Sometimes old tools are better. 

My life's goal is to have my son talking about me, the same way Jeff talks about his dad. Too wholesome

Seeing you and your dad geeking off together really makes me miss my own dad. Keep up the good work.

I just wish I knew how to get the “magic smoke” back into the device once I let it out. 😂

My dad is an Electronics Engineer . He used to have his small lab and factory back in Venezuela. I learned electronics there. You made travel back in time because that same soldering iron is the one I used to solder with quite often as a kid. Thank you

This is so adorable. Even at that age, they're still like "See, daddy? See?" I hope my daughter is still showing me stuff like that when she grows up.

honestly glad they didn't rubberize the grip since most rubberized coating doesn't last long and gets sticky. -this is cool, I grew up learning on an old maroon soldering gun and it had a light.

My dad was good at his trade, and I have those skills too. Sadly, my dad passed many years ago and I miss him. I would give anything to have him playing a part in my life. I am so glad you still have yours, and ittruly warms my heart to see the two of you together doing stuff. Thank you!

I love the bond you and your father have, and enjoy seeing you nerd out together!

LOL! This is so cool! My dad had one of those cordless soldering irons my gosh, 30-35 years ago? I used it for EVERYTHING! Just a couple months ago I was lamenting that I didn't snatch it before my mom got rid of all of his "junk" after he passed away in 2003. So HUGE props for bringing that up and letting me know they're still making them!! WHOOP!! WHOOP!!

I think people worry too much about the fumes, you're not breathing in lead, you're not heating it hot enough to get lead into the air, the flux itself is more of a worry. Also not washing your hands after handling solder and then eating lunch/putting your fingers in your mouth is what's gonna get you. It's wise to be cautious but there's literally loads of guys out there that had their heads in fumes all day long for decades and they were fine. The lead in the exhaust fumes and in the paint back in the day were the real danger 😂 love this video, your setup is awesome ❤

Something that you may find useful since you put the monitor arm on the workbench - they make laptop trays that attach to VESA mounts. Since you may not always need the computer at the workbench, this might save you needing to find room for a keyboard/mouse/trackpad.

btw last video you mentioned a chair - consider getting a regular-old-chair that has a high adjustable height (sometimes they get marketed as stools, but they have armrests and feel more chair-like). I used to work IT and we had some sales staff that wanted standing desks, which lead to a want for leaning-chairs (wierd chairs you lean on to sit-stand-ish on them), bouncy-chairs with springs in them, lol I've seen it all. What they ended up liking best were these stupid cheap chairs that raise up really high. They could use it as a sitting-chair, then when in standing desk mode, they could raise the chair and use it like a stool when needed without having to bring the whole damned desk back down. Usually I'd see desks in standing mode with a chair near-by in standing-height, and they'd go back and forth throughout the day but the desks almost never went up and down after that, so... maybe people don't want adjustable desks, they just want tall desks with equally tall chairs, lol.

Boy this brings back memories. Iso-Tip was a big step in tech at the time. I had one of the original ones when they first came out. Being able to go work on an aircraft and doing wiring repairs without stringing extension cords was a major life improvement. OK so where is your Soldapullt hand solder sucker? You got to have one on the bench! I still have two and used one last week. Thanks for the memories!

how nice to see such great interaction between a father and a son.

Watch out for the LEDs on the bench as a serious source of noise. I think EEBlog Dave had issues with noisy PSUs on some strips. Great to see you and your dad talking about the old days. Love the channel.

My dad's an Electrical Engineer. He had a really gun soldiering iron and a solider sucker, etc. I learned how to soldering when I was like 8... A needed skill.

I stopped buying canned air long time ago. I'just grabbed a small air compressor with a ~5 liter airtank, a pressure regulator, and a rectractable hose with a drum, and some moisuter separator stuff. it's not quiet, when filling up the tank, but i don't need to spend and blow gases out, no frezeeing, and I can also pump up balls/car and bike tires, etc :)

Highly recommend getting some kind of light on an adjustable arm as well. Super useful for working on electronics since you can move the light around to exactly where you want it

I'm very happy to see that you can do that with your dad, taking some of his prior evolving things, I would like to have the fortune to do the same but unfortunatelly it didn't happen.

Wire label maker, Magnifying lamp and a fume hood, hazmat cabinet for acetone, isopropyl, resins, paints, adhesives,sealants, and a hazmat disposal bin. A solid bus bar for heat gun, etc. built into the work bench, a under counter drawer of flush cuts, forceps, precision screwdrivers, T pins, fox and hound, rolls of wire and bins for heat shrink, fuses, a couple bread boards, cheat sheet conversions and charts for wires and hardware sizing as well as resistor ID, etc. cheesecloth, lentfree rags, Megger for bonding, burnishing brushes, alodine, still trying to think of what to add. Could always get a lab coat or apron for the upcoming lab videos.

If you're looking for a monitor on that workbench, maybe look for a small one like 20 or 22 inch and more importantly which has a VGA connector. Those can be had for less than 100 euro. Also one with multiple HDMI inputs (or use some HDMI switch on the desk) as you will see your will switch inputs quite often when testing some Raspberry Pi, small PC or maybe even some video switcher/recorder like Black Magic has. You did mention to mount some LED strips, but those still have quite some 'directional light'. I did buy some TL-like LED lights for under my shelves. Those are really cheap and give way less directional light but just flood your bench which is what you want. Also place some Ethernet switch on your desk. I do miss lots and lots of power outlets on your desk. You never can have enough of those, so maybe add some 19" power strips on the side poles of your desk. Especially one which has a power switch per outlet. Only one, as it can be really frustrating when using some power adapters blocking (or pressing) the flip switch, but for other cords it really is practical to be able to turn stuff on/off instead of pulling a cable. I also have some galvanic isolated 1-to-1 transformer. This is much more safe for your own to work on stuff or connect probes to your scope (or PC for programming tools)

Great branch, dad & Spencer. Trifecta!

This makes me miss my dad....both of you are great and find it really cool. Keep up the good work

Finally someone found it out for me! Finally I know that *old tools are better!* Had no chance for a comparison myself as my seriously battered 1979 Weller soldering station still stubbornly refuses to die. Soldering microscope is an MBS-10, no clue how old that is.

Love the new bench ! Maybe a dim bulb tester, variac:)

Love the old record needle cleaner

I have the Pinecil too and it's great but I didn't even know there was such a thing as a cordless soldering iron. Thanks for demoing!

I built an Imsai 8080 computer, several S100 boards and a Heath oscilloscope using the *original* from 1971 (I think I bought it in 1972 when I got my job at the campus computer center.) I still have it somewhere and it's batteries and tips have been replaced many times. Except for temp control, none of my current irons are as convenient. Oh and mine was black.

The nerd in me envies each centimeter of fun that your new office became!! Awesome 😎 🏆

Your bench is coming along nicely! And thanks for the trip down memory lane :)

perhaps add a swivel lamp? I used to have it on my bench, about 15W LED so it was quite powerful, and it came always handy. Especially when I was restoring / recapping lots of tube equipment :) About the soldering irons, I have a proper hakko soldering station, that I rarely use now, I only use it when doing SMD rework. I am now daily driving a really cheap Chinese soldering iron for $10, that I got as a backup (and expected to be really bad). But I've been using it for 3 years now and I discovered that it heats really quickly (1.5-2 minutes max to full temp), tips last forever (still have the original tip on), has lots of thermal mass for being that cheap and small. Also it has temperature regulation that is reasonably good. I recapped probably 20 vintage radios with it, and it always worked perfectly, even when soldering to a chassis. Before that I used to own a 35W Weller soldering iron, that had no regulation, took ages to heat up (probably close to 5 minutes), and didn't perform well. Also it ate tips like crazy, despite my best efforts. And it cost like $40 in 2012, when I started with electronics :)

"I got a bag of cables, just in case I need them some day": ah, a man after my own heart! 99% of the time, that bag is just taking up valuable space, but it's so satisfying when you need something, and realise it's in that mass of old cables and dongles. Just the other day, I had a need for an RS232 null modem, and sure enough I had one.

you should get your dad's initials on your set of soldering irons :D

WOW…Thank you for the super quick reply…fantastic…I Pray you and your family as well as your channels continue to be richly blessed.

I remember ordering one of those soldering irons when they first came out in the 80s. I quickly discovered that they weren't much use outdoors when I tried to repair a mic cable while up a tree at a remote broadcast. The heating element was no match for the ambient temperature of an English summer! 😀 I think I pulled the element and just used it as a flashlight. 🤓

I've had several Iso-Tip irons over the years but stopped using them because of how fast the tips wear out and how delicate the tips are, as well as the short run-time. I now use a Pinecil with a Ryobi battery and holder I 3D printed. It's almost as portable and has more features than the Iso-Tip. It does lack a LED light but until you brought it up I never thought about it and honestly I don't really miss it.

I worked at an audio post house with 4 machine rooms on 3 floors. The engineering director had 1/4” patch points in the patch bays to plug a Weller soldering iron into. His way of solving portability. Like your dad described there used to be a lot more soldering in trouble shooting. Cheers 👍

Great bench! Note: the word "soldering" contains an "L" so us UK people, you know, we errr pronounce it with one. But you do you Jeff Geering.

I have used Ergotron arms in a few projects at work and can confirm they are very durable and reliable.

I love seeing videos of you two geeking out! What an amazing relationship you both have!

Haha, swear I have the same plastic bag with SCSI-cables in my parents cellar! :D

if you plan to do any high-voltage repairs (power supply, etc), you should add an Isolation Transformer to your list of bench stuff to buy. Just be careful that it offers true isolation - most modern ones for medical (Tripplite for example) tie the input and output grounds together, which can get you killed (other YT videos explain why and how to modify it). Also helpful (but expensive) are high-voltage differential probes for your scope. Some recommend 2 isolation transformers, 1 for DUT, and 1 for scope. Seems (to me) like you could alternatively just use a battery-powered scope, but "the internet" is still arguing about that.

Iso-tip should add a RiscV architecture in the soldering iron, so we can compile the kernel every month.

For the LED strip may I recommend BTF-lighting RGBW strips and zigbee controllers. I did a bunch of "smart" lights in my house and the BTF look the best and the controllers and very responsive.

you need a strip of LED's under the shelf to light your work space. I love that.

I tried mounting LED strips under the shelves of my workbench but found that it wasn't enough for me either. For additional lighting, I'm personally using an LED panel that's marketed for photography/videography and have it mounted on a flexible microphone arm with a desk clamp. It can get really bright, has a high CRI, adjustable color temp, and I can focus it right where I need it most. For air filtering, I tried making my own desktop filter with a computer fan and a Joby GorillaPod but couldn't get it exactly where I needed it due to center of gravity issues. I upgraded that to a KOTTO desktop fume extractor. It has a flexible suction hose that you can position wherever you need it.

Have not had mine for years but might have new tips left. If I can find them I’ll send them to you

I got a usb soldering iron with a 20000 mah powerbank, i can usr it on the go easely but i can also just plug it in the wall, love it

My dad and I used to have that same soldering iron ❤. My workbench looks a bit different. I love the Siglent range of equipment and have some python scripts for automated test setups. The only thing I am missing on the power supply is having a keypad to quickly select a different voltage or current limit. Using the encoder knob to change from 8.2V 2A to 3.3V 20 mA takes quite some time.

Lovely concept, thank you!

Lovely video with Papa Jeff there. I love the warm relationship you two enjoy.

How to be Smarter Every Day with Jeff

One thing that's noticeably missing is a microscope. Everything these days is so small that a microscope is useful for nearly everything. I prefer an optical (tri-nocular so a camera could be added), but some people use a digital-only. After I got one, I use it for way more than I thought I would. It's also very handy (along with the sharp tweezers I use for smd parts) for sliver extraction too - I've pulled countless slivers and thorns out of my hand under the "soldering" microscope!

Jeff Geerling!

This is a great random 'sponsor' I never even knew who made that style! Back around the time those were released I purchased a radioshack 'coldheat' :( it was so baddddd, they used 2 carbon electrodes and the idea of creating a short circuit between them at the tip to generate the heat.. brilliant.. you could easily fry the item you tried working on, using that tool.

Some stuff that came to my mind that you might be missing: hand tools like pliers, screw drivers, side cutters, wire strippers, etc. Also maybe some heat shrink tubing and a hot air gun for it. On devices: maybe an LCR meter or a simple component tester, those are very cheap these days and can tell you what size capacitor or inductor you have at hand. For soldering I’d recommend getting good flux and maybe "copper ribbons" for desoldering. A desoldering pump can also be useful. A fume extractor is definitely a good idea.

If you work on computers, a logic analyzer is a must. So much equipment now can be accessed and controlled via USB: Oscilloscope, multi-meter, logic analyzer, waveform generator, even power supplies. Many have Python apps you can hack.

Why did this video hit me in the feels? And cool desk

i recently built my new bench almost like yours just a little wider, with a equipment shelf above and a free worktable. for me it was important that the first shelf was high enough to be able to put a hifi equipment im working on, on its side and still be able to slide below. unfourtainly this rises the shelfheight in most cases 40 to 45cm above the table. this strains my neck quite a bit as i have to look up all the time when measuring stuff. now i tend to rather use a worse portable dmm over my top notch bench dmm because of this, let alone the scope. if i ever rebuild my workbench, i definately make the table surface deeper, from just 60cm to 85..100cm so i can place the equipment infront of me where my eye vision is 99% of the time anyways. less critical equipment like "set and forget" stuff (psu, function generators etc.) can stay on the shelf above. but scope and dmm gotta be on the table. at 100cm i still have 50..60 to work on stuff and 35..40 for equipment which should be deep enough. next is having multiple soldering stations at once, it is most of the time more annoying than convenient. i got a soldering iron, hot tweezers, hot air station and desoldering station on the table. (well the handpieces in their holders anyways, the control units are on shelf above to save space.) and those damn wires are allways are in the way. maybe some dog leash mechanism above that pulls they wire away when not in use would be a good addition. having a wireless soldering iron like yours or more recently a "TS1C" would be a good, until you gotta do a bigger job where you need more power than the battery/supercap can hold. a position for the most commonly used screwdrivers on your dominant hand side without reaching behind something or needing to stand up is also on my priority list. right now i positioned mine on the left side ( Im right handed...) and on the wall all the way back. worst decision ever, built right into the furniture and if working on mains equipment is a thing, a galvanically isolated variac with optionally a dim bulb tester mode is a must, for safety and convenience.

SCSI… the flashbacks! I remember all the addressing and terminating and wondering why one drive is offline because of a lose connection on HP workstations “back in the day,” and honestly, I don’t miss that one bit. 😊

in poland we have a ZDZ transformer soldering iron, it orginated in the 70s and it's still popular today!

Look into the Weller magnastat soldering irons, I believe they have been available from the 70's. I can still get all the parts for mine or even buy a new one. It's not wireless, but it's a design that stuck around for many years, maybe there's something about soldering irons that enabled this, you rarely see such long product lifetimes in any other market

Man, seeing them SCSI cables makes me think of the daisy-chained external CD-ROM(a whole 1x speed) and 56k modem I had hooked up to my old A1200 via PCMCIA-to-SCSI adapter. The software drivers were called Squirrel, no idea why that sticks out in my mind.

I have 3 Iso-tip soldering irons. (two grey, one black) Oldest one is ~25 years old. And I never remember seeing an orange one.

Thanks!

I set up my workbench (used loosely, stuff is everywhere) about a year ago. I had purchased a vented hobby paint-booth system with PWM fans (standard fans in case they were loud, I wanted the ability to replace with some extra noctua or bequiet fans I have lying around). It's case is just a metal box enclosure with fans in it, so if the plastic front parts break it's no big deal, but I did find that the extra LED lights on there were suprisingly useful, and I've done a little electronics work using that to pull ventalation up and out a window (work area is in a basement but this came with flexible ducting that did well enough to get me started). Not sure if that's helpful or not, but it was an affordable starting point for me and I could "see" the fumes move well enough that I didn't have too much concern. Luis Rossman also had some great older videos of his repair shop which helped me visualize what I'd need to get started, I believe he uses something similar to what you showed, because the vacuum could be easily repositioned to wherever the sodder point was going to be (rather than needing bigger fan/fans that can pull air from a large area). Noise wise, I wonder how bad those are though? Hopefully they sponsor-drop you one so we can find out together ^^. Great vid on the soddering iron btw, glad they sent it - fun and well fitting content!

Wow Smarter Every Day

Some old gear never goes away. I still have a number of working devices that use vacuum tubes...

I still own/use that iso tip model. Granted it has had several battery replacements

0:36 lol :D you made my day, thanks

that coffee mug screams late 90s book store.

Other than that 3rd tier, your bench looks a lot like the one I built just after I retired. I had a lot more test gear though, as I intended to fix DC to light equipment (Stopped before fiber optic equipment as finding used test gear is expensive.) Good job with the bench. I had access to rechargeable soldering irons, but preferred my Weller. Most TV studio repair did not require a soldering iron while in service. We swapped out, and took failed equipment back to the bench.

I am more then jelous. My workbench is a hodgepodge of everythig all cramped together. You asked about what could be added and I have one or two ideas but the #1 thingI would add to that is one of those little coffee warmer hot plates. I miss placed mine but that was used so much when it was on my bench.

I had a feeling the tool set with the mirror was for inspecting turntable stylus/needle. Very cool to see one that was used for real at a radio station. Thank you guys! 🙏

Please try a couple of fume extractors and do a review. You are way more health conscious and honest than anyone I know who would do the reviews and you know most online reviews are just upset over prices.

Cordless soldering irons are critical if you have to make a repair on a live circuit or one that can not see a path to ground.

IDK if you already have one, you REALLY SHOULD get a a decent MICROSCOPE that you can send to your computer or SOME WAY to get it into your video... PLUS you'd probably want to look at the microscope on a decent monitor and not some tiny eye pieces ( but having one with BOTH a monitor AND STEREOSCOPIC Eyepieces is the BEST Way to go... ESPECIALLY if you think you're gonna have a lot of VERY SMALL soldiering tasks.. having 3D/stereo vision is SUPER HELPFUL!!) But I'm not sure just how much soldiering/repair/modding you plan on doing but I know I LOVE watching repair vids because I get to learn about what each type of component does and when the repair is a success I honestly DO give a loud "ALRIGHT!!!" when it turns back on (without any of that magic smoke LOL) - So I know I would love to see you do repairs and mods, but so far it doesn't seem like you do much of it... but ya never know what might be your next interest :)

Those ends are Centronics. Used on SCSI and Parallel printers! :)

Couldn't agree more about older tools. I just keep going back to my older soldering iron because it just does a better job than most of these new fangled versions.

In UK / EU Antex is the company that still makes the exact same models as the one I bought in the 80s. I had that one for over 20 years.

Fun video! My dad was an EE, I was EE (then a mix of hardware and software). I’m closer to your dad’s age, so most of that old stuff looks very familiar. I used to spend a good part of my youth at RadioShack or at the workbench.

I may have a couple of SCSI cables somewhere in my office.

Its good they never rubberized, so many of those coatings broke down into a sticky mess.

Hell I have one of those Iso-tip soldering irons from the late 70's. I still have my ungar soldering iron from the 60's. It still works with the original heat cartridge. My desk neat and organized, NOPE.

I have a new soldering iron AND it has light: T85 - little led light, nice to have but not enough light.

I had a gas jet flame SOLDERING IRON!! was better than the rechargeable battery garbage form the 90s and early 2000s!! I still have it and all its tips which are still like new after 20 years of use!! Sure this electronic iron might be okay for soldering stations but my gas 1 is better in every single way. It has different temperature ranges controlled by the flame strength and adjustable distance from the tip of the flame to the bottom of the tips.

I have a parkside rechargable wireless soldering iron. which has LED lights, and a charge indicator.

A lot of that test equipment could be replaced by a USB device. I have a Digilent Analog Discovery 2. It covers all those bases. Not to nearly the same precision, but given that it's a small device, it takes up practically no space. I do actually have a really nice oscilloscope, but it is one of the thicker ones, and takes up a ton of desk space. Overall, I'll take small and compact any day.

dude, same, did a LOT on mac, ran a DNS server at home at first, then ran websites off old junky stuff. it was so much fun

Does your old Dazzle video capture box use the iCompression A/V encoder?

I'm currently embarking on replacing the battery in a Braun electric toothbrush. I've got only basic soldering experience and tools, wish I had that workbench.

Hello Jeff…thankfully I found your channel through Smarter Everyday…and I’m really enjoying your videos…as a quick question…the “brackets or mounts” you are using to create your shelves really caught my attention… Can you share where I may be able to purchase those… Thank you in advance and may God bless you and your family.

I really like your channel. The topics are always very interesting, especially the broadcasting ones, I follow all your 3 channels. I grew up without a dad and watching you and your dad doing things together just fulfill that emptiness inside my heart. Love you guys.

0:56 no way. I know a guy who picked up a few of these things at an auction of course the nickel cadmium batteries in the insides were kaput's and crowded beyond belief. Every time I see him I think about my wall razor and that I needed replaced the battery in it and how they look so much alike. Towing away with the idea of lithium ion replacement but don't know how to do that with a 1.2 V cell.

To someone who just started his 20s this video felt like reading the book "the soul of a new machine". Looking at machines I've never seen before, which looks simple and complex and interesting at the same time I learnt so much and it gave a glimpse of how much engineering already has happened to reach today's advancements.

I wonder if the replacement/upgrade LED bulb for the full size Maglight flashlights might present a n alternative for swapping out the incandescent light bulb. I don't expect it would improve service time on the soldering iron, as I expect that the Incandescent bulb is a trivial use of power compared t the iron element. I don't think that bulb will do it, it is held in place by the flange with a screwed on sleeve, vs being screwed into the socket that it looks like these are, but it may mean simply looking for an LED bulb in the market.

@jeff where did you get those plastic shelf brackets which slot into those wood boards?

I have two of the orange ones as well. I had no idea they were still around/available. Amazing.

No matter how much light you have, you want more. No, more. More. That's almost enough, now triple it. You're half-way there. (repeat)

It’s great you had a dad like yours. Mine told me to lay off computers when I did my engineering degree in 2004, and now, all they do is type type type over whatsapp