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Just realized that old timer who called my logic analyzer a 'fancy toy' was actually right
Guy who's been doing avionics since the 70s at a repair station in Wichita showed me how he finds a bad solder joint by tapping the board with a plastic screwdriver handle, and I spent $800 on gear I didn't need when a simple trick works just as well for 90% of faults - anyone else had an old hand prove you don't need all the expensive tools?
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xena37313d ago
Oh man, that breath trick is something else. I love how the old school guys have these little hacks that sound like witchcraft until you see them work. Meanwhile I've got a shelf full of gadgets that beep and flash and cost more than a used car. But here's the thing, sometimes I wonder if they're just showing off how much they hated training the new guy. Like, "Yeah kid, I can find a bad joint with my eyes closed and my hands tied. Go buy a scope." And the thing about modern boards is real. Try tapping a BGA chip with a screwdriver and see how far that gets you. You're more likely to knock it off the board than find the problem. But for through-hole stuff from the 70s and 80s? Those old tricks are pure gold. So I guess the fancy stuff is for when you absolutely need to see the waveform, and the old stuff is for when you just need to get the dang thing running again.
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torres.sage1mo ago
Saw a guy at a repair shop in Wichita once, been doing avionics since the 70s, and he finds bad solder joints by tapping the board with a plastic screwdriver handle. Bought an $800 logic analyzer for the same thing and his trick works just as good for most faults. Makes me wonder how many of these fancy tools we buy are just for showing off or feeling professional, not for actually fixing stuff. But then again, that old timer also told me his methods fall apart on modern multi layer boards, so maybe there's a time and place for both.
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sam171mo ago
Back in 1992, I had a senior tech at a telecom shop in Tulsa show me how he finds cold solder joints on power supply boards by breathing on them. The moisture from his breath would condense on the bad joint and the circuit would glitch. He never touched a scope or a meter for stuff like that. How many times have you gone back to those old tricks when your expensive gear just sits there, and how do you decide when the fancy stuff actually matters over the simple methods?
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