My first mod: Nichia 219 in a Convoy S7

[ToyKeeper]

@Cereal_killer

What shape tip did you use? For removing 7135’s I don’t even mess with the wick- just use the flat tip, hold it on the three legs for ~10sec and the entire chip will come right off all at once.

I used the same method, and it was mentioned in the OP.
It just took me a few tries to figure out a method which worked. Also, I didn’t know until afterward that the middle pin goes all the way across.

@keithd

As a beginning modder, this kind of stuff is helpful. Seeing what worked and didn’t gives me confidence that I’m not totally in over my head.

That’s actually why I posted this. It took me forever to finally do my first mod, even after I had decided in detail what I wanted to do. I’m hoping I can help motivate others to take the first step.

Now that I think about it though, I should probably include more details, like pics of the cheapo tools I’m using and maybe some info about where I got everything.

@Warhawk_AVG

Do yourself a favor…get a hot air rework station

I’ve thought about it… but I decided to start with something cheap as a way of sticking my toe in the water, and I can get something nicer later on if it seems like it’ll be worthwhile. I’m kind of hoping to avoid surface-mount soldering if possible, though I guess the occasional kitchen-stove reflow might be okay if I need to assemble a driver from the oshpark thread.

@Warhawk_AVG

Where did you get the stainless Convoy? I see this one from FT…but it doesn’t have that cool clip

I got it from FastTech, same as your link. The clip was added later; it’s a Solarforce L2 clip. It’s a little bigger than I’d like, but it does the job. (it fits the Convoy S3 better, but for that you’ll need to cram a paperclip into the tailcap to allow electrical contact)

@MRsDNF

I was a little shocked to see you used a good pair of dividers for an unintended use but it appears they survived with no damage.

Oh, the machinist calipers? I got those last year specifically for unscrewing pills and other similar parts. A guy on ebay was selling it fairly cheap and it seemed perfect for the task.