Daughter and I designed and built a dolls house together when she was about 5 and she used the vibro saw on her own (loosely supervised) for cutting up the stair treads (there were quite a few as it was a 'town house' design <g>) and any of the other smaller bits. That said, she was a reasonably bright 5 year old.
She also was quite good at soldering (at around the same age) and when she was a bit older, using the pillar drill and arc welding etc. ;-)
With the right PPE, the right instruction and the right safety guards in place and working, there is no reason why such things can't be done.
Cheers, T i m
p.s. I wonder if any of the above was a seed for her skills in chainsaw carving. ;-)
Tim. Not sure what you mean by a 'vibrating saw'. I'm sure you don't mean a multi-tool. On a related note, I've never soldered before. Could you recommend one to me from RapidOnline please? And the type of soldering consumables I'll need.
That wasn?t me. You?ve messed up the attributions.
I presumed NY was talking about a multi-tool type oscillating blade tool. Very good at cutting rigid stuff, rubbish for seriously cutting flesh. If you?ve ever had a plaster removed in A&E a vibrating saw is commonly used for this reason. Of course if you?re determined you could probably do yourself some mischief but the odd flesh wound is part of the learning process. ;-)
I think he did. ;-)
Go on to YouTube and search for ?Big Clive? and ?soldering?. He?s got some good basic soldering advise there and easy to watch a video than read wordy explanations.
and don't get too hung up about lead free solder which can be the spawn of the devil. Get 60/40 Tin/Lead Rosin (Flux) Core Solder and life will be easier.
Example
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Smaller quantities available on Ebay Completely random example
Possibly ok but you are not exactly soldering miniature electronic components so a bit thicker may be better. However if you do get 0.7mm and find it too thin just take a length, bend it in half and lightly twist the 2 strands together, or even bend it in half again and twist the 4 strands. Solder wire is VERY soft.
No, I think we call them that but they may be (also) called 'scroll saw'.
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It may depend on what you fancy doing and what budget you have as to what kit (the iron especially) you may need?
If you are an electronics / soldering nooby it might be useful to start with a good quality kit and of something you might actually use, even if only as a novelty.
Something daughter soldered up and we still used daily is a kitchen timer:
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Or eBay 131069634133 etc.
It's a bit fiddly because of the number and size of the LEDs so maybe work to that after something easier (fewer components, bigger tracks etc).
This could be good and has been tested by many voting Leave on the last referendum: ;-)
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For the tools, I'd go for one of these for cleaning the iron tip:
eBay:
323858281528
Some lead free flux core solder, probably 1mm OD might be a good compromise (you need it fine enough so you can use a bit and not flood the joint but big enough to be a big joint without having to feed in yards).
One of the couple of things that might be worth not skimping on (or not buying really cheap) is some flush cutting side cutters. These are for trimming the legs off the through hole components after soldering and (light) wire cutting etc.
The other is the soldering iron itself. I think 25W is considered reasonably general for light electronics and something 'known' that you can get spares for could be a better investment. Also 'adjustable temperature' is very handy for fine tuning the job, solder, speed of soldering on. If it's a good temperature rig, a higher wattage can be handy with a bigger tip for the heavier jobs.
You can get direct mains powered irons, or low voltage that typically come was a 'soldering station' that the iron also sits in whilst in use. You can also get lighter fluid 'gas' irons that can be very handy when away from mains. Not really recommended for small electronics (but I have used such when pushed).
I have had a Weller soldering iron since my BT days that I still use and it's over 50 years old now and still going fine. That said, it's a bit like triggers broom, in that it's had a couple of replacement parts but they are still available now. ;-)
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Antex are another known brand:
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There are also loads of Chinese brands that are often copies of more expensive things that are still good irons and because they are common, spares readily available:
I have something like this (bought s/h faulty and repaired):
eBay: 124244110066
And I've found it very good.
A fairly fine chisel point tip would be a good one to start with. Maybe 1-1.5mm wide. It needs to have enough mass to carry the heat to the joint easily but not be too big to get around component legs.
I'm sure others will add other advice and their own personal preferences. ;-)
If you come up with anything, run it past the people here before buying.
Just tried adding that solder to the basket and the site tells me, I need to have a Credit Account. And the solder will be removed from the basket at check out.
"Please note: This product contains lead and rosin. As of 1st March 2018 the supply of solder containing lead at a concentration above the relevant limit as set out under Article 67 (by virtue of Annex XVII of the REACH regulation) is restricted to professional use only."
That's why you buy from Ebay where the sellers of the same will sell to anyone.
Worth checking Lidl. They recently had a rechargeable Parkside version of a Dremel on offer for under £20- including some accessories. I bought the same one some time back and I?m very pleased with it. Only ?niggle? is the Quill thread / dia seems to be different to any of the others on the market so getting a 3 jaw Chuck has proved impossible so far. (I ?ve a couple of other, mains powered, ones which I was able to get chucks for. )
depends on the blade. I'd look at what the mfr recommends. My Dremel does 33,000rpm with a max blade size of under 2". I think that's excessive for a sawblade, but it's worth noting that one can run sawblades at way above rated speed, albeit with potential for problems.
Especially when a tool is in a child's hands you need to consider what happens if something hard is whacked into the blade. The casing must contain the flying spinning sawblade.
Vibrating saws only move the blade a little. Result is they don't slice through flesh. They come in more than one format. The oscillating saw waggles side to side, and I've not tried chopping a finger off but I'm not convinced the movement is small enough to be safe. There are also vibrating fretsaws that are child friendly.
Iron: depends what you do & budget.
Consumables: solder, flux. Both must be for electronics, not plumbing. Also a bit of wet card / denim / cellulose sponge etc to clean the tip.
Re irons, almost any iron of around 25w is fine for a beginner if you're not soldering connectors with it. I've used some real junk on occasion, even the one with a nail for a tip worked well enough. I wouldn't recommend the little 15w things for general use.
Stay away from soldering guns & gas irons. They have their uses but as a first soldering tool they're just a bad idea.
Leaded solder beats unleaded, but either works.
Effective wire cutters are cheap, but cheap ones damage the first time iron wire is cut. Even lower on the curve are ones where the blades don't line up. Anything from Rapid should be ok.
A 1/4" bit is good for general use, but you can use pretty much anything. Even brass plug pins work ok.
You can get all the tools you need from a car boot sale for a few quid, but do at least check the iron is earthed before plugging in. Very old solder is not recommended for beginners, soldered joints must be spotlessly clean.
Tell me about it - I purchased some (finger/toe) nail scissor/clippers a few months back and after failing to cut anything I examined the blades :(
BTW one type I do recommend (for finger/toe nails) are the Scholl branded one I purchased later
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Slightly back on topic I would recommend both a "precision" type cutter AND something more heavy duty - from someone who has the T shirt from attempting to cut mains wire with a small pair of cutters before deciding to get off his arse to fetch something more appropriate :)
I had a lovely pair of close side cutters I'd had and used for *years* and because they were good and seemed to cut anything and easily, one day I pushed that too far. ;-(
I think it might have been the time after I pushed them too far as they failed very easily.
They may have been from my BT says (so over 45 yeas old) as I had my name melted inside the handle grip. I managed to find a clean identical pair on eBay and swapped the grips over from my broken pair. ;-)
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