hi all, I'm new to this forum and whilst I'm a freelance sound recordist I have very little experience with soldering and zero experience soldering surface mount components to PCB. That said I have a SONY WM-BF60 which is very dear to my heart because it is my childhood walkman from 1985 and I feel it would be incredible to be able to fix it myself. It would send a message to myself that I can be self reliant/resourceful rather than always sending stuff to professionals for repair. I don't expect to be able to do as good a job of course but I am committed to learning what I can from you tube tutorials etc to help me do an adequate job. I am in touch with Marion from Fix Your Audio.com and he's established that I need to replace the drive belt, all the capacitors, possibly replace/repair pads and maybe some traces on the PCB. I already have the following items... Weller WHS40 soldering station, Cutters, pliers, precision screwdrivers, desoldering sucker, dual grip arm with magnifying glass, tweezers, Stanley knife, wire strippers. But with this in mind I realise I will need some extra things to my existing soldering kit. My question to all those who are more experienced than me (which is probably everyone!) is which items from the following should I buy? Which are essential? Which can I get away without if I'm saving a bit of cash and are there any obvious items I haven't listed which I will definitely need? Because I also don't have any idea of what the best/recommended model/brand/type of each item is I would love some suggestions for this too so that I know what I'm actually ordering. Here are the items I suspect I might need to buy... 1. Flux 2. Solder wick 3. Lint free foam swab sticks 4. Solder - I already have 15 year old 500G 0.7 5 core flux 60/40 solder...not sure if this is too old and/or I'd need a thinner solder for more precise PCB soldering? 5. Rosin core flux and syringe OR Rosin Flux pen? 6. Flux remover 7. Brushes for flux removing 8. thin wire for trace repair 9. Exacto knife or similar 10. Isopropyl alcohol 11. Soldering iron tip cleaner 12. 2x specific size soldering iron tips - my chisel and 'sharp' round point tips have corroded after 15 years of not being used. Are there any recommended sizes for the sort of work I'll be doing with walkman PCB? After all that if anyone has any recommended places to buy from I'd love to hear. I've got accounts with RS components and CPC but they are unable to advise on brands/uses etc and have a bewildering array of thousands of products so maybe there is a more traditional 'shop' type supplier who has time to help a newbie such as myself? best wishes Paul
Hello Paul, fixing electronics can be a lot of fun, and rewarding, start with the easy equipment and work your way up. I can do a lot of basic stuff but haven't had time to really dig into some of the stuff I really love. I'd get the JIS screwdrivers that have been mentioned on this site. The screws may look like Philips but you will strip one (after the other five come out easy) and you'll hate yourself. The JIS get a little more bite on the small screws. I'd read through Echo War's Thread on AudioKarma, excellent information on here for the budding technician. https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...udio-gear-eh-heres-the-tools-you-need.333423/ My Mate Vince did five Walkmans last year, I think all had surface mount equipment, he uses a jelly when he solders, I've never used it but the solder heads straight for the joints, neat stuff. Check out the comments on his videos, they also make a ton of reccomendations. Take photos when your working on it, other wise you'll forget what goes where. With really small parts or clips, use a baggy or wrap in plastic so it doesn't fly across the room, I also use antenna style magnets when I drop metal parts.
Hi mister X, thanks so much for your help and advice. Great to have these links and I've had a look at audio karma...just noticed your mates video is 1 hour long so I'll save that for a nice long cuppa tea! Thank you. Paul
1. Flux - Essential 2. Solder wick - Essential 3. Lint free foam swab sticks - baby cotton sticks are good enough 4. Solder - Thin one should do, solder doesn`t have expiration date 5. Rosin core flux and syringe OR Rosin Flux pen? - No 6. Flux remover - Lighter fluid or isopropyl alcohol 7. Brushes for flux removing - old toothbrush should be enough 8. thin wire for trace repair - use some old wires 9. Exacto knife or similar - Essential 10. Isopropyl alcohol - Essential 11. Soldering iron tip cleaner - Not really needed 12. 2x specific size soldering iron tips - one thin round tip is usually enough
I used to have a million belts but cracked open a project a couple weeks ago and don't have the right size. VossElectronics, are you familar with MarVac Electronics? They sell PBR Belts, I was going to order a few sizes I'm missing.
I get my belts from Slovakia, great distributor (Fix your Audio) Hard to get shipment on time now a days however. I'm not familiar with MarVac, I'm in Arizona. But if they have belts, I'd definitely look them up. Thanks for the suggestion. What's the project you're doing?
I'm doing a Superscope 4000, it's a labor of love to pull it all apart, hopefully I don't forget where all the belts go. Here's MarVac, PBR is the brand Russel Industries has been selling (and making) for years. https://marvac.com/ http://www.russellind.com/
If you ever need belts or pinch rollers, I've been buyting from these guys for 5 years now. They're great. They are in Slovakia and with everything going on now, shipment is slow, but great products. https://fixyouraudio.com/
