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Same here, Kester 44. I use .5mm in order to do the occasional SMD things. It needs to be flowed in fast for bigger joints.

I also use Kester 303 (water soluble) in .8mm for a lot of stuff, mostly because I still have a lot of it. I think I slightly prefer the .5mm but I don't plan to try anything thinner.

Nils temporarily drops the ball from time to time. I've sometimes waited past the point of despair, but they eventually show up--and I don't know of anyone reporting that they never received their boards. Apparently he can get really down, and it can snowball. Not a way to run a business, but that seems to be one part of his reputation as a member of this hobby community.

That's a sweet ass build!

Got mine today! Sweeet!

Oh yeah count me in!

Sometimes the cable connector on my station loses a contact and it temporarily goes cold. If I have the presence of mind to look, it shows a problem code on the display. Maybe a really intermittent bad connection could make the temp swing without a clear indication?

Welcome! I've learned a lot from others' help threads. There's something about a troubleshooting thread that restores some faith in humanity.

I think it's definitely an "if it works it works" thing with the cheap T12 stations. I grabbed it as a backup for the FX888D, though I primarily use it nowadays and moved the FX888D to my work office. I prefer the sleep timing, and the single knob control. But I still wouldn't call it 100% dependable.

I'm not going to make a big deal of the FX888D's button control scheme, but I did notice that the new FX888DX went back to a single knob. 

D16 is great for general work, IMHO. I've used it on dozens of neopixel strip connections, including the narrow strips, with no discomfort. I'm still using the original stock tip (I also use a D16 on a T12 knock-off iron).

Conventional wisdom is that pointier tips give less heat transfer, though sometimes a necessary trade-off. I like the BC1.5 for SMD, and I'm interested to try the BC1, as soon as this BC1.5 stops looking brand new.


People seem to like the Aoyue 936, which is a little cheaper.

Nice! Digging the graphics. Gonna bump this board up a few spots in the queue.

Things seem to be coming together on mobile. Haven't tried signing in on desktop today

At least I'm not able to change derevaun's info anymore

I'm looking forward to enjoying any improvements you've made

FWIW it seems to be closer to normal now, showing logged in on all the pages I've tried. It is a great mystery. Also a great use for those eclipse glasses, with the light mode an all.

FWIW, I found some variation among legit LM308s WRT resistances between pins, using Chromesphere's test. I think the most important ones are that pin 5 isn't connected, so no resistance with any other pins, and a few megaohms between 1 and 8, although there's a range with mine. Two tests that are more dispositive are that it sounds harsh(er) with the 30pF cap removed, and the chip itself draws below 400 microAmps. In any case, I have a fake one (from Jameco) that is my absolute favorite in a DOD250 

wicked cool!

Whoah, that scratches a lot of itches.

Going on Chuck's post on the PPCB forum, I tested the Ebay LM308s for current. They measured between 260 - 360 microAmps, in the same range as the legit ones. So maybe they are legit. They sound fine to me, so it doesn't matter a whole lot.

The LM308N I got from Jameco is definitely fake. Actually it's mixed up with another fake LM308N that I got on Ebay a few years ago, but they both don't need the 1-8 capacitor. One is currently in a stock DOD250, where it sounds killer The other I included in the test above.

I've ordered NE555s from Jameco for a couple decades, for a class. They've worked fine for our uses (blinking LEDs, Atari Punk Console, PWM) but it's been a rogue's gallery of weird/sloppy markings. Probably factory rejects or similar, and they probably would fail some test for high precision, but I haven't had a single one not work for low-stakes uses.

I guess the pinch point is that we expect a particular kind of magic from the LM308. It's certainly beyond my ear's ability to nail down, but there's always gonna be a mystique that close enough isn't quite close enough 

FWIW, it looks like the Ebay seller reduced the price to $8.00 for 4, plus shipping. I absolutely do not vouch for the seller or anything you might receive from them, but my experience was good and perhaps others of us like to live dangerously. Or, for science! Here's the listing:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/386701906664?hash=item5a093ad2e8:g:C9oAAOSw0-NlsP61