Desoldering Braid/Soldering Wick

Looking to buy Desoldering Braid/Soldering Wick and unsure what ones to buy? I was in the same spot and I still kind of am, but after buying my first purchase I kind of have the gist of what I require from my desoldering braid.

Firstly, check out some information on what type of rosins there are. This link helped me, quite quickly:

Choosing the right Desoldering Braid – Equipment, Tools & Supplies / Soldering, Desoldering, Rework Products – Engineering and Component Solution Forum – TechForum │ Digi-Key
https://forum.digikey.com/t/choosing-the-right-desoldering-braid/1723

It depends on what kind of repairs you’ll use it for. If you tend to use it for more general soldering removal then any 3.5-5mm width roll should do, also with that kind of size you probably would like the braid to contain rosin so as to help you remove the solder much quicker, rather than applying it yourself, plus there’s no harm in applying more if you require. The benefits of this is it speeds up the process, saves on your own rosin and as you’ve got the space to fit the larger roll, I’m assuming you can clean it up after.

Then there’s the ‘No clean’ options, which is probably best for small jobs and you can use whatever kind of rosin you want.

Solder Wicks | Desoldering Braid | RS
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/power-tools-soldering-welding/soldering/solder-wicks/

Desoldering Braid / Solder Removal – Mouser United Kingdom
https://www.mouser.co.uk/c/tools-supplies/soldering/desoldering-braid-solder-removal/

Desoldering Braid, Wick, Pumps | Electronic Components Distributor DigiKey
https://www.digikey.co.uk/en/products/filter/desoldering-braid-wick-pumps/265

Desoldering Braid, Wick, Pumps | Electronic Components Distributor DigiKey
https://www.digikey.co.uk/en/products/filter/desoldering-braid-wick-pumps/265

Amazon.co.uk : 5mm
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=5mm&rh=n%3A15086505031&ref=nb_sb_noss

Desoldering Braid 5.3mm for sale | eBay
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=Desoldering+Braid+5.3mm&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=Desoldering+Braid+4mm&_osacat=0&LH_PrefLoc=2

Syncthing

Ever thought about how you could set up your own mini cloud at home? Syncthing is essentially that, a powerful synchronization tool.

You install it on your device like a smartphone, set up which directory to synchronize then link it up with your preferred destination, lets say your PC. Capable of working when it’s on a specific network (so it knows not to start trying to synchronize when you connect to some random wifi network), so yes, for example when you get home, have your PC running, it will synchronize your photos from your phone to a folder on your computer. Simple. Smash your phone and you’re pictures are all backed up! Without it going through the internet!

Scanning

If you require almost instantaneous file change updates then you can change the watching delay from the default 10 seconds to say 1, within the config file. Make sure you’re also changing the correct folder variables.

fsWatcherDelayS="1"

Make sure fsWatcherEnabled is enabled to true also.

fsWatcherEnabled="true"

Syncthing Configuration

You can find the SyncThing configuration file at:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Syncthing

Using netsh to show saved wireless passwords (Windows)

If you have forgotten the wireless password of a network you have previously connected to you can view this by going into the wireless networks properties, but a simple command line utility also do this for older connected networks.

View wireless network profiles

netsh wlan show profiles

Show passwords in clear text

netsh wlan show profiles name=[profile name] key=clear

For more

Using Netsh Commands for Wi-Fi Management in Windows 10 | ServerWatch
https://www.serverwatch.com/guides/using-netsh-commands-for-wi-fi-management-in-windows-8/

‘Passky’, an open source password manager

The problem with password managers like Bitwarden is they can become what LastPass was. Suddenly they’re going to close down their free service, because that time has come where they’re big enough to not need the free advertisement that comes with being a free provider.

To be continued..

Browser Extention

Passky – Chrome Web Store
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/passky/ngncpgfjhnkgfcjamgljadegplonbihi

Other Links and References

https://alternativeto.net/software/passky/about/

QR Scanner (Privacy Friendly)

Looking for an open source, trustworthy (in terms of knowing exactly what it does and what it’s capable of) QR scanner, then check out ‘Privacy Friendly QR-Scanner App’.

It’s quite sad of the amount of downloads for QR/bar code scanners on the Google Play store filled with ads, trackers and potentially malicious background activates, some of them are downloaded in the millions.

Some people though know that it does not have to be that way. You can download it via their website or via their F-Droid page (if you want to know more about F-Droid, you can read it here) or even Google Play.

Links & References

F-Droid – Free and Open Source Android App Repository

I was looking for open source Android apps to possibly replace some of my standard apps that are filled with adware or oddly very large with too many extra permissions which makes me assume there’s something happening in the background that it shouldn’t.

F-Droid is basically the same as the Google Play store, but for free and open source apps. You can download it via their website at https://f-droid.org/en/, in fact you can use any QR code scanner to get the link, and install it using your system file viewer/manager.

Bromite (Android browser)

Wanted a Chromium browser, free from the hands of Google and their ads and tracking. I could not find an ungoogled-chrome for android, but this is an equal equivalent. I was using Brave, but found this to be a bit too pushy with its features.

Bromite is open source, free and you can download it via their website.

https://www.bromite.org/

Chromium configuration pages, useful ‘Experiments’ to turn on/off

Chrome/Chromium has an “Experiments” page that you can change some of its features. For example if you do not use the Search tabs function (a little button on the very top right next to the minimize, this is where you are able to switch it off.

Simply type in the address bar:

chrome://flags/

Another page is called “Chrome URLs”, this has a list of all the internal chrome pages available. It lists pages such as //versions, to see the browser version or the known ones like //extensions, //downloads and the above //flags page. Further below you’ll also see available commands which can be executed by visiting a page, for example chrome://restart/ (as the name implies, it restarts chrome).

‘Experiments’ to turn on/off

QR Generator

I personally disabled the QR Generator, I never used it, if I do suddenly have a need to use it, I can return and switch it on, but for now it seems useless to have on. If I’m sharing something, I’ll just share the URL itself. This is more of a fancy way of sharing something or if you’re using it for posters or flyers and it’s a little too long to type.

Smooth Scrolling

I forced this from default to enabled, I honestly saw no real difference, maybe it was on, but my scrolling still feels like it could be more smoother, anyway.

Experimental QUIC protocol

A new protocol that essentially uses UDP, but improves some of the negatives of UDP and the positives of TCP. In 2021 IETF did release a proposed standard on it so it’s official. The purpose is pretty straight forward, cut down the time it takes to establish connection, thus speed up the whole process and also lesson the the congestion over our lines.

Remove Tabsearch Button

Never used it. It’s the icon that appears left of the minimize button, useful if you want to search tabs, however oddly just searches the tab titles, I guess only useful if you have hundreds of open tabs. Alternatively I much prefer the extension Search all Tabs by lunu.bounir as that actually search all your tabs, as if you’re finding something on a page, but every tab.

Bypass Windows 10/11 “Let’s Connect You to a Network” installation step

This is a just in case, if you find yourself with no internet and the latest installation packages seem to force you to connect to the internet. Here’s your options.