soldering kits for HtF 25

[stacie.hibino]

hi All --

FYI, I reached out to Evil Mad Scientist to see how many soldering kits they have of their Flickery Flame Soldering Kit (yellow / red) and if they could offer us a discount for the upcoming HtF 25 event. They can have 90 available within a few days and offer a 10% discount for education which we could use. It would be about $309 for 60 kits (my husband and I were thinking that that would probably be enough?). We would also need to get 2AA batteries per kit. We think that it's nice for the kids to be able to take something home and also to learn a little bit about circuits, in addition to learning how to solder. 

Please let us know if there is any funding available for this. If not, we are willing to donate to help make this happen.

Thanks.

-stacie

[Mark L. Miller Ph.D.]

The FB donation campaign I started today is up to $175 but I’m hoping it will go higher tomorrow.

(It’s a birthday-related one.)

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Mark L. Miller, Ph.D.

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[James Donald]

Hi Stacie,

Thanks for looking into this and getting their education discount. Hack the Future is healthy on funding for the next and beyond, but I'd like to better understand the proposal here.

Are you picturing this with the same deal as we do for the giveaway micro:bits and (trying to start with HtF25) Raspberry Pi Zeros? That is, it would be a prize for kids who do a full project at the soldering table and present a lightning talk? If so, we normally get about 2 lightning talks for soldering and even if the incentive increased participation (ideally it would!), I think it would be safe to carry only about 10 kits.

If you're suggesting this as a give-away for all HtF participants, we'd need about 100 for all kids. In the past we've had some discussions about take-home swag for everyone but we have yet to go beyond T-shirts. It's certainly something to keep exploring. For these solder kits specifically, at The Tech that such a giveaway could complicate things because they've asked we start enforcing a minimum soldering age of 12 plus additional parental sign-off. As these kits don't come with a soldering iron we technically wouldn't be bound by that restriction, but it would feel iffy either using a loophole or limiting the kit giveaway to different kids based on the age cutoff.

So I'd certainly favor using the Flickery Flame soldering kits as prizes for project+lightning talk in the same manner as the micro:bit and Raspberry Pi stations. Moreover, this would be a route to give away fewer but superior kits. Many families don't have a soldering iron at home, so for the handful of soldering lightning talkers we could include a $15 to $20 soldering iron as well. From what I can tell, on top of AA batteries, Evil Mad Scientist recommends clippers and a separate roll of solder too [link].

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/htf-volunteers/C163121B-3266-4040-B32B-BDCBB5B5206B%40learningtech.org.

[Nick Duguid]

James, quick context ( didn’t have time to read it all right now) 

Al is not coming to HTF 25. These were suggested as an alternate to Al’s usual kit. 

We have irons to bring, but no specific project. Kenny suggested these could work. 

I don’t know that we need 90 of them? Maybe 40-50?

-Nick

On Feb 9, 2020, at 09:43, James Donald <ja...@hackthefuture.org> wrote:



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[Stacie Hibino]

Hi James —

This is a proposal to get the kits for the kids to make at the soldering table during the event. (Usually, Al supplies his kits, but since he will not be there, we need something for the kids to actually solder.) Once they are soldered, they can’t be reused, so each kid would take home the item they soldered. There probably isn’t enough time for every kid to do soldering and since there is also an age restriction for soldering, I think 60 kits should be enough for the event — though others can chime in if they think there is a better number of kits to get.

Kenny/Microsoft is loaning the soldering irons for the event. We will bring solder and other items needed to support the table/activity.

Hope that helps clarify things.

-stacie

[James Donald]

That clears things up perfectly.

Mark Schmidt also said he could bring two soldering “stations” which implied two irons but I’m unclear to the extent of LEDs, diodes, and other materials for projects.

60 Flickery Flame kits sounds like a bit many but I don’t have experience with the soldering table myself. Shane led the table for HtF 17 (also at The Tech) and can help give an estimate. Note we did underbook that event somewhat so for reference I’d expect 30% more kids this time.

A good number of kits may be less than 60, but yes we’d prefer to err on ordering a few too many rather than run out of supply at the event. Once you guys settle on a reasonable count please go ahead and order and keep your receipt for reimbursement.

[a...@alcorn.tv]

I’ve never needed more than 50 kits.

Al

> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/htf-volunteers/BYAPR02MB57993CB8120757BBA8C0AF6CC01E0%40BYAPR02MB5799.namprd02.prod.outlook.com.
> <2019-top-rated-awards-badge.png>

[Stacie Hibino]

hi All --

Thanks for the additional info and support. I will order 50 kits from Evil Mad Scientist and batteries from Amazon. I am coordinating with Mark Schmidt (he's my husband lol).

Al -- we have the following list of other items (besides the soldering irons) to bring with us for the event -- please let us know if there is something else you think we should bring:

- solder

- wire cutters

- "helping hands"

- magnifying light

- fluke meter

- safety glasses

Thanks.

-stacie

[Nick Duguid]

I've got four soldering irons (stations) from Kenny, which I will bring with everything else.

That's probably as many irons as we need, as I don't think we'll have more than four mentors at the soldering station, and we really do need one per iron.

-Nick

---

From: Stacie Hibino <stacie...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2020 11:11 AM
To: a...@alcorn.tv <a...@alcorn.tv>
Cc: tume...@hotmail.com <tume...@hotmail.com>; ja...@hackthefuture.org <ja...@hackthefuture.org>; Mark Miller <mlmi...@learningtech.org>; Hack the Future Volunteer Group <htf-vol...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: soldering kits for HtF 25

 

[a...@alcorn.tv]

I would add is a solder sucker and solder wick; something to clean the solder tip like a wet sponge and stainless steel wool tip cleaner that they used to sell at Frys.

> On Feb 10, 2020, at 11:11 AM, Stacie Hibino <stacie...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> hi All --
>

[Mark L. Miller Ph.D.]

I know many of  you are very savvy about soldering, but just a quick thought or two, based on our summer camp experiences.

- It is very difficult for newbies to work with unleaded solder. It requires a higher temperature to melt etc. My guess is that Al has normally used leaded solder?

- Parents tend to become very concerned if/when the realize that leaded solder is in use. Although the risk is surely minimal from a short visit to a table at an occasional HtF event, I have actually run into parents at our summer camps who would not allow their child to even enter a room where leaded solder might sometimes be in use. Some things that may help, and also reassure most families:

- Good air circulation (even a tiny fan blowing away from the student) to avoid inhaling the fumes

- Insisting that each student immediately go wash their hands thoroughly upon completion of their solder project

- Having some unleaded solder available as an option for the especially anxious family can be helpful, so a child is not left out

You cannot please everyone. We’ve offered after school programs at schools in Palo Alto, where parents came around to protest that their kids were being exposed to "dangerous radiation," because there was a WiFi access point in the classroom. I seriously don’t know how much risk that might impose, and haven’t studied the literature on it, but Learningtech.org was not in charge of the local school network’s decision to provide wireless access, anyway, and almost every school in the country uses classroom WiFi nowadays!

FWIW,

Mark

ps. Al’s soldering materials are the best, if available!

[a...@alcorn.tv]

I used 60/40 leaded solder because I want to make it as easy as possible for them to succeed. I have only had a few parents worry about leaded solder and for them I had some lead free solder for them to use.

I point out that the smoke from the solder is from the flux vaporizing not lead.

Al

> On Feb 10, 2020, at 2:25 PM, Mark L. Miller Ph.D. <mlmi...@learningtech.org> wrote:
>
> I know many of you are very savvy about soldering, but just a quick thought or two, based on our summer camp experiences.
>
> - It is very difficult for newbies to work with unleaded solder. It requires a higher temperature to melt etc. My guess is that Al has normally used leaded solder?
>
> - Parents tend to become very concerned if/when the realize that leaded solder is in use. Although the risk is surely minimal from a short visit to a table at an occasional HtF event, I have actually run into parents at our summer camps who would not allow their child to even enter a room where leaded solder might sometimes be in use. Some things that may help, and also reassure most families:
> - Good air circulation (even a tiny fan blowing away from the student) to avoid inhaling the fumes
> - Insisting that each student immediately go wash their hands thoroughly upon completion of their solder project
> - Having some unleaded solder available as an option for the especially anxious family can be helpful, so a child is not left out
>
> You cannot please everyone. We’ve offered after school programs at schools in Palo Alto, where parents came around to protest that their kids were being exposed to "dangerous radiation," because there was a WiFi access point in the classroom. I seriously don’t know how much risk that might impose, and haven’t studied the literature on it, but Learningtech.org was not in charge of the local school network’s decision to provide wireless access, anyway, and almost every school in the country uses classroom WiFi nowadays!
>
> FWIW,
> Mark
> ps. Al’s soldering materials are the best, if available!
>
>> On Feb 10, 2020, at 11:18 AM, Nick Duguid <tume...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I've got four soldering irons (stations) from Kenny, which I will bring with everything else.
>> That's probably as many irons as we need, as I don't think we'll have more than four mentors at the soldering station, and we really do need one per iron.
>>
>> -Nick
>>

> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/htf-volunteers/C40006F8-4346-48B5-BF8B-314C41D70341%40learningtech.org.

[James Donald]

I just thought of this one, per Mark's suggestion:

> - Good air circulation (even a tiny fan blowing away from the student) to avoid inhaling the fumes

Is anyone bringing an electric fan tomorrow? I'd bring mine, but I don't really have room to carry more items. Not sure if we've had a fan at past events either, but this did stand out to me as a good idea after the mention of visible fumes.

I assume you're all good to go on the wire cutters, "helping hands", magnifying light, fluke meter, safety glasses, solder sucker, solder wick, stainless steel wooltip cleaner, and other things Al & Stacie named.