Folks,
As some know, the makerbot I've been using to make parts for various geekhackers products took a gigantic crap on me last week and ruined many a plan and generally made my life even more difficult than it needed to be.
However, I would still like to vend learn to solder kits, and I obviously want to hold them to the same standards of safety and quality that I applied when i designed the first batch (designs that i can no longer print because of said makerbot crap-taking). however, i've done some poking around and it looks like i can vend a "deluxe" version with the parts i based my designs on if i raise the price. the price difference is substantial -- about 50$. here is what i'm proposing:
-Edsyn CL1481 "fixed temperature" soldering iron. The same beefy iron that the first batch got. This iron is fantastic, and I hope to spread them far and wide, frankly.
-Edsyn tips: large, medium and small. The CL1481 has a low power rating, but a big heater. The key to soldering is, like most thermodynamics: surface contact. Want to put more power into a joint? use a bigger tip!
-Edsyn/GH DS017GH Soldapullt. The classic gigantic hand pump soldapullt with a chemically durable o-ring made of dupont viton fluorinated elastomer, and krytox fluorinated lubricant. increases the duty cycle and efficacy of the soldapullt design significantly.
-Edsyn KP101 flush cutter. An inexpensive, relatively high quality flush cutter. unlike most flush cutters in this price range, will not dull after cutting two wires (yes, i'm looking at you, CHP hakko products :|).
-1oz of Kester 44 RA 63/37 sn/pb alloy solder in 0.02" diameter. Material is traceable with date of manufacture in march of 2013. The activated rosin flux in this solder will be as effective as specified in the datasheet until approximately march of 2015 (kester 44 RA has a 2-3 year shelf-life). This is the best solder. There is simply no contest. Solder is delivered on a geekhack-designed spool that fits most 1lb solder spool holders
-(NEW) Edsyn TH107 soldapullt and solder spool holder. The geekhack-designed spool was actually built to fit into this spool holder. spool has integral handle for rotating spool inside of holder. Beefy accessory holder can hold tips, soldapullt, solder and whatever else you can manage to hang off it on your bench.
-(NEW) Edsyn iron holder: IP481(-2 potentially). This is an ESD safe iron holder with Edsyn's classic "pod" iron holder design. I am not at all ashamed to say that absolutely did my best to ape the edsyn pod with my own iron holder design. It is extremely safe -- the iron shaft and tip are completely encapsulated by the pod when the iron is idle. Further, the iron is thermally insulated in the pod. This means that very little power is being dissipated into the (self-regulating cl1481) heater, which keeps the handle at a much more comfortable temperature than typical wire-wound holders.
-(NEW, OPTIONAL) 220v world adapter. The LTS kit normally comes with a standard 6ft NEMA 15 US-style AC extension cord. This option adapts the extension cord to also convert 220v power into 110v power for the CL1481. Beefy transformer encapsulated by thick plastic and potted.
IC PRICING: with the addition of the TH107 and IP481, I'm very likely unable to sell the kit for less than 200$ shipped in the CONUS, depending on the quote I get, I could be looking at 210$ domestic. For Canadian orders, additional shipping fee of 10$ applies. For the 220v adapter, an extra 20$ and an international shipping quote will apply.
In order to offer these kits, I will have to special order TH107 and IP481 units. Lead time on these units is up to 10-15 days, and the smallest batch would be approximately 3 kits.
Please register your interest for a deluxe version of the LTS kit in this thread. If you would prefer to wait until the 3d printer is back up and producing the accessory and iron holders of my design, feel free to state you interest for that kit (pricing is in the previous GB thread, but is approximately 145$ shipped domestically).
last batch GB:
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=52851.0Edsyn IP481:
http://www.edsyn.com/index.php?Mode=piw&pn=IP481Edsyn TH107:
http://www.edsyn.com/index.php?Mode=piw&pn=TH107
