Simple Starter Solder Station Setup (& Arduino)

This is what I plan to purchase.

Any input or suggestions?

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I’d get a soldering iron with a base station and temperature control. It might seem like you’re saving money but if you’re just going to buy a nicer one down the line you’re not saving and it’s worth avoiding frustration

Buy heat shrink tubing.

If you’re soldering indoors without a fume extractor try to get unleaded solder

You shouldn’t need the Leonardo since the kit comes with an Uno clone.

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This soldering iron is quite popular.

The Leonardo is a great board as it has USB host functionality but that is a specific use case that you likely wont need so I def agree with @Satur9 the uno in the starter kit is perfectly fine.

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Have a look at the thread I started in the wiki section for this type of thing but all great stuff.

My additions;

Heatshrink
Solder (either leaded or unleaded, I personally find that the flux in unleaded is significantly more damaging than the lead in the leaded solder. Either way get thin and fat)

My observations;

Leonardo can complicate the learning curve (I never liked the) but its the dealers choice I would stick with the uno in the kit unless you need usb host functionality.

Soldering iron scrap the one your looking at really do lol there a pile of xxxx, look for a nice hako 963 clone.

Fume Extraction is nice, not mandatory personally I only use it when assembling pcbs and soldering lots of components. You can get away with a fan blowing across your work area.

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Added.

Also added.

Thanks. I am really new to this stuff. So I hope by getting my hands on it, I will be more under standing of how things work and such.

I removed it.

I hear you guys on this. @Satur9 also. But to be honest, I will have invested about $800-900 into this, not knowing if I will truly enjoy it, or if I will learn it well or much else, once I checkout. I guess I am OK learning will that cheaper solder iron. That is also why I bug y’all with questions. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: I am not trying to blow through money, I got a kid to think about. And I got furloughed. :laughing:

I will, I feel like I read it once, but I will go through it again since it has been a while.

Not sure what you mean.

I mean, if it is cheaper than 107, slide into my DM. :rofl:

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Get some thin solder as well as some thick (0.3mm and 0.8mm) it makes a difference.

Knock off if you use it and its a hobby for you definitely upgrade but these are good starting point.

Get some spare tips to, use the chisel ones there significantly better than the conical ones.

Tips

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The starter kit + the rfid sheild (assuming it comes with the headers pre-soldered on should be enough for you to mess around and learn if you do not want to spend so much. :man_shrugging:

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Also look at the starter kits these a 40ish dollar one with a nfc reader and its generally better value for money

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Really all you need to get yourself into trouble is;

Starter kit (with rfid shield)
Screwdrivers (for taking things apart)
Multimeter (for tring to fined out where things are wrong)

DONOT SPEND 8-900 DOLLAR’S

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I will consider that. My wife would kill me if we really couldn’t budget for it. But the part that really interest me is making the tags and coils. They seem tedious. And I want to do that. Tesla has jobs for that stuff without a degree. Maybe I could get a job that is secure for once.

I really want to learn some basics first, and make sure it is something I interested in.

Any suggestions?

This is combined cost. So consider my 4 implants, plus a safe. The stuff in my amazon basket is now right under 300 which is fine with me, I have other things in there yoga related. I have slowly bought the other stuff over the past few weeks. I have been planning it out and just lurking.

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My opinion, I concur with @Satur9 and @Devilclarke and @NiamhAstra , They know far more than me, but, DON’T skimp on the soldering iron, not saying buy the biggest and bestest, but your original suggestion, would be sooo frustrating and a backward step, spend a little bit more and get one that actually works well.

You have invested a lot of :money_with_wings: , don’t set yourself up to fail for the sake of a few dollars more…
If you have to, don’t get any now, just stick with the bread board initially, THEN grab a “decent” soldering iron…
my image

image

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Are you available as a service? I feel like I need this yelled at me regularly.

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Yeah for $799

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I was going to say no, but after the sneaky discount edit of $1… SOLD! :stuck_out_tongue:

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OK. I get it. I will puty mala beads on the back burner. Better soldier iron now.

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On a related note:

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image

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For that bit, well the coil bit at least all you NEED is some magnet wire and something to help you wrap it around and an Arduino or anything else that can deliver a clock pulse. The first RFID coil I made I used a Pepsi can as a form and emitted a 2.5v 125kHz signal and I got a LF xLED working with it. Although that was definitely more luck than skill. You do need more than that to do more things but you can also get a feel for things by bodging the hell put of all the things.

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I think I posted this somewhere else but here it is again just in case… you will want to get yourself a good LCR meter… not a shit one… a good one…

That’s what I use. An “antenna” for passive RFID/NFC applications means an inductor loop coil matched to a capacitance network… basically you are making an L/C resonant circuit. You have to know what capacitance and inductance you are working with… and an LCR meter will tell you that.

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I remember that, but I had a hard time finding that post. Thank you. I added it on my wishlist. I am going to learn some basic stuff first. Like how to build something to power it.

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