She could be desoldering…
Her skin off.
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In the presence of a man, is there any other acceptable gaze?
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I kind of like them. The 0805 size fits nicely between the breadboard pads, which is excellent for pullup resistors and so on when wirewrapping a prototype. The LEDs are also nicely small, which in combination with the resistor makes good compact status indicators.
But the tiny parts love to fall into the mess on the floor, never to be found again. Or shoot from the tweezers into the big void of the room.
Even the 0402 size looks big like a barn door under the stereomicroscope. That’s not a problem. Hot air with solder paste is also something I am becoming accustomed to, and the more I use it the more I like it.
That’s one way! Shortly followed by “Man U sucks.” 
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We had something called a hot nitrogen tool that we’d use for quad flat packs. It was supposed to be the bee’s knees but I thought it was mainly good for de-soldering. If I had to place a flat pack I’d just flux the hell out of it and use a fine-tipped iron.
Man, you’re taking me back. I loved the work but it didn’t pay much, maybe $12/hr, not a whole lot even in 1995.
The funny thing is, I didn’t know much about electronics (still don’t) and we were supposed to have associate’s degrees for what we were doing (not the soldering - they had classes for that - but the component-level troubleshooting). I knew Ohm’s law and definitely had an interest and that really was it. At home I had been reading schematics (e.g. from TAB books) and could set up a circuit on a breadboard (or etch a board). I might have been able to get it to work but I couldn’t understand how/why it worked. I’m amazed they were letting me do that work at all so I like to think I must’ve been good at it.
Then I got a job in IT and that’s what I’ve done since. Only soldering I’ve done since was a couple of PAiA kits, and reflowing the master relay on a Honda Accord.
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I was straightened out on this point by a senior scientist at Health Canada. Lead IS volatile and does vaporize when soldering, And it vaporizes in quantities that can have serious health consequences.You should be using a fume hood. You should be very concerned. Just so you know.
I can imagine Lady Ada hanging her head in disappointment at this.
ETA: like seeing a kick to the balls, that picture caused me pain to look at.
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Kinda like this:
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Everything vaporizes somewhat. But at the temperatures and amounts used at soldering (with possible exception of flame soldering, which is only for heavy piping), is the amount actually vaporized of any significance?
A brief search of Google Books did not find any reputable source that would say so. Some mentions in some omgomgomg-chemicals book, some cover-your-ass mentions in an ARRL, but nothing that would quote actual vapor pressures. Everything else claims the amount vaporized is negligible.
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In case y’all are wondering why safety glasses are useful while soldering, I worked with a technician 20 years ago who learned the hard way that cutting a resistor lead can send the thing flying straight into your eyeball, pointy end first. ER trip ensued. She had 10 years experience at the time.
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is this a good or bad outcome?
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That’s an easy one! Try Leominster or Cholmondely. Or some of those Norfolk ones that only people from within 5 miles can pronounce correctly.
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I don’t think she is soldering, she is resting the soldering iron tip on a defunct component on the board. It is a pretty well accepted technique for applying a fine powder of carbon based insulation to the top of the logic boards.
Not sure what all the fuss is about.
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Or Beaulieu.
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Read aloud:
I talked with Malcolm Walker today. He had just caulked his boat, and as it was a balmy day he invited me to go salmon fishing, but I balked when I remembered it was Palm Sunday.
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I’m intrigued enough to try this method to test how much mercury is actually vaporized in practice. I’ve been looking to write an undergrad paper and this might be a good research question. Though I’d like something a little sexier, this might be the best I can think up.
Edit: I said mercury, I meant lead.
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Or Belvoir.
IMNSHO, it is completely negligible unless you are slaving over a hot globbering iron all day, every day.
Maybe more of a problem with one of those huge old irons used for stained glass and such, with sal ammoniac flux… or whatever the stained glass folks use.
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Hey, at least the goggles are clear!
Good thing she’s got a man around to be the boss.
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Easy peasy! Come on, English gets a lot harder than that!!
