Tools and tips
Tools
What Fromel recommends.
Soldering
- Hakko FX-888DX
- Kester 44 62/36/2 silver-bearing, 0.025″, 1 lb
- Kester 44 60/40, 0.025″, ¾ oz
- Soder-Wick #4
- Solder sucker, only for PTP or turret/eyelet work
- Hakko CHP-170 flush cutters (2-pack)
- Klein 11055EP wire stripper
- Angled needle-nose pliers
Measuring
- FNIRSI 2C23T (meter, scope and signal generator)
- Fluke 117
- SWANLAKE alligator leads (5-pack)
Enclosure
- DeWalt 20V MAX drill/driver
- 3/16″ cobalt drill bits
- Neiko automatic center punch
- Scotch masking tape and a Sharpie to mark holes
- Klein 85808 screwdriver set
- Klein 9/16″ hollow-shaft nut driver
Safety
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Tips
- Rate each part at 3 × the max watts the designer shows.
- In parallel, the lower value runs hotter. A bank of one value shares the heat evenly; check a mixed bank's hottest part on the parallel page.
- Aluminium-clad wirewounds reach their rating only on a heatsink. Mount them flat with thermal paste.
- Keep an air-core coil clear of steel: a steel screw through it raises the inductance, an aluminium plate beside it lowers it. Use nylon hardware.
- Switch current is √(P / R): 50 W into 8 Ω is 2.5 A. Rate the switches above it.
- Before the first power-up, meter input to output in every setting. Never run a valve amp into an open output.