Changes

The sharp tip of this type of scalpel makes it ideal to cut the conductor track without nicking nearby tracks. The blade #11 has a short, straight edge that gives good control over the cut.

[[Image:ScalpelNo23.jpg|none|thumb|Disposable scalpel with blade #23]]

The copper tracks on the top layer of a PCB are usually covered with a layer of (green) solder mask, which can be carefully scraped away from the portions of the track that are about to be soldered to say attach a wire. The round shape of the blade #23 (there are other blades with a rounded edge) allows the user to only remove the solder mask from the track of interest, which will make the soldering process later on very easy, since the remaining solder mask will prevent the solder to stick to the covered tracks. Exposing the other tracks by scraping too much solder mask away may result in a much more difficult soldering job.

Steel probes are handy to check soldered IC pins for bad solder joints or mixing / applying small quantities of liquid material (adhesives, uncured solder mask, etc.) in a controlled manner.

Mee too!

Soldering flux is the magic ingredient for a soldering job with many functions that makes it a breeze. It cleans and de-greases the components, promotes wetting (makes solder stick to the components instead of balling up) and reduces oxidation. The "tacky" variety also helps to keep the component in place so the usual step of "tacking down" a component can be skipped with enough soldering skill.