[Coco] Now running with 2M boomerang Memory.

[Kevin Becker]

I just use  non-vairable temp Weller soldering iron with a fairly fine
tip, solder wick, and a flux pen.  I dunno if I'm somehow particularly
adept at soldering or have just been lucky so far but I've done a fair
amount of recapping and replacing components on old systems, including
a 6809 > 6309 upgrade, and have never had an issue so far.  Applying
flux to the solder wick and to the component I am removing beforehand
seems to help a lot.  I'd love a nice solder sucker but the cheap ones
all seem to be junk from what I've read.

In my youth I learned to solder during an internship at an small
engineering firm and one of my tasks was to tear apart a bunch of
control modules that had been filled with resin to make a small change
to the circuit board.  So I had to dremel open the case, rip off the
resin from both sides of the PCB, repair whatever damage I did ripping
off the resin, and then make the modification and reassemble the
module. I also did a few weeks on the assembly line just soldering new
PCBs all day.  So that was some good, in the trenches, solder training
but to be honest after that, I  more or less never soldered anything
for 20+ years other than the odd job here and there so I don't feel
like I'm particularly skilled at soldering. Vision is becoming an issue
with me too these days.  I have variable lenses too and I just remove
them completely for some tasks but I'm probably gonna need to get one
of those magnifying glasses on an adjustable base very soon.


On Sat, 2020-06-06 at 18:36 -0500, John E. Malmberg wrote:
> Just got done installing a 2M boomerang memory kit on a COCO-3.
> 
> The patient seems to have survived, but I have not really tried to 
> stress it.  Just have had time to power it up and Super Extended Color 
> Disk Basic + SDC all appear to work.
> 
> If I were to do it over again, I would probably send the system in for 
> the install.
> 
> Lessons learned:
> 
> * I need a better soldering iron.  The 30+ year old 15W one from Radio 
> Shack is on it's last tip that I have for it.  It is barely good enough 
> to do this type of work.
> 
> Need to figure out what to get and where to get it, and how much it is 
> going to cost.
> 
> So looking for recommendations.  This is for hobby use.
> 
> * My two solder sucking systems did not have enough suction to save 
> destroying the 68b09E chip.  One is just a suction bulb on on a hollow 
> tip version of the 15 watt version, that probably came from Radio Shack 
> way back when.  The other is the spring loaded suction from Radio Shack.
> 
> Still have the chip if I can manage to solder pins back on it.  :-)
> 
> I seem to remember that the spring loaded one used to have enough 
> suction to clear the pins of things I was desoldering.
> 
> I was only able to clear the solder on about 50% of the pins with the 
> two soldering suckers.
> 
> Not sure where I got the one with the suction bulb.  I do not remember 
> buying it, and this may have been the first time I used it.
> 
> Not sure if I could afford anything better, but it would be interesting 
> to know the options.
> 
> * Third problem is the the variable transition bi-focals.  It is hard to 
> find a position that I can really see what I am doing.  I may need to 
> get a pair of glasses just for doing this type of work, or some type of 
> magnifying glass.
> 
> Regards,
> -John
> 
> 
>