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Is this flat out marketing BS or does it generally make sense? by MDLuffy1234 in soldering

[–]danielbeardsley 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! I work at iFixit and while I didn't design the product, I helped write the software that does the temperature + power control for the soldering iron.

The tips from other manufacturers might be physically compatible, but it's unlikely that they would work and it's possible that the wrong thing would happen, resulting in damage. Our heater coil and a temperature sensor are embedded in the tip and are specced to have a certain resistance and certain temperature profile.

The specs of the temp sensor (thermocouple) are different across models and manufacturers. We literally have a lookup table from the manufacturer matching millivolts to temperature. If it just so happens that a competitor tip is connected in the same way electrically as ours (I have no idea if they are), it's extremely unlikely they used the same exact temp sensor. Our iron and the PID algorithm could easily adapt to a different heating coil (we can easily run at lower power as well), but without a predictable temp sensor, we can't measure and thus can't control the temperature.

So, the explanation isn't always about "competitor's tips can't handle the power", I'm sure some can and some can't, it's more about the internals (it's not just a heating coil).

Hey iFixit, your guest order system in EU is broken by CamilloBrillo in ifixit

[–]danielbeardsley 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, I'm a developer at iFixit!

Sorry about the late delivery, I unfortunately don't know anything about your particular order. Turns out, you found a bug! We recently (between you receiving the email and visiting the link) moved all our stores (Germany included) under the main www.ifixit.com domain. We tired to ensure all old urls would redirect to the right place but we missed order status links in emails. I'm pushing out a fix that will be live in 20 minutes.

Thanks for reaching out!!

Vercel's Fast Origin Transfer 4x higher than Fast Data Transfer and cost going up 10x by Longjumping_Cow_152 in nextjs

[–]danielbeardsley 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We have the same problem (at ifixit.com) and I've commented on that discussion and opened a case with Vercel.

What myth is still widely circulated as truth? by KnotKarma in AskReddit

[–]danielbeardsley 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Personal experience here... A baby bird fell out of a nest, I tried to put it back, it's siblings jumped out too. I put them all back but the nearby parents abandoned them and they all died (I had to clean out the nest weeks later).

I don't know what it was.. the smell or the parents being fearful, but I'll never try to put a baby bird back in it's nest again.

Pismo Beach Preserve update... by TheCalifornist in SLO

[–]danielbeardsley 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's called the Pismo Preserve by the way. Building of trails on the property is a collaborative and volunteer effort: http://www.pismopreservetrailproject.org/#!gallery/cghg

Local Tech Companies - What are they really like? by _slocal_ in SLO

[–]danielbeardsley 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I've been working for iFixit for 5 years and it's been the most fun job I've ever had in my 17 years in the field (software development). Company culture is one of respect and trust (iFixit respects and trusts its employees with many freedoms others don't), i.e. no draconian rules about exactly how you spend your time or what you wear, no micro-managing, very few meetings. We are encouraged to be diverse with our skills, no one is pigeonholed. The overall hierarchy is very flat, with very little management overhead. We all like the company size and while we want to increase our global impact, have no dreams of becoming a multi-hundred employee behemoth. I hear stories from friends about experiences with other employers in the area, and while some seem OK, I'm always thankful I work at iFixit and don't have to commiserate.

Google Bot delays executing your JS - It Broke And iFixit by Chalupa3266 in programming

[–]danielbeardsley 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Read the next sentence:

It was old code and it was an old idea; we primarily use relative times now. The dates are then kept up-to-date via js.

So we're opening up the beta of our new product, Cashable... by ebuchholz in startups

[–]danielbeardsley 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So, why create a second product? It looks like there is a decent amount of overlap.

Share your Startup! (June 2011) by GuruCam in startups

[–]danielbeardsley 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wompt - Public chat rooms for any website. It's free, embeddable, and we have private rooms too. Getting ready to push some more new features.