Make:

• Maker Faire Austin Auditions this Sunday, July 20th at the Austin Children's Museum
• An Afternoon at Maker Faire - Dallas/Ft. Worth Area, July 19th
• Chicago-area Makers Get Together, Thursday July 17, at Flapjaws
• An Afternoon at Maker Faire - Dallas/Ft. Worth Area, July 19th
• Robert Bruce Thompson on the demise of the chemistry set
• Snail car

Some questions for someone who's been soldering for decades:
1) Do we need to bring our own equipment (iron, solder, flux, pliers, cutters, etc.)?
2) *May* we do so if we don't have to?
3) Is 120VAC power available if we bring it?
4) Is there any allowance for soldering quality, or is it a "first kit working" contest?

I solder fairly fast and very well - but can turn on the speed if needed.

Many thanks for what sounds like a fun event - and a *terrific* Faire!

Jim Horn (was at the '06 Faire and eager to return)

Excellent questions. I would think for the contest to have any meaning, we'd have to have access to our own equipment.

It's an interesting contest idea. I like to take my time when I'm soldering, I truly savour the process and to an excellent quality job (I even make paper spacers so all my resistors, etc, are the same distance from the board about half a milimeter above).

If I turn on the speed, I wonder what will happen to my quality.

Solder quality would be too subjective, it would have to be first working kit. But if I'm paying for the kit, I'm not sure I'd want to do such a sloppy job and be stuck with it. I'd probably take a part and rebuild it later assuming the board quality is high enough that I don't pull off the traces.

Posted by: macetech.com on May 2, 2008 at 1:58 AM

I think they should make it a REAL challenge, and provide entrants with the kit, a Bic lighter, a rusty nail, and a handful of fishing sinkers.

If that's what I had, I'd try and pour the lead over the board in an imitation of a wave soldering machine. It would be all cold solder joints, but it might work well enough to win.

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