They have some annoyances, the supplied tip unblocker has a habit of falling out it's holder, they're a bit 'plasticky' and they block regularly (but equally are easy to unclog), but the huge reduction in risk to PCB tracks and effective hole clearing power make their annoyances acceptable.

I've just noticed RS are doing some own-brand flexible tip suckers that are cheaper, might be worth checking out: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/desoldering-reworking-tools/3437253/

Andy.
Andy,

You recommended this years ago, and I've been using it every since (about the time you posted a cct for a TT strobe, still have that too!). Great solder sucker...
 
Oh dear, another not-strictly-necessary purchase.
I do seem to have a weakness for cute tools:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BT0G5UY/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

I agree that this little ratchet is great, BUT this is the one Wera kit that has proved to be soooo useful.

The addition of the sockets is huge - I use this round the house so often, and rarely get out the larger socket set anymore, as for pretty much all household jobs you don’t require bigger.

Wera Tool-Check Plus Mini Bit Ratchet, Socket, Screwdriver & Bit Set, 39pc, 05056490001 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I8MYMT2/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21
 
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Bought one of these from Lidl eons ago and still going strong.

s-l400.jpg


Only 4 torx bits but seem to be the right ones!
 
My son bought this for me a present some years back and it's been so useful, versatile but with a small diameter, making it usable for small electronics, phones etc. The bits are all in good condition despite lots of use. I think it came from Amazon, but doesn't appear to be available currently.


51zfP8LT1FL._AC_.jpg
 
My son bought this for me a present some years back and it's been so useful, versatile but with a small diameter, making it usable for small electronics, phones etc. The bits are all in good condition despite lots of use. I think it came from Amazon, but doesn't appear to be available currently.


51zfP8LT1FL._AC_.jpg
I have a very similar-looking kit. It has the bizarre Apple bits, and also the not-quite-Philips ones sometimes needed for tiny screws inside phones and such. It's nice to have, even though it doesn't see much use here.
 
FWIW I went for Torx bit set from RS under their "RS Pro" brand and only about £3.85... It's just 6 bits, presented in the same plastic holder you get with ones from Lidl etc but usually more like 99p from Lidl's.
First thoughts were that it's a 99p Lidl style set from same source but at inflated price... but RS say all their RS Pro branded stuff is good quality and will take the sort of regular use a pro would give them. They also say they are induction hardened and chrome vanadium etc and tough enough for use in an impact driver. Time will tell!
 


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