@W5VO The hot air would be a challenge I guess.

not worth it for a single chip worth a couple $$

@jippie Hot air only stations aren't that expensive

I'd put that on a "tools to strongly consider getting" list

not necessarily a Metcal.... you don't need something super expensive

@W5VO What is the typical use case, exept salvaging an ATmega from a scrap PCB?

why not just a heat gun?

my soldering iron came with 1

@jippie they can be used to put on really small pitch parts

and shrink plastic around wires

and heat up your kaffe

also use to stress test your circuits

@jippie It's really good at part removal (SMT and through-hole), and you can reflow solder paste with it. It lets you do parts with large thermal pads easily.

also worth mentioning is that it is good at removing a good part from a good board without ruining either.

@W5VO @EwokNightmares so wat are the properties to look for in a decent hot air station?

@jippie Heat + air.... I'm not sure that I've really noticed a big difference in the effectiveness of any of the hot air stations I've used

but I also don't think I've used a really nice one either

I've used Aoyue branded ones with good success

an airflow adjustment is really good to have... different tips (although you'll probably just use one)

I just got the Tenma hot air station from Farnell for ~111 pounds. I just put on a 24 QFN easily, no worries. I have a lot of experience with hot air rework though, using an Oki brand one. Both had heat and airspeed settings. Basically, just get one with all the knobs and maybe a digital display (the Tenma one has one actually! awesome). Came with 4 different air nozzle tips too

I just had a brain fart about the use of Open drain output devices.. if you have a resister array of pull-ups, and feed the signals into for example a Hex inverter buffer, you have a 'logical' and good signal on the output! What I mean is, changing what is an "active low" to an "active high" using inverting buffers. I wish I knew this ages ago in my undergrad final project :(

mm.. i'm having trouble refreshing the main EE.SE questions list/page

I love how people post questions with massive screamo titles, demanding immediate satisfaction for their abstract, off topic, poorly researched questions

@KyranF PLEASE CLOSE MY QUESTION IMMEDIATELY! ALSO I WOULD LIKE MANY DOWNVOTES!

IT"S URGENT!!!

haha