Thank you!

Love it. I’ll get a set just because, already got my need taken care of with wright’s adapter but I’ll still get a set just for having the off-time cap pad on the bench for FW testing.

I think I’ll try to add a dip switch to the cap so I don’t have to desolder to flash.

Ordered 3... Being untested, sure hope they do work, but seem low risk. Thanks!!

I just placed an order for this, and a couple other BLF creations.  My first Oshpark order!  I really should have ordered them earlier since my hot air rework station arrived today, and I don't have many things to use it with aside from reflowing some LED's.

Allright! Thats it, now you’ve gone and done it WarHawk. Now I’m gonna have to buy a hot air rework station and start putting these drivers together myself. Thanks alot.

Digging my heels, kicking and screaming“no, no, no!” I can be a bit obstinate at times. I have no intention of trying to put together even a small percentage of the project boards. I just wanted them all in one place and I’m vain enough to have wanted a sticky of my very own even if I did little to earn it.

By the way, is it ready to post as a beta, or what?

Hi-Beam wrote:

Allright! Thats it, now you’ve gone and done it WarHawk. Now I’m gonna have to buy a hot air rework station and start putting these drivers together myself. Thanks alot.

Cereal_killer wrote:

I’ve been making due with an iron but he made me finally buy my own the other day too. I think he’s workin for ‘em.

What model of rework station did you get?

The Yihua 858D, $54 from amazon. I actually reflow the resistor / diode side on my glass cook-top then just have to iron the MCU & FET on the top.

I hot air both sides with this: ebay/stampabilities-heat-embossing-gun, about $20 - $22 from several places. Got my first BLF22DD's coming - just shipped from OSHPark today.

Thanks for the ideas, Tom E’s suggestion seems like the cheapest way, I wouldn’t have found that on my own. But I’m looking for an excuse to upgrade my soldering iron also, for a few dollars more than the Yihua 858D I’ve found a couple 2 in 1 units that seem to fit the bill.

Cereal_killer Is there any particular reason why I should go with the Yihua 858D such as build quality, etc? I’m asking because I’m sure you have researched it or got a recommendation from someone before making your choice.
$65.99 http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-IN-1-SMART-HOT-AIR-REWORK-SOLDERING-IRON-STATION-898D-/220799518801?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3368ad4851

$59.96 http://www.ebay.com/itm/2in1-SMD-Soldering-Rework-Station-Hot-Air-Iron-852D-5Tips-ESD-PLCC-BGA-/151333636298?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item233c3008ca

Hi-Beam wrote:

Thanks for the ideas, Tom E’s suggestion seems like the cheapest way, I wouldn’t have found that on my own. But I’m looking for an excuse to upgrade my soldering iron also, for a few dollars more than the Yihua 858D I’ve found a couple 2 in 1 units that seem to fit the bill.

Cereal_killer Is there any particular reason why I should go with the Yihua 858D such as build quality, etc? I’m asking because I’m sure you have researched it or got a recommendation from someone before making your choice.
$65.99 http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-IN-1-SMART-HOT-AIR-REWORK-SOLDERING-IRON-STATION-898D-/220799518801?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3368ad4851
$59.96 http://www.ebay.com/itm/2in1-SMD-Soldering-Rework-Station-Hot-Air-Iron-852D-5Tips-ESD-PLCC-BGA-/151333636298?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item233c3008ca

I had bad luck with a bottom dollar hot-air / iron combo unit like that. It was an 852D+ clone marked as 952D or something. After <6mon the iron stopped heating consistently. I switched to the Hakko FX-888 for my iron and haven’t looked back.

IIRC I later learned that Aoyue was a decent brand among the cheap ones. I have no personal experience and I’m a little foggy on that, so I could be wrong.

I’m using a Yihua 937D iron with several different tips that works well now but read E5 on the display intermittently and wasn’t heating well. It turns out there was a cold joint in the wand and once fixed(the last time I used my old 20w pencil) I haven’t looked back. Not sure if I’ll go with air or oven first if I go reflow at all.

Tom E wrote:

I hot air both sides with this: ebay/stampabilities-heat-embossing-gun, about $20 - $22 from several places. Got my first BLF22DD's coming - just shipped from OSHPark today.

Old-Lumens wrote:

Tom E wrote:

I hot air both sides with this: ebay/stampabilities-heat-embossing-gun, about $20 – $22 from several places. Got my first BLF22DD’s coming – just shipped from OSHPark today.

There’s all kinds of embossing guns and they can be found everywhere. Sounds like a plan. I sure am not going to pay anything more than a few bucks and that sounds like a cheap way. I’ve been using my soldering gun for everything. It works, but it would probably save time with this. Of course, I would have to switch to solder paste.

I got my boards. Anyone build these up yet?

I'm still waiting for boards and chips.  My panels are still in production.

This is what I bought and use: http://www.kd5ssj.com/solderpaste. Highly recommend the 21 Ga needle. I use the 23, and it's a pain. It's a small amount but you don't need much. By the time you use it up, it will probably be expired. Recommended by a friend - this guy is a hobbyist - may take a few days to get it shipped, depending... I bought mine in Sep 2013 and probably half left, though I've used it a lot more lately with the OSHPark boards.

I get $3.55 shipping, total of $9.55 for 1 paste syringe, 1 21 Ga needle.

You think it might be worth getting stencils made?  It shouldn't be a big deal for this driver, but with the Meld drivers I think I'd going to want all the help I can get.

Thanx!!

So I have got one of these puppies piggybacked to courui amd Richard put it together with electronic switch filmware so I solder one side of switch to pad 2 and the other to pad – ? I am only getting light if I press and hold e switch no modes ? What’s wrong?

I’m assuming just the standard raw itch filmware.