Bad soldering day

Has anyone else had a bad soldering day?
Soldering, playing the guitar, trying to stuff small parts into a tightly packed PCB, get tiny nuts onto 4-40 or 2-56 threads, or even typing, some days are better than others. I think that there is a log jam or communications breakdown on that neural network that connects the brain to the fingers. It's messed up in the other direction too. You know that it's time to turn the iron off when you solder your fingers more than the parts, and you smell it before you feel it. For me the best time to do stuff like that is first thing in the morning.
 
If I haven’t soldered in a long time I have run into trouble. What I did was clean the iron’s tip with flux, apply a fresh thin coating of solder, and I sometimes flux and tin the leads of what I’m soldering.

Tiny nuts on tiny threads, and this nice new mechanical keyboard that makes me feel like I'm typing with my toes half the time. Good to know I'm not alone!
I miss the white keyboards with black print. Who’s idea was it to make all the keyboards dark with white print? It’s the opposite of the screen.
 
I miss the white keyboards with black print. Who’s idea was it to make all the keyboards dark with white print? It’s the opposite of the screen.
I got one of these 'Gaming Gear RGB LED under each key" smart lighting keyboard with software control thinking that I would be able to set the color of individual keys to match the hotkeys of some software like Ableton Live. No, the smart control software just allows for a few choices that range from annoying to really annoying. By default it reverts to a football stadium style wave in color that constantly runs from left to right. I can turn it off, but it will come back if the computer isn't used every few days.

I thought that I would wind up throwing this against the wall, but I find that I make fewer typing mistakes on it than my Logitech keyboards. I don't think the lights have anything to do with it though. The switches are mechanical with a click that I can hear and feel. The keys are taller with a longer taper and about 3/16th of an inch between the keys at the top. One of the Logitechs has about 3/32 of an inch between the keys with minimal taper and the other has flat keys that nearly touch each other.
 

Attachments

  • P4020246.JPG
    P4020246.JPG
    306.4 KB · Views: 17
  • P4020247.JPG
    P4020247.JPG
    313.8 KB · Views: 19
I thought that I would wind up throwing this against the wall, but I find that I make fewer typing mistakes on it than my Logitech keyboards. I don't think the lights have anything to do with it though.
Against the wall? No, it would be in the WOOD CHIPPER.
I make more mistakes on Logitech keyboards than any other. Except maybe for this iPad, which doesn’t have a real KB.
 
with software control thinking that I would be able to set the color of individual keys to match the hotkeys of some software like Ableton Live

Well George you just came up with a new keyboard design idea!! Not that I need anything like that.

I guess I had a bad solder day when something came back for repair because of a missed solder joint. Usually I am pretty good, being myopic helps a lot for precision but now having pvd in one eye is annoying
 
Last edited:
I got one of these 'Gaming Gear RGB LED under each key" smart lighting keyboard with software control thinking that I would be able to set the color of individual keys to match the hotkeys of some software like Ableton Live. No, the smart control software just allows for a few choices that range from annoying to really annoying. By default it reverts to a football stadium style wave in color that constantly runs from left to right. I can turn it off, but it will come back if the computer isn't used every few days.

I thought that I would wind up throwing this against the wall, but I find that I make fewer typing mistakes on it than my Logitech keyboards. I don't think the lights have anything to do with it though. The switches are mechanical with a click that I can hear and feel. The keys are taller with a longer taper and about 3/16th of an inch between the keys at the top. One of the Logitechs has about 3/32 of an inch between the keys with minimal taper and the other has flat keys that nearly touch each other.

I still have one wireless tall-key keyboard in white very much like that. I haven’t used it in ages, since a notebook computer has been my mainstay for portability and change of scenery while designing in CAD. The notebook keyboards are typically dark and difficult to type on in subdued ambient lighting, and they lack tactile feedback. Don’t mean to give the impression I’m blind or anything, it’s just that I feel these are counterintuitive design choices by the manufacturers.

Looking for a new laptop to replace my current one that fell out of the triassic period, I found that almost every keyboard was again dark grey or black. I don’t want to complain, but the keys are also screwed around and the number pad is missing from some of them. The sleek aluminum casework looks nice, but permits an unsettling about of flex. That can’t be good for the solder joints.