Tools used to build

I was just wondering what kind of tools do you guys use to build your hardware... I'm new to building things, and would really like to learn howto, but first I need the tools. I have seen many soldering irons out there, but which would really fit building things like dejan cables, datacables, sim readers, clips etc...

What do you use to build your stuff? What tools exactly, what brand you like, and what's a good start? It's sort of hard to get started as there is a good ammount of advanced info out there, but not enough beginning... Could anyone point me to this please? It may be alot of questions at once, but any awnser you may have is good enough for me ;)

About all you need is a soldering iron... I use a 12 wat Weller iron but any iron till 25 watt will do.

Things that will be useful... tongs, tweezers...a "multimeter" (don't know if that's the correct english word) to measure resistance to check for shorts etc...

And some patience when the schematic you made isn't functioning and you need to figure out where you went wrong :D

-=K=-

Multimeter is the right word :) I had one, have to find it or buy a new one... What's a tongs? I have me trusty soldering kit, time to use it again :) Where should I start though? I assume by building datacables, but are there really any tutorials out there?

tongs... hmmm my dictionary gave that as word for tool to cut wires and to bend components :) hehehe... Dunno what the right word is in english ... But the conclusion of my story was that for building datacables and stuf you don't need any special equipment. Even the multimeter is optional :)

I think it's good to start with dejan flasher and mbus cable... they are easy to make, low cost and 100% tested.

If you wanna start building clips you'll need an eeprom programmer to program the ic's in the schematics. This you can also build yourself.

-=K=-

KnOeFz, thanks for all that starting info. I was thinking about making a dejan flasher, but there are two versions - a light and a full. What does that mean? Anywhays, do you know of a place where I can find the schematics or do you have them yourself? I found a place in czech, but tranlsation isn't easy... schematics I understand, but the difference between light and full dejan I can't understand, heh

Here are schematics for mbus cable and for flasher cable. 100% tested by myself :) I never ever heard of lite and full flasher... schematic included here is original from Dejan. Works 100%

-=K=-

Never knew an m2bus cable was so simple, I think even I could make one *lol* ;)

What about fbus cables? what are they used for as opposed to m2bus? And are both these cables compatible with DCT4 or only DCT3?

Flasher (dejan NK-Flash) To flash your phone

Mbus: Update FAID,...

Fbus: Operator logo's, SMS, ringtones

For a COMBI flash cable use dr.bizares one... it's really great.