Suggestions for soldering 4 LEs

[zwiller]

Did my first LE last year.  Went a bit slow.  Probably took a couple hours a day for 5 days to finish.  I have 4 to do this year.  I am fairly confident I can be faster this time but wondered if anybody has a pointers for speed/efficiency?  Would it be better to work on all 4 assembly line fashion? 

Call me a nut, but I enjoy sequencing more than soldering. 

[pk]

You will get faster with the next ones.  Be careful on the assembly.  I have found I make mistakes on the additional units rather than the first one.

I assemble 2-3 at a time.  A lot of that depends on the space I have available.  If you have a lead bender, that speeds up prepping the resistors.   

[Jeffl]

I do them in an assembly line process. Step 1 (do it to all the boards), Step 2, step 3 etc. Mine take longer to build as well but I feel the quality of my setup is very good.

The other thing to remember is it takes a lot longer to fix something that is soldered so take the time up front.

[taybrynn]

I built 7 expresses this year and my first was similarly slow.

By my last 3 or 4 I was cranking one out per night, pretty easily ... or two fairly short nights ... maybe 2-3 hours total.

I would put a completed (and tested) express board out on the bench, where I could view it as a reference.  Mainly this was helpful to see the color patterns of a few things as needed.  After a while I just started to realize where everything went. 

In general, the first half of the build was the small parts, incl. sockets ... and getting all those small parts installed and soldered on.  Some nights I would take a break or stop at that point.  Then in a second phase or night ... I would do everything else ... and those larger parts would go faster by comparison. 

To me, the real speed came with my own comfort of knowing what parts went where ... knowing how to quickly identify them ... and being able to look at the reference real quick when in doubt.  Obviously following the manual for the most part, but not having to reference it ... made things go quicker.  I would never advise anyone to skip the manual if they are not feeling comfortable with building them yet.  For me, I referenced the manual a little on #2 ... and on #3 thru #7 ... hardly at all.  They all worked.

[zwiller]

Thanks for the info!  Great ideas and advice...  Got me psyched up now.

Gonna find a lead bender.  Never heard of one before but it sure looks like it will help.  I will probably do all of them together.   I'll just set up a folding table and be organized about it.  Definitely will have a working one in view for reference.

Truthfully, I could probably do these from memory.  However, I will refer to the manual but I don't think there's a need for me to study it every step of the way.  I think this is where I will save the most time.   

Thanks again!

[pk]

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I have the 1/4W  / 1/2W version.  For some of the resistors on the express I end up bending the leads close to the resistor body as possible.

[n1ist]

If you don't have a lead bender, you can just cut a scrap of plastic or hardboard to the right width and use that.  Not as nice as a real bender, since it doesn't have the center slot for the part, but it works in a pinch.
/mike

[deanathpc]

Now you won't be able to use me for a good guide but I crank out a board in about an hour and a half to two hours  Now keep in mind been doing electronics for years to include assembly line type of assembly / testing of PCB's (radios in particular).  I don't have any special tools or anything like that either.  Basics from Radio Shack.

Knowledge and experience will speed you up trust me.  As you get more comfortable with where everything goes and how it's suppose to go you will start to fly right through 'em.  I also do one board at a time.  Was going to do the assembly line type of thing but one mistake now turns into many at a time which is time consuming when trying to do the repairs.  Just take your time and before you know it you'll be all done!  I have two more myself I have to build but it will be a rainy day / wintery too darn cold outside to do anything build day.

[taybrynn]

There was a two-pack from Home Depot that have become my favorites for almost everything on the building of these DIY kits.  Its a two pack precision pliers and precision wire trimmer ... red handle, crescent brand (in tool corral) ... around $10-12 ... and OMG, I use them for bending the leads, placing parts and cutting off leads after soldering.  Buying that pair should be standard equipment, they are such useful tools.  Its whats in my hands every other minute.

[bcstuff]

I used this reference as a starting point for tools when beginning soldering:
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She also provides links on where to buy the tools cheaply.

As for the pliers I bought this cheap Mini Needle Nose plier that works well:
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