Hi VHS, Your place sounds amazing! I joined the forum to ask specifically if you welcome non-members to use your SMD stations for small repair. I was looking for a way to fix our old television without generating more waste and someone suggested I check out your place. I’ve identified what I think is causing our TV problem and I’ve ordered a $1 part from China in hope that it will give our TV a few more years. I’ve done some small repairs with my little soldering iron in the past but this time it’s a very small chip (AS15-F on a Sony TCon board) and I’m pretty sure it would be much easier with a SMD station (And maybe help/advice from someone with a little experience). I was thinking of ordering a $40 hot air station but considering I might only use it once I find it’s a bit wasteful to have it sit in a box after a single use. I didn’t know a place like yours existed and now I’m super curious about everything else that we could use your space for. I built myself a 3D camera mount a long time ago cutting aluminum by hand and can imagine your tools
would have made the job much easier. I’m also sure my girlfriend and I had creative ideas in the past that we didn’t pursue because we have very little space for tools and didn’t know places like yours existed. So regarding our little repair; the part might not get delivered for a few more weeks but would an open house be a good time for this? I’d also love to “tour” the place and I see what other type of projects people use your place for. I’ll try to show up for an open house though for now it will be a very quick tour since we have to be somewhere at 8PM every Tuesday until Dec.
Hi Jack – that is excellent! Glad you can keep your tv going for a while. We are big fans of fixing up things. There have been several tvs fixed (mostly cap replacements) at VHS. For sure come in and use our soldering tools. We have a home-made SMD toaster oven which is very simple to use although your board might not fit in there. We also have a scope and a hot air station that you are very welcome to use.
There are definitely people around that can help out with SMD soldering. If you have questions ask away!
Cheers
I should also add - we have a ton of SMD components so might even have what you need kicking around at the space.
Also, Tuesday nights are the easiest to come in, as they are our official open house nights. We hope that you’ll be inspired to come back, but even if not, it’s great to see you keeping something running that would otherwise become a landfill/pollution.
Doh, reading on a phone! Didn’t see the last bit about Tuesdays! If you can make it for a quick tour, that might be a good way to see us and when you have your part reach out again and we can figure out a time that someone can open the shop for you.
Thanks for the quick replies! I’ll surely come check out VHS when possible.
Jack
I received the part and finally have a few free Tuesday evenings. I was wondering if anyone with a little experience would be able to give me a hand at the open house and if your group has supplies. I have never done SMD soldering or used the tools but watched a few YouTube videos; I understand I’ll need a little flux and solder. Any recommendations on where to buy this? Or I’ll gladly make a donation in exchange for using your supplies.
Cheers!
Hey Jack!
Come on in on a Tuesday for sure. We’ve got solder and flux, just watch a few more videos and you should be golden. We’ve got a donation box for whatever you think is appropriate!
Thanks for the warm welcome and help replacing the part on my T-Con board last week. I certainly made a few beginners mistakes and learned a bunch. Unfortunately I’m bad with name and already forgot those who helped but I’m really grateful you where there! 
At first the repair didn’t work with the TV looking pretty much the same as before so I took it apart again and did a little more soldering at home on the resistors and voltage regulator. I was happily surprised to see the image looked normal when I put the TV back together… though it only worked for a few minutes. I repeated the process one more time with no luck. Perhaps something else is going on that is causing the voltage regulator to fail… or perhaps something is not quite right with my repair job… At this point it’s perhaps a good idea to go drop the TV for recycling but I’m glad I learned about VHS and gave this repair a try. Now I feel I’d need to spend a bit more time in your space to truly understand what is available and what can be done with all those tools… so much to learn! Perhaps I’ll drop by again when possible.
Cheers!
Jack
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