DiyLightAnimation
Store => Sale/Trade => Topic started by: remixsam on August 19, 2012,
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Anyone close to chicago willing to solder some things for me?
I have done (soldered) a couple kits from Radio Shack... but they don't look very good.
I'm just not confidant enough in my "skills" to solder the parts that make my lights blink..
i know everyone is busy.. but I thought I would ask...
Thanks :)
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Maybe someone local will step up for you and i dont know what kind of rat shack iron you have but FWIW I found when I finally invested in a good soldering station my results radically improved. Remember to apply heat/tip to BOTH lead and trace, a touch of fine solder with other hand for a second or two and that's it. I now find assembling my kits immensely gratifying but I'm a weird dude... I enjoy sequencing the most of all things blinky. :o
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Remix, what exactly do you have that needs assembly?
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@ Zwiller: i have a decent 40 w iron and i have worked on some kits that resemble the the kits from DIY... just to practice... i will just be super bummed if I ruin these from DIY...
@ Urthegman: I have 10 SSC, and 16 port active thing and lynx combiner that I need soldered...
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Unless you are 100% sure you are done after building those kits I would seriously encourage you to upgrade to nice station before you give up trying to roll your own. I dragged my feet and caved after I ruined a kit with a cheaper iron. Wasnt too bad though, got some new parts and pcb and used rest of kit to complete Although I had soldered a few things before I was basically a complete noob to this stuff. Was a night and day difference to me. Lastly, desoldering braid is your friend.
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remixsam,
I understand it's a big investment and your concerns about being "super bummed if I ruin these from DIY...".
However, everyone here has at one point and time had the same concerns and have gone on in the spirit of DIY to be able to wear the badge (so to speak) and have the bragging rights to say I built these from scratch".
Having said that, if there is some reason why you can't,.. i.e Handicap, lack of hand eye coordination, or just plain having trouble due to age, I'm sure someone would be glad to step up and help you.
If that is not the case then as was previously mentioned, a little investment on a proper soldering station, and pic programmer would be in order. Then just take the plunge. Don't worry about it cause we've all been there and were all here to help.
There's a reason why we DIY and it's more than just cost savings. ;)
Leon
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This is a very good low cost solder station. I have two of them and they work great. Like others have said you will notice a huge improvement in the quality of your work with a solder station. I had never soldered anything before I built an Aeon Clock. Take your time. DOUBLE CHECK PART PLACEMENT!!!!
http://www.amazon.com/Aoyue-937-Digital-Soldering-Station/dp/B000I30QBW/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1345440240&sr=8-2-fkmr1&keywords=aouye+37
Brian
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Here's mine for $30: http://www.circuitspecialists.com/csi-station1a.html (http://www.circuitspecialists.com/csi-station1a.html). As mentioned, grab a pickit 3 from j1sys.
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http://www.hakko.com/english/products/hakko_fx888.html
Another good one. I've become a big fan of hakko irons/systems. This one can be found for under 80 bucks with a little bit of searching.
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I have the same station that Zwiller stated. It works like a charm! I would also suggest that you get yourself .31 63/37 solder. That stuff is awesome. I used to use lead free solder. NEVER AGAIN!!!
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I also have the CSI station and love it. Had zero experience soldering when I got it and used it to build 5 expresses and a SS hub!
But, if you are looking for a friend that can solder, this is probably a good place to look: http://pumpingstationone.org/
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IMO, if you don't build it yourself, it takes all the fun out of it. i have heard a lot of talk about having a "station". i bought a 40w iron from radio shack for 12 bucks and it has worked great to build 11 express kits and an active hub. i have replaced a tip already, but they're only 2 bucks so it is worth it. a good magnifier really helps too! just my opinion.
duane
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I would also suggest that you get yourself .31 63/37 solder. That stuff is awesome.
My preference has been .020 gauge rosin core solder. 63/37 is the better choice over 60/40 because it goes from molten to solid much faster as it cools.
I like the small gauge solder because I easily control the amount of solder by how much length I feed into the joint.
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Last year I bought a new soldering station from CSI before starting my DIY kits.
I had previously never soldered much and only had a 40watt radio shack soldering iron.
I was very nervous about building stuff because I don't have a steady hand and had virtually no soldering experience.
I did watch a few videos on soldering and also the videos RJ put out, which seemed to build my confidence to try it.
In the end, everything I built worked. I was in shock. I built many different things.
The biggest thing was having that nice soldering station ... wow, compared to my rat shack iron, which was hot in 2-3 minutes
and very little to no control ... a nice soldering station was ready to go in 10-15 seconds and had such great temp. control that I felt
in control ... and with that, built confidence.
I also highly reccomend those LED magnifying lamps ... got one at the local office xxxxx store and it was another $50 well spent.
Good luck!
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YOU MAY TRY CLEANING THE TIP OF YOUR IRON OFTEN WITH A WET SPONGE OR WET PAPER TOWEL
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I bought a "station" from e-bay, good deals are out there, just be patient. It has both the iron and a rework station. Both have digital temp. controls along with a speed control for the rework fan. As others have pointed out, 63/37 and .31 rosin core, no-clean solder, a good magnifier with a light and a "3rd hand" to hold your boards while you solder and a soldering vent fan are all VERY good things to have. They will all make your life easier...but they won't make you an expert...only jumping in and doing it...practice. Find yourself an old PC board, practice removing the parts and then practice putting them back on. Can't stress enough....PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!
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I'd be willing to help out with what I can, I can't solder all that stuff up for you, but I'd be willing to help you get started on it. I'm about 90 miles NW of Chicago if you're interested.
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I want to point out a "decimal place" error on a lot of the solder diameters mentioned. The .31" solders are really .031" (31 thousandths in diameter). Big difference. You wouldn't want solder that is 1/3 of an inch.
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here are 2 pics of the board i tried out...
I appreciate the feedback on the selecting the correct iron... i will be making a purchase soon on a new station.
one thing i noticed in this board was.. how to keep the little things close to the board as you flip it over to solder?
The flux stuff really makes for a dirty board... and am i correct that you are supposed to heat the element NOT the solder?
also... if it does not say that the direction/polarity matters... does it really not matter the direction?
again, thanks for all your feedback!
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Use blue painters tape to hold stuff in place when you flip the board over.
Work from the center of the board out, and shortest (in height) parts first.
resistors, fuses have no polarity.
LEDS, triacs, voltage regulators, capacitors are polarized.
Be mindful of multi-legged chip orientation.
Edit: triacs and voltage regulators are not polarized, but have a specific orientation.
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I would try to do a couple of the SSC's first. They are relatively cheap so if you screw them up you want be out too much. The hub isn't very challenging in terms of soldering - just a lot of it. Take your time and stop if you get tired! You'll be surprised at how quickly you'll master the skills needed. Where you want a better iron is if you do an LE- as the triacs traces will 'sink' a lot of heat and is best done with an adj. temp iron like the Weller WLC100. I got mine from Amazon.
Good Luck!
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Use blue painters tape to hold stuff in place when you flip the board over.
Work from the center of the board out, and shortest (in height) parts first.
resistors, fuses have no polarity.
LEDS, triacs, voltage regulators, capacitors are polarized.
Be mindful of multi-legged chip orientation.
...except the smaller caps are non-polarized as well.
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From the pictures, it looks like you could stand to raise the temp on the soldering iron a bit. A few of the joints do not look like they flowed very well.
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It does look like low temperature on the iron or too large in size of solder.
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If you need a little help on figuring out how to solder correctly there is a video by Curious Inventor that shows you the dos and don'ts. Although the only thing that I pretty much do differently in my soldering is cut the lead AFTER soldering the component in. I can see where he is coming from, but I have found that as long as you are careful you can get away with cutting the lead after soldering ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_NU2ruzyc4
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I also cut afterwards and its helpful to see those leads, because it shows me what I just worked on ... otherwise I think I'd get lost on what to check after each step.
The small 2-pack cutters and pliers from home depot (red handles, Cresent USA branded) are my MVP tool for doing these projects ... about $10 for the pack.
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There is a reason for cutting the leads prior to soldering but I ignore it. For harsh environments ( primarily salt water or high temp ) by soldering a cut lead, the solder covers the raw copper end. Reduces the chance of corrosion and Tin Whiskers.
If you were concerned, you could retouch the solder after cutting the leads. Still not worth the time unless you really expect to be using this hardware 20 years from now.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
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i bought my cutters at walmart in the bead section
green handle offset cutters let you get closer to board
i would suggest a very stiff short bristle nylon brush and some alcohol to clean flux from board after you solder it
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Definitely match tip size, solder size to what you are working on. Cutting Leads before/after soldering is one of those things the exposed copper (in the lead after you cut it) is more susceptible to corrosion but as has been suggested it will probably take a while. Patience (with yourself), lighting and appropriate work surface will go a long way to creating great solder joints. You can most always retouch a solder joint to assure you have a good electrical connection.
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I was watching this topic before I built 3 expresses. All of these guys give great advice. I bought a digital station out of the for sale section here from one of the members and I did try to use some of my old solder that was bigger than the .031" stuff. The larger stuff was lousy for anything but the heatsinks and the power lead connectors. It really helps to use the smaller solder as you can really control how much you use, and it heats up FAST. I was really wary as my parts looked pretty much like yours without the station and the smaller wire, but the temperature controlled station and the smaller solder wire really makes a HUGE difference.
I really think you would regret not doing it yourself as it is a huge accomplishment to get this thing built. I have shown a few of my coworkers my boards completed and they look at me and say "I would have given up before I started" I almost did the same myself but now I have the confidence to build anything RJ can design for this group.
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Thank you for all that offered help and tips on how to succeed with this project. I greatly appreciate it.
While another member did the soldering for me on the SSC ect... I DID get a few more of those kits at Radio Shack... and much to my surprise, I was able to learn (with your help) and feel a little more comfortable with soldering! When I get my Dongle... i will solder it myself and hopefully it works! lol
Thanks again!