Soldering 40 Arduino Nano and breadboards (improve your skills) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: gizmo69the2nd
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 03, 2016, 03:34:48 am
content: Hi all,A client of mine needed 40 Arduino Nano's and their breakout boards.Budget was really low, so Chinese versions to the rescue!Boards were delivered without the headers mounted on,so on I went soldering 160 15-way headers, 80 15-way screw terminals.A total of 3600 soldering pads.By the end, I developed some muscle memory, I decided to film it.Comments alway welcome.https://youtu.be/mMcr7FvoXtY

author: CaveMannDave
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2016, 03:45:02 am
content: Howdy,Really decent work, but I would suggest an alligator clip or two to somewhat fixture your work, instead of chasing it around.CheersDave

author: gizmo69the2nd
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 03, 2016, 03:56:58 am
content: That would indeed be an excellent improvement for stability.But I'm not a big fan of 3th hands, clips, PCB holders etc. so I hardly ever use them.I just press it down on my ESD mat, tends to have enough friction most of the time.The time I spend clamping something in the exact wright position to solder, I rather send chasing my PCBKeeps more of a challenge...And my other, more akward way, of soldering is clamping my iron down on the table.That's aspecially handy to solder wires to components.Instead of clamping the wire and the component with some clips, I keep those in my hand and feed them in my iron with a bit of solder.At first it's a bit tricky, but once you get the hang of it...

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2016, 05:39:47 am
content: Quote from: gizmo69the2nd on January 03, 2016, 03:56:58 amStickvice would be useful. You adjust it once and then use the spring for quick release.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2016, 05:44:24 am
content: But the headers will fall off so he will have to tack a couple of pins per header.

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2016, 05:57:23 am
content: Fast

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2016, 12:29:24 pm
content: I've done a few pin headers, lately, too. These are 5x2 pin headers.Too bad I'm done with my board conatining the 15x2 headers on them. I can do a full row of 15 in a go. Could possibly do 20, I think, with this new 4mm CF tip.If you run out of third hands, sometimes flux and the right iron tip can be even better.

author: TiN
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2016, 01:07:36 pm
content: Using 4-6mm wide tip with big blob of solder would speedup things few times at least and would remove need of returning to bad soldered joins...

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2016, 01:32:30 pm
content: Here's a more literal example of using flux as a third hand. You can embed smaller wires right into solid rosin to help keep them in place.This is one of the worst tinning wires I have ever used. It takes a few tries.I also use this little puck when desoldering SMD passives with my microscope. I stick it in the edge of my FOV and/or on the pcb, itself; a bit of wax on the bottom makes it stick. I'll desolder the part by reflowing both pads using a bevel or a knife. Then a quick touch to the flux puck to mobilize the solder. Then tap my hand on the bench to dislodge the part. If I made a big mistake (lots of parts to collect), I'll dislodge the parts directly into a small collection dish. If I am reworking/tweaking a circuit and might be putting that part back on the pcb, I might wipe it on the puck where it gets lodged in the flux as it cools, so it can't get lost.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2016, 06:35:57 pm
content: Pretty much the way to do it. Some were doubting me, when I said, it is possible to solder a DIN41612 connector in a minute. Just have a solder blob all the time, drag soldering really works. You can shave off a few seconds if you use leaded solder with 1-1.2mm diameter. Fixing the component or PCB in place with generous use of insulation tape.

author: RobertBG
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2016, 10:31:44 pm
content: Nice work and while the suggestions made have merit I think most of us would be hard pressed to do much better

author: CaveMannDave
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2016, 10:01:30 am
content: He IS pretty quick...D.