Gertboard - The Element14 strikes back

Hello All!

Count me in on the Gert Board. I've purchased one this morning and I've downloaded the comicbook that has the solder lessons. I'm going to give it a go. Sorry to sound so basic - but I find all of the info, projects, lessons, questions and products a blast.

Best,

Peg

Good luck Peg. Hope you have great fun.

OK im Sold-ered. I always believed I am a terrible wielder of the soldering iron. But I have never really given myself a fair test. A few emergency repairs with big blobs of solder is all I have achieved until now. I have done many Arduino projects but always managed to find a way to connect stuff with non perm. connectors,adapters, couplers whatever just to avoid the dreaded iron.

I would like a Gertboard and even though Steve Read kindly offered his services I have decided to bite the bullet and go Hands Soloder.

I have a good iron and a couple of Maplin bot kits I bought about a year ago (EOL 99p each), I shall tackle those first as a trial. They have a couple of motors a pic socket and a few transistors and resistors etc. If either of them works after my efforts I will order a Gertboard and go for it.

So wish me luck. I type this with 10 unburnt hand digits at this time and these hands were born when WW2 rationing was still on. So I am quite fond of them.

Who knows maybe I'll surprise myself and be a solder Da Vinci. haha. Night all.

Good luck Peg. Hope you have great fun.

OK im Sold-ered. I always believed I am a terrible wielder of the soldering iron. But I have never really given myself a fair test. A few emergency repairs with big blobs of solder is all I have achieved until now. I have done many Arduino projects but always managed to find a way to connect stuff with non perm. connectors,adapters, couplers whatever just to avoid the dreaded iron.

I would like a Gertboard and even though Steve Read kindly offered his services I have decided to bite the bullet and go Hands Soloder.

I have a good iron and a couple of Maplin bot kits I bought about a year ago (EOL 99p each), I shall tackle those first as a trial. They have a couple of motors a pic socket and a few transistors and resistors etc. If either of them works after my efforts I will order a Gertboard and go for it.

So wish me luck. I type this with 10 unburnt hand digits at this time and these hands were born when WW2 rationing was still on. So I am quite fond of them.

Who knows maybe I'll surprise myself and be a solder Da Vinci. haha. Night all.

Awesome!  If you make a mistake, this thread should be useful: Re: De-solder Braid.  I prefer braid to desoldering pump but never realized before reading the post that adding flux would make it even easier.

Hello Ray, Good luck, I'm sure you will be fine, if I can do it, anyone can.

There are loads of tutorials around the net, have a look at a few of those and there are also loads of soldering tutorials on YouTube. Of course, none of this makes up for actually *doing* it, so you could always buy some stripboard and a few resistors and have a go on those first, this is the way I started and it gave me the confidence to go on from there.

Best advice I can give and you will probably see this loads of times, is make sure the soldering tip is (very) clean, no oxidisation at all and is well tinned (coated with a small amount of solder) - this in my experience makes the difference between a nice, shiny join and bits of solder everywhere apart from where you want them !

Cheers,

Steve

Cheers Steve and Drew I am feeling more confident now for when I "go to it" over the weekend,

Ray

Well Guys,

I've read the comic on soldering and just rounded up a bunch of old boards to take home with me for practice this weekend. "we have ignition". I've actually purchased a few things for my raspi's and they all require a bit of solder - thank you AdaFruit! ) I'm interested in the RasPiComm (http://amesberger.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/raspicomm-a-raspberry-pi-piggy-back-board-12/) and the Pi-Face (http://pi.cs.man.ac.uk/interface.htm)

Best,

Peg

Well I have finished my solder school debute on the Maplin Random Movement bug. It doesnt look pretty but it worked first time. ( when I replaced a duff battery anyway lol)

2 motors, 4 transistors, 4 caps, a pic12f629 with socket,  ceramic resonator, battery holder and switch. So not a huge task I know.  Some of the joints looked "shorted" so I tested all with a meter before putting batteries in. I am quite please with myself. I was sure I was too old a dog to learn this new trick.

Some comments.

I have some real probs with hand shake any good tips? would be VERY welcome. (cushion rest etc)

Boy those chip legs suddenly look VERY close together and tip of iron looks like a Saturn 5 under my BIG magnifyer.

At the end of this excercise I learnt 2 main things. You solder monkeys out there are all Artists and Engineers. Im a back yard mechanic.

But if I can do this anyone can and I am now a little more confident that I could handle a Gertboard if I really took my time.

Thanks for all the advice on the above. Oh and only one burnt finger.

Ray

That's great to hear, Ray! 

Not sure about hand stabilization but hopefully someone else has some ideas.

Ray, Great news :-) One burnt finger is a real result, I have problems remembering to pick up the non heated end most times...

Regarding hand shake, I've no concrete answer on this, would one of those 'sacks' that people use in lieu of a proper Sat Nav holder in cars work ? They are well weighed down and offer a lot of grip on the underside. I kind of lean my hand on the edge of my desk when soldering (mainly because there isn't a lot of space anywhere else) which helps me. Also get one of those 'helping hand' devices from ebay or Amazon, a small magnifying glass but more importantly two little arms with crocodile clips on the end that grip things for you, as I always find it goes something like...

Left hand - soldering iron. Right hand - Solder.....er hold on, how do I pick up the bit I need to solder. An extra set of arms would come in wonderfully handy sometimes.

Steve

Oh, that's a good point about a "helping hand" device.  Similar to that, I love to use my Panavise Jr. to hold the board I'm soldering:

http://www.panavise.com/index.html?pageID=1&page=full&--eqskudatarq=1

They come in bigger sizes for large boards, too.

I just want to congratulate you Ray on taking a very methodical and sensible approach to the problem, preparing yourself before diving in.  That's the basis on which effective engineering rests.  Good days ahead for you.

Well done.

Thanks Steve. Yes I have a set of those help hands, and a set of jewlers magnifer lens for my glasses. The hands hold the work great its me trying to keep the tip on the joint thats the problem. Still I know a soft rest or something will help. I'll keep at it.

Ray