Haha yeah, last year I replaced my wheel bearings in my van. I ended up with a frustrating ABS code (long story short: faulty magnetic encoders on both of the new bearings). I ended up spending about the same as the job would have cost at a shop, but with a slew of new tools.

I also did a USB switch project for fun, and ended up spending probably $250 for something I could have just bought for $15, but it was a great experience. (Here if anyone is interested: https://shielddigitaldesign.com/posts/2021/susb/ )

Lol, was that the thing that jutted out the drive's side and let him put the bed sideways? If so, I missed that quip, but it's great regardless!

When doing any diy I assume I will spend more on tools the first time than I save, but the next time I have the tools and so costs are much less.

I've come full circle several times.

I have a brake bleeder, an oil change jugs with a cap on top and the side, cellphone tool kits, and more...

Sometimes it takes a while to derive the tenets of labor specialization from first principles.

How many of us can make more making nets for fishermen than making nets AND fishing yourself?

The hot air station is called a "rework station" because it's very helpful for rework, too.

Using a hot plate to reflow boards is fine if you already know everything is correct. Having a real hot air station is very important if you need to change any parts or even fix reflow problems.

I been using these mini pan frying skillets for years for prototype boards. <$2. An IR thermometer with a laser is handy during the process.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008863940082.html

And here is the cheap hot air rework station I use. <$15

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005989227215.html

You can even opt out of the stencil but I never do cuz it's much easier than not having it.

On aliexpress, search for "demolition heating" and there are really cheap ($5 or so?) heating plates that I believe are used for removing SMD LEDs.

Not sure why they'd need to remove SMD LEDs, but whatever.

They are "PTC" which means they top out at a certain temperature, usually 260 degrees.

I would recommend using an inline fuse holder for some semblance of safety though.

One of these, a lamp cord, some solder paste and a toothpick, and you can easily assemble SMD boards.

you might consider contributing to your local tool library or hackerspace

You know, for years I have been collecting power tools without having an immediate use for them - because they were for sale, or just because, you know, they're power tools. And a lot of them ended up just sitting on my workshop shelf, some of them never made it out of the box they came in.

But then we bought a new house and I started renovating it. I think I have probably used every single tool I ever bought by now, and every time I used one for the first time, I was so happy that I didn't have to go and scout for a good deal first or drive to Home Depot to buy one right now or anything like that.

So in my case, it actually paid off in the end to have PTPA (premature tool purchase addiction).

Can you recommend a good $50 option for someone getting into the field?

Almost never, in some cases you can but you need to be really in a nice and usually have access to the tooling for XYZ reasons. Then you would need to factor your labor cost, which is usually more than what would be billed normally in some cases...

Chuckled at 40-something kid now, kid! Classic