Last week I dug out my 1998 solder station to fix a shutter jam

The Hakko 936 I used in my shop back in the late 90s has been sitting in a box under my bench for years. My main station died mid-job on a Pentax K1000, so I pulled it out after a quick clean. It fired right up, first try. Smelled like my old shop in Portland, honestly. I fixed the tiny leaf shutter linkage with it in about twenty minutes, which felt good. But it got me thinking, my whole approach has gotten so much faster with the newer stuff. Fine pitch work, flexible tips, all that. Still, that old unit gets the job done with fewer mistakes on the older cameras. I wonder how many other folks keep a similar relic around for sentimental or practical reasons? Anyone else still running 25 year old gear for certain jobs?

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phoenix_bailey1mo ago

Man, my soldering iron is probably older than half the people posting repair videos now, and it still works better than my patience does! Wired up a busted flash sync on an old Minolta with mine last month, and honestly the thing just hums along like it knows what it's doing. I figure if it ain't broke and it doesn't smell like burning regret, keep it on the bench.

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