Tag: Electronics

Becoming A Jack Of All Trades 005- November 2025

I had big plans for November. The month started off well by changing a dryer hose that wasn’t working anymore. It was at this point the good part of the month ended and the rest of the month began. Without going into too much detail November turned into the “critter” month. Perhaps I should say “critters”. Every amount of spare time I had in November went to dealing with that problem and while the situation is better it’s still an ongoing endeavor for hopefully not too much longer.

Canning still bizarrely went well despite dreadful weather and the snow finally arriving in earnest. I earned $37.40 by canning in November.

My canning earnings of $37.40 for November 2025.

November did have a bright spot however. At the very beginning of the month while checking out a dumpster on my route I found a working Erikkson ratchet tie down. There were more in the dumpster but the rest were too far in the back for me to reach. In addition to that ratchet I found a bag full of Coleman lantern mantles that I thought someone may want because they were still new old stock despite having a fair bit of age on them.

The Erickkson Ratchet Tie Down
The bag of Coleman lantern mantles.

I detest camping so know next to nothing about this stuff besides the fact that they attach to oil lanterns. To my surprise when I got home and I checked them out on Ebay I found they still command money. Over the course of the month I sold every one of them and netted $64.20. I know last month I said I didn’t want to sell tools on Ebay which is still technically true but I figured trash I find for free is fair game.

The Tools

The first tool I bought this month was 4 1 inch metal spring clamps from Home Depot for $4.60 (with free shipping). I had seen plastic clamps at Dollarama but I have seen those break easily so opted for these Anvil branded ones instead. I was pleasantly surprised because they are sturdy as hell.

The 4 Anvil branded 1 inch metal spring clamps

The second tool I bought was a thrift store find. It was a small Klein branded zip bag for $1. With further investigation it turned out to be a multimeter bag that sells for $20-$25 at places like Amazon and Home Depot. Klein is a well know manufacturer of electrical tools but I don’t own anything from them. I did the next best thing though and put my cheapo oriental multimeter in it. In the reviews of the bag on Amazon there were lots of pictures of people putting their expensive Klein or Fluke branded multimeters in it. A younger me would have uploaded my blasphemous pictures to fuck with people but I’m far too old for that shit now.

$1 thrifted Klein Multimeter Bag
The blasphemy is committed.

The third tool I bought came from another thrift store. It’s a Rigid branded drive kit (43 pieces) for $6. I was on the fence here because they normally sell for about $20 at Home Depot but it was in good condition with no missing pieces or significant wear. I don’t have many drill accessories so they will come in handy.

The fourth and fifth tools I bought was two sets of Japanese/Taiwanese unbranded ratchets from the same thrift store. It looks like all the pieces were basically just thrown into bags to sell because I saw sockets from Powerbilt and Crescent in there as well (some of which don’t even fit the ratchets). The ratchets need to be serviced and the rust removed from some of the sockets but I think for $7.00 I could have done worst.

The last bunch of stuff all came from Aliexpress and has to do with soldering. There was a tip cleaning ball for $5.29, a set of 6 anti static tweezers for $4.19, 2 flush cutters for $4.29, 2 sets of flux for $5.64 and some thermal tape for $2.19.

Besides wanting/needing the soldering stuff it went with the the last thing I found this month. In a recycle bin I found a “Stash Box” .

It’s basically a zippered bag with adjustable walls to fit whatever. I’ve seen them advertised as “Stash Box”, travel case or makeup case but for my purpose it’s going to hold all my soldering stuff.

My new soldering equipment box.

The box was a bit dirty but with a some cleaning it is now an upgrade from the shoebox I had previously been using to hold everything.

Financial Summary for November 2025

Revenue

  1. Amount carried over from previous month: $43.31
  2. Cans/Bottles: $37.40
  3. Other: $64.20

Total Revenue: $144.91

Expenses

  1. 4 Anvil 1 Inch Spring Clamps: $4.60
  2. Klein Multimeter Bag : $1.00
  3. Ridgid Drive Kit: $6.00
  4. Ratchet Set 01: $3.50
  5. Ratchet Set 02: $3.50
  6. Soldering Iron Tip Cleaning Ball: $5.29
  7. Flux: $5.64
  8. Anti Static Tweezers: $4.19
  9. Thermal Tape: $2.19
  10. Flush Cutters x 2: $4.29

Total Expenses: 40.20

Summary

November was November. The End.

Learning Electronics Part 002

May 2025 was a terrible month for me as far as this project goes. I got food poisoning at the beginning of May and then midway through it I also got a cold both of which very rarely happen to me. Suffice to say that I was just managing to power through my daily tasks and then going to bed early until I was better. Unfortunately by the time that actually happened the month was over.

I didn’t manage to do any actual electronics work or learning but I did collect $5.90 worth of cans while doing errands and found 2 dimes by the pharmacy after buying some much needed Imodium.

The Tools

I purchased a small silicon mat for $4.09 and some de-soldering braid for $1 both from Aliexpress. The mat was needed to protect whatever I’m working on since I have to move by soldering around the house. I was iffy on purchasing the de-soldering braid since I already had a de-soldering pump that I purchased last month but I wagered I would need it too for certain applications if the other didn’t work.

Financial Summary for May 2025

Revenue

  1. Amount carried over from previous month $0.10
  2. Cans $5.90
  3. Found Money $0.20

Total: $6.20

Expenses

  1. Solder Wick $1.00
  2. Silicon Mat $4.09

Total $5.09

Summary

It was a nothing month basically. I also forgot to mention I found a pencil. Everyone needs a pencil so I got that going for me. On to June.

Learning Electronics Part 001

In 2025 one of my goals is to learn about electronics and specifically electronic repair. I have no formal or practical education in this area for better or worst but I’m also facing a big challenge in my life beside ignorance right now – poverty. I am currently the most broke I have ever been. Every cent I earn right now is earmarked for more important things so there is nothing left to put towards this goal. In addition to that I have no dedicated area devoted to working on electronics so whatever comes in the future will have to be mobile at least for the time being.

That being said, most of April was spent dipping my feet into the world of electronics and trying to narrow down one area to start with. I decided that soldering was a good enough beginning step because it was a practical skill I could develop while learning theory as I progressed.

I like learning through books so I started by checking the library system in my city. Unfortunately there was nothing in English about Electronics available except for one For Dummies (for kids) book that just turned out to be a shopping list of items for projects you could create. I have no money to buy books through a website like Amazon or Ebay or even know anyone that could teach me the basics either so that left one place to turn to- Youtube.

I watched a bunch of videos on Youtube but if I had to recommend the two best to anyone else wanting to start like me they would be:

Basic Soldering Lesson 1 – “Solder & Flux” by paceworldwide

The paceworldwide video is a concise and informative guide that explains basic soldering theory. I highly recommend it even if it’s from 1980 because it was simply superior at explaining what soldering actually is better that any other beginning video that I watched.

Cheapest way to learn to solder by bigclivedotcom

The bigclivedotcom video is more informal than the paceworldwide video but actually applicable to present day. It discusses what equipment you should acquire to solder and it does so with the aim of doing it cheaply. You would be surprised how many beginner videos on Youtube casually talk about starting soldering equipment but when you price out often their recommendations they end up costing upwards of $250+. One video I even came across listed off a range of equipment to start with that would cost $1000 but in the same video admitted that he did not know what flux was but to “use it because it helps the solder flow.” Terrible.

Now that I knew a bit about soldering the next step was putting together the tools I would need which is a rather difficult task when you have no money.

Raising Money for Tools

Since I have no money available right now, can’t get a second job and don’t want to take on any more debt it leaves me with scavenging. I took to the streets during errands to start collecting cans and/or trash that I could resell. It’s not glamorous but it’s the only option I have left.

Some of the cans I managed to collect during April

Have you ever had an experience say when you’re young and your parents get a new car and you start seeing the same model everywhere you go? This phenomena started happening to me but instead of cars I started seeing people collecting cans. Over the month of April I must have seen at least 20 different people at various times collecting cans in my area. Even one of my neighbors started collecting cans going through the garbage and recycle bins on our street. I honestly do not understand it. She has a car and she has a job so why would you bother with scavenging? Surely just having a car opens up tons of different ways to make money even if she lost her job. But no, there she is like a raccoon ripping open trash bags at the apartment next door. Maybe I’m just bitter that it’s more competition.

Anyway, I managed to collect $19.60 worth of cans during the month and I also found $0.75 laying on the street (which is extremely rare these days) and that left me with $20.35 raised for April to work with.

My cans! My precious antique cans!
Street money

I also trash picked this decorative drink tray that’s listed on eBay but has not sold yet as of this writing. If it ever does I’ll include that amount too.

Trash picked drink tray

The Tools

The first thing I purchased was a soldering iron. Due not having a dedicated workspace nor having access to an electrical outlet all the time I decided to go with a battery powered soldering iron purchased from Aliexpress for $9.49.

The second thing I purchased was solder. I decided against using a cheap solder manufactured in the orient because I had heard that it could be extremely variable in quality and is often hard to work with. Plus there wasn’t much price difference between an oriental solder and one manufactured in Canada anyway. I chose a 18g 63/37 solder from MG chemicals which I purchased on Amazon for $5.76 after tax. It had good reviews and I figured I would have more success starting with this type of solder over one of unknown quality.

MG Chemicals eutectic solder

From there I purchased a solder sucker off of eBay for $1.00 shipped

I didn’t have much money after those purchases but I managed to find a few things that I thought would come in useful while at the YWCA thrift store. They usually have nothing “tool” related but I found a screwdriver set in the toys section for $2. The rubberized coating on the outside was suffering from reversion so it was tacky picking up every piece of dirt which is why I assume it was donated. It was surprisingly complete however, and in decent enough condition except for one bit that was missing a corner.

Mr. Sticky suffering from rubber reversion

I also found a mug full of miscellaneous “school” supplies that had several pairs of scissors and 3 magnifying loops in it for $1. The loops are old but will come in handy for PCB inspection. The scissors aren’t ideal but will be used instead of pliers to cut leads until I can afford something better. The people working there threw in the mug which I am not sure was originally meant to come as a package deal but I’m not complaining. It’s Corelle branded and I will be using it as a soldering stand to hide the hot iron in case one of my cats interrupts me while I’m working.

The last thing I found was an OLFA box cutter and an X-Acto knife both with replacement blades in a plastic baggy in the craft section for $1.00. I thought briefly of passing them up because they don’t have a direct use to me right now but they are both good quality brands and I probably will not come across a deal like that again when I eventually find a need for them.

An actual branded X-Acto knife and a OLFA box cutters with replacement blades

Lastly while scavenging I found storage – a shoe box for my tools, some empty pill containers and mason jars for components. I’ll use this stuff until I can afford something better.

Financial Summary for April 2025

Revenue

  1. Cans $19.60
  2. Found Money: $0.75

Total: $20.35

Expenses

  1. Soldering Iron $9.49
  2. MG Solder $5.76
  3. Solder Sucker $1.00
  4. Scissors/Magnifiers/Cup $1.00
  5. Screwdriver Set $2.00
  6. Blades $1.00

Total: $20.25

Summary

So there you have it. In the end I didn’t manage to do any actual soldering in April (mainly because it took awhile for the soldering iron to arrive from China). I did manage to put together what I think is a decent starting kit. I doubt I will be able to raise as much money in May as April with all this ridiculous competition but will do my best to keep adding to my tools as I go. In the end as long as I’m learning that’s what really matters.

New Life Goals and Direction

Things in my life have become clearer this year and I would say really since the beginning of April I have taken a new direction. Some of my goals will remain personal as I don’t feel comfortable sharing them on a public space. Privacy is one of those things that you don’t really think about until it’s gone so I try to live by that rule.

What I can share however is that I would like to learn a new skill this year. That new skill will be electronics and electronics repair. I have always been interested in computers and electronics but never took that direction when studying or in my life for various reasons. With that in mind I will post more in depth about it soon but I thought I would share the general changes in my life here as a reference point to myself if I ever read back some of the things I’ve written.