Bite the bullet, spend money on yourself

[Enzo]

On bad habit I have is hanging on to things longer than I should. I am always trying to get one last solder joint from a worn tip, or holding the cord just so to keep the iron from going cold. Screws that hold the heater in the handle strip out, solder slag collects like so much cholesterol in the desolder station, etc.

SO dammit, I spent a couple hundred bucks. Bought a new handpiece for my Weller solder station. Plugged right into the base unit, voila! And for my beloved old Pace desolder machine, a new heater, new glass tubes, even a new baffle strip, new filters, new tips.


Geez oh Pete, I feel like a new man. Everything heats up nice as can be, tips retain their tinning, etc. Should have done it a while ago.

Of course I recently got a haircut and beard trim. I do that every year or two whether I need to or not.

[J M Fahey]

Good for you.

[jrfrond]

Hey Doug, did you ever notice with the Pace units that they seem to clog EXACTLY when you need them the most, and then you have to empty the tube, change the filter, ream the tip, yadda yadda? Great units (we have two of 'em) but a bit finicky, and you can't get the cheaper Plato tips for the new ones.

Yeah, worn tools just ain't the shizzle!

[Enzo]

Oh yeah, instead of cleaning the tube each time I turn the thing on, I empty it when it backs up on me. Oh gee looky, it's packed solid with solder. I keep a 6-8" piece of stiff thin piano wire stuck in a block of foam beside me. Whenever the tip clogs, I run the wire down the hole like a pipe cleaner. Of course, world's clumsiest human drops the thing on the floor, and then I am trying to find and pick up a piece of wire on the floor.

[jrfrond]

Oh yeah, instead of cleaning the tube each time I turn the thing on, I empty it when it backs up on me. Oh gee looky, it's packed solid with solder. I keep a 6-8" piece of stiff thin piano wire stuck in a block of foam beside me. Whenever the tip clogs, I run the wire down the hole like a pipe cleaner. Of course, world's clumsiest human drops the thing on the floor, and then I am trying to find and pick up a piece of wire on the floor.

Of course! And who hasn't broken the glass tube every so often???

[Enzo]

Er...um... I was fishing out my S-baffle, and I...um...broke my glass tube. That was what precipitated the whole deal. And that tube had been my backup earlier. I did order a spare tube with the rest of the stuff. And plenty of tips.

[1ampman]

New toys are exciting! Most of us put up with quirky tools till we start talking to ourselves. Of course when you belong to the AARP club. It seems a little more urgent. I also belong to this group and did buy some newer gear. It's a wonderful feeling!

[Techknowman]

I took your advice.
I have been cheating when doing surface mount parts. Solderblobin with low temp solder to remove them.
So I bought me a SMD rework Station, Hot air unit. Its a Aoyue brand 852++ digital temp and air flow plus it has a suction wand and little cups to grab the parts.
Payed $160 for it at Fry's used it already to remove some SOP chips from a Crown amp.

[Mark Hammer]

I went crazy and bought myself two "luxury" items this year. Blew $40 on a Weller soldering station to replace my trusty old 25W Weller than had served me so well all these years (but for which tips are no longer available), and another $80 (w/tax) on a meter that has inductance measurement as well as the usuals (capacitance, hfe, diode check, etc.). I swear, with the burning of the mortgage getting closer by the year, I'm a gittin' reckless!

[Techknowman]

I wish I was closer to burning my mortgage. only 12 years into a 30 year note. And all the extra work i'm taking to stay alive is killing me!

[Mark Hammer]

We're actually 9 years into our first (and last) home, and burning date is a little under 3 years away. I'm paying about 40-45% of my net salary every 2 weeks. I have little use at all for luxury, don't vacation, don't seek out entertainment, eat simple and frugally, haven't saved a penny for retirement (don't plan on retiring), and absolutely DETEST owing anyone money. We also got our first home rather late in life, so there was a certain urgency in paying it off. I'll be 66 by the time our youngest finishes undergrad. I don't know that many would elect to follow my path or that it would work for them. I'll let you know in 10 years if it worked for me.

[Enzo]

Let me say something about retiring, Mark. I can't afford to retire, and had planned to work the rest of my life. But my recent brush with the medical industry - my heart failure experience - made it abundantly clear that it takes more than just wanting to work until I die. I have to be able to do so as well. I made it through that OK, but it could just as easily have left me unable. Retirement is not just deciding to no longer work, it simply is the time after you no longer earn a living. It is not always a choice.

[big_teee]

I got all excited after reading the title of this thread.
I thought you were going to say spend Money on Yourself.
Like a New Guitar or Amp or Something fun.
Keep Rockin!
Terry

[Enzo]

More like buying new shoes when the cardboard covering the hole in the bottom wears through.

believe me, for a bench tech, nice fresh solder gear is a real treat. Kinda like sending your guitar in for fresh strings and a setup. or maybe a new set of tubes for the amp.

[Mark Hammer]

Agreed. I had some pleasant exchanges recently with the authors of a number of fascinating papers in American Psychologist on how people make retirement decisions, and how it can not actually BE their decision sometimes ( http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/amp/66/3/ ). It's a complicated thing. Happy to send you e-copies of the papers if you're interested.

Whether one's choice or preference...or not, there is no denying that the very existence of the social institution, and expectation that it is something that ought to happen (like going to school, moving away from home, having a family, being employed, etc.) has a huge impact on people's lives. It is something that people feel the need to start preparing for decades in advance. Personally, I have little doubt that the "nervousness" of money these days (which results in investments migrating wherever the promise of ROI seems greater), results in rampant downsizing and out-sourcing of jobs to the lowest bidder, leading to a vicious cycle in which the very stability of people's employment and livelihoods is paradoxically undermined by the anxiety they have over the financial security and attainability of some sort of retirement fantasy they believe they are supposed to have. That's a very jaundiced view, I suppose.

I chose to simply not play that game, but as a knowledge worker I guess I have that luxury. My brother-in-law who worked at a steel plant did not, and neither do millions of others. I might also point ot that, as a Canadian I have very different concerns about what sort of health care I will have access to in later life. When people view their retirement as havng to factor in health care costs, it turns into a pressure and stressor of a very different type, I imagine.

In the meantime, I like having a new meter and a soldering station with variable heat!