■HARDWARE ■SOFTWARE ■GADGETS ■ TOOLS NEW
PRODUCTS
THE DESKTOP
COMPANION II
Integrated Ideas & Technologies,
Inc., has developed a prototype
solder paste printing tool called the
Desktop Companion II.
The Desktop Companion II was
created as a solution to printing
inconsistently routed boards.
Previous methods of prototype
printing dictated individual boards be
tapped down, then printed. With a
Desktop® stencil mounted to the
adjustable plate on the Desktop
Companion II, the two tension
screws can be loosened, allowing the
movement of the stencil in both the
x and y axis.
“When board manufacturers
have a tolerance of ±0.010” on a
route and there is fine pitch or other
small parts on the board, that 0.010”
could result in bridging. This product
allows the stencil to move — rather
than each board — to compensate
for the difference in the board edges
and speed up the printing process. If
you have 100 boards to run and
each board has to be taped down,
you’re looking at a lot of time and
several rolls of masking tape,” states
Michael Ray, developer of the Desktop
Companion II and president of IIT, Inc.
A NEW
STARTER KIT
SchmartBoard has announced the
availability of the new “Solder By
Numbers(SBN) Starter Kit” — a starter
kit for people who are new to electronics. The SBN Starter Kit includes:
• An Elenco 40 watt electronic
soldering station
• Assorted sized tips for the soldering
iron
• Water soluble solder flux in pen form
• Safety goggles
• A lighted magnifying glass
• Two screwdrivers
• Wire cutters
• Wire strippers
• Needle-nose pliers
• SchmartSolder
• A Solder By Numbers project with
SchmartBoard and Components
(LED paperweight)
The Starter Kit costs $99 and its
release coincides with the launch of
www.solderbynumbers.com.
“It takes two things to build an
electronic circuit: the ability to solder
the components and the ability to
take an electronic schematic and
transfer the schematic to a real circuit
board,” said Neal Greenberg,
SchmartBoard VP of Marketing.
“SchmartBoard has made these issues
easy which opens up electronics to a
For more information, contact:
Integrated Ideas &
Technologies, Inc.
Web: www.integratedideas.com
January 2009 31