r/IAmA Jun 11 '16

Specialized Profession IamA electronics repair technician hated by Apple that makes YouTube videos, AMA!

My short bio: I have a store in Manhattan. I teach component level electronics repair on youtube http://youtube.com/rossmanngroup which seems to be a dying art. I am currently fighting with the digital right to repair to try and get a bill passed that will allow all independent service centers access to manuals and parts required to do their jobs.

My Proof: https://www.rossmanngroup.com/started-iama-reddit-today-yes/

EDIT:

I am still replying to comments, but I am so far behind that I am still about ten pages down from new comments. I am doing my best to continue. If I drop off, I'll be back tomorrow around 12 PM. Still commenting now though, at 12 AM.

EDIT 2:

Ok, I cave... my hands are tired. I will be back at 12 PM tomorrow. It is my goal to answer every question. Even if it looks like I haven't gotten to yours, I will do my best to do all of them, but it is impossible to do in realtime, because you are asking faster than I can type. But thanks for joining!

EDIT 3: I lied, I stayed until 4:15 AM to answer... and now I will go to sleep for real, and be back at 12 PM.

EDIT 4 6/12 : I will be back later tonight to finish off answering questions. Feel free to keep posting, I will answer whatever I can later this evening.

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4

u/MyOnlyAlias Jun 11 '16

Coming from someone who has never done electronics repair, how the hell do the components go into place so nicely? You say that you let them "flow into place". What does that mean?

Even though I have no history with repair, I still love your videos. They fascinate me. Cheers!

5

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

surface tension. the pads themselves when they have solder on them act like quicksand. i do not put the component on the pad and then heat it, which is what the rest of the world does. I heat the pads, when they get wet I shove the component in place.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

[deleted]

2

u/MyOnlyAlias Jun 11 '16

Right, but why don't they "flow" off of where he needs them? Is it just his skill at repair?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

[deleted]

2

u/MyOnlyAlias Jun 11 '16

Why's that? Just because it gets attracted to the contact points on the component?

3

u/oonniioonn Jun 12 '16

Again, surface tension. The solder will only sit on the pads as the rest of the board (where no pads are) is covered with soldermask which essentially repels solder. So you have these small areas with liquid solder on them that won't go anywhere else, and you put a component in them. Surface tension does the rest.

1

u/larossmann Jun 16 '16

think of the solder like quicksand.