your opinion is valuable:

I am ready to bite the bullet and invest in a "Smart Tweezer" type of device.
Too many SMDs to work on, troubleshoot.
I would like to keep the price limited to 500.00 USD
I am asking for love, horror, opinion and elation comments from all those that own or use these.
what is the best brand, which company has best support, etc..
what brand sux?

Thanks!


reference photo:

 

$315 for the most basic unit! (is that the horror you were looking for?)

I can get a nice digital storage CRO with colour LCD screen and lots of megsamples/sec etc for just a little more than those "tweezers" cost.

 

yeah, but all that will rip my shirt pocket.

 

check this out, apparently you can get this cheap one ($16.00 bucks on ebay,) and do some mods to it....>>>http://projects.openschemes.com/SmartTweezer/

 

now thats the stuff we come here for!
thanks for that.

 

We tried one of those "Smart Tweezer" things at a former employer; paid maybe $250 for it.
They weren't very accurate on small values of capacitance (say, 50pF range)

They'll give you the general idea of the values, but it won't be terribly precise.

 

thanks Sgt,
thats what I was feeling.
I may want to manufacture my own gadget and interface with my other gear.

I took on a project of rebuilding/repairing 80 complete almost obsolete Opto22 brains and boards.

they needed 30 complete and functioning units for a manufacturing project they are working on.

no problem.

of the 80 or so units they gave me (B1s B2s E1s E2s pb16Hs etc)
I frankensteined 30 units for them and fulfilled my obligation.
actually I am quite inpressed with these things!

my pay for this endeavor was I could keep the remainder of the components. plus a few bucks.

the tweezers I figured would save me time troubleshooting the rest of the boards.

and I dont have a clue as to what I will use 50 Opto22s for at this point!

seemed a good idea at the time...must have been the challange.

 

You could make your own probes that glue/weld/duct tape to an existing pair of large tweezers or light duty spring clips/clamps, and thus use your own meter.

 

nice avatar Tiger,


the attraction was the functionality and the fact that there ARE no leads!

Measured Parameters:
C+R (ESR), L+R, R
Measuring Frequencies:
100Hz, 1 kHz, 10kHz
Measurement rate:
4, 2, 1, 0.5 times per second (default 1)
DC Voltage:
0 to 800 mV (up to 8V with manual setting)
Resistance:
0.04Ohm to 5MOhm
Capacitance:
1 pF to 4999 μF (1pF - 5pF in manual mode)
Inductance:
1μH to 999mH (1μH -4μH in manual mode)

oh well,​

maybe a manufacturer will give me one to test and evaluate ?​

dreaming???​

 

Don't get me wrong - the tweezers we received measured within their specifications.

Just not accurate enough for our purposes.

If you can tolerate +/-10%, the SmartTweezers may be appropriate. I'm not saying that +/-10% is what we observed, but not more than you should expect.

 

Sgt,
thanks for the input.
I will be getting a higher end unit, I have not made final decision on mfg yet.
It is the convenience and the in-circuit ability that prompted this.
Being most of my troubleshooting is done in the field, it will be a welcome addition.

Another piece of equipment I thought would just be a gadget has proven itself to be a go-to tool over time.
Although the Power Probe 3 http://www.toolsource.com/power-probe-master-gold-leads-short-finder-p-104207.html is considered an automotive tool and a bit distant from what the tweezer is designed for, it has helped diagnose more ttl problems in a rapid time than thought to be able to as it is able to read and inject low signals.

BMorse,
thanks for the link http://projects.openschemes.com/SmartTweezer/ to the hacked tweezer site.
I ordered one of the cheapos also and will modify it when it gets here. Monday I hope.

you guys are the greatest.

 

If in curcuit testing was easy It would have not been a problem
for so many years Of trouble shooting.Trouble shooting is in the
mind of a good technican that has experience and has the
answer before he make a test. He just want to double check
his opinion.All that fancy equipment is for show to justified
a charge for service. I know a starter electrical tech that has a
bench,stool and cheap meter and experience,If he rejected it,that
it. The rest of the rebuilding line listens to him, the owner too.
In a modern curcuit reworking room with all the computer testers
the tech had wires stringing from chips to open computer insides
repairing boards,you repair the board and you got it. Every one
has there method you just have to produce complete work.

 

If in curcuit testing was easy It would have not been a problem
for so many years Of trouble shooting.Trouble shooting is in the
mind of a good technican that has experience and has the
answer before he make a test. He just want to double check
his opinion.All that fancy equipment is for show to justified
a charge for service. I know a starter electrical tech that has a
bench,stool and cheap meter and experience,If he rejected it,that
it. The rest of the rebuilding line listens to him, the owner too.
In a modern curcuit reworking room with all the computer testers
the tech had wires stringing from chips to open computer insides
repairing boards,you repair the board and you got it. Every one
has there method you just have to produce complete work.

in most instances i agree with this.
for many years I was the guy with the fluke that could tell what was wrong with any production board that came past my station. Hence my nickname.
but the gear i work on now is one-ofs. in the field. many with near a hundred boards per installation and interface cables of hundreds of conductors. I know the values I am looking for and can compare them with the in field findings. i dont need leads getting in my way, I dont desire to keep switching gear during diagnostics, I need to know which smd on which board is faulted. I have no spare parts inventory. My findings are used to produce that next generation board which will render breakdowns a thing of the past.

I also am not interested with gimmicks or what is the latest and greatest, just in getting the job done correctly and quickly,and getting back to the cold Budweiser.

"i want to bang on the drum all day"

 

That why you have job,there is a need for people
that can say (I can fix that,and do It). Some people
bang on the drum,drink go to work and say this is a bad job.