Soldering!

I'm in the process of learning to solder and de-solder stuff. My first job was a Gigabyte nForce4 motherboard with some bad caps. I replaced a total of five 3300uF 6.3V capacitors and I must say it wasn't easy. However, I'm confident that with practice it's going to become much much easier. Most of all I had trouble with removing solder from holes and soldering new caps back in. Later on I found a very nice guide on-line which actually recommends using higher temps (350C) and a wider tip. They also recommend using a stainless steel pin to remove solder from holes. I'll give it a try one of these days as there's plenty of work left.

Christmas is early!

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are two pix of my latest tools: Proxxon Ib/E rotary tool and Weller WS81 soldering iron!

Hardware pricing SI vs. DE vs. UK

Every time I need to buy a new piece of hardware, I do some research to see where I can get the best price. Lately I've been finding out that virtually everything is cheaper abroad, even with the added cost of postage! What the heck? Something is obviously rotten in the state of Denmark or should I say Slovenia. Here are some of the items I bought (or consider buying) recently:

As you can see, the difference is not to be ignored. What I don't understand is where it comes from? All three (UK, DE and SI) are members of the EU so you obviously can't blame it on import taxes. If you ask me, it's either greed or something completely different. If you know the answer, leave a comment :) Cheers!

Prices were taken from the following websites and do not include shipping costs:
http://www.itx-warehouse.co.uk/
http://www.hpm-computer.de/
http://www.voelkner.de/
http://www.agt.si/
http://www.sestavi.si/
http://www.dinokomp.si/
http://www.hte.si/