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Gertboard - The Element14 strikes back

e14 Contributor

Oh dear. It seems that If I "Fluke PiStalker" want to obtain a Deathstar beating Gertboard from the Element14 Empire. I have to pay £30 quid and then go all "Hands Solo" from "Solder Wars" fame. (if the farce is with my at the time) Thats a big shame really cos I would have paid £40 willinging for one assemmbled by "R2D2" or some other Solder super Driod.

 

It looks then as if I will have to go remain Fluke PiStalker and wait for a Droid to build me one.

 

Come on Gert please chase the powers that be to get some assembled versions on the go for poor old guys like me whose idea or circuit assemmbly was screwing and fixing a couple of bits a BakerLite together 60 years ago. image

 

Seriously Gert a fantastic job great to see them in the wild but we cant all solder however easy it is, Take Pity Darth Gert and sort it for us.

 

That tale was NOT bought to you by any members of any film companies on the planet Earth. image

 

Just to keep the balls and games rolling ahead is my target.

 

Ray

  • in reply to fustini

    Drew thanks for the adafruit link off too read shortly.

     

    Ray

  • in reply to e14 Contributor

    Selsinork. Thanks for that important bit of info, I have been mainly using lead-free and maybe making my own lack of skills appear even worse. I have got some 60/40 now and will do a few comparison joints to see how I fair with the different materials.

     

    I have to admit I hadn-t really looked it up. I just assumed all would be using lead-free.

     

    Ray (must not assume anything) image

  • in reply to fustini

    something that may help with soldering surface mount devices is a set of rolson self grip tweezers. These devices can gently grip the smallest devices in the gertboard kit, and stop you burning your fingers. I also used a large self standing magnifying glass as my eyes struggle with smt. Leaded solder also helped. The only real problem I found was getting the smt components out of their packaging I managed to flick one onto the carpet, a small capacitor, it took a long time to find it! I have built two Gertboards and am very happy with them

  • Just a couple of comments from my years of experience with SMDs.

    1. Secure the PC poard to a flat peice of metal. preferably a piece of flat iron or lead..

         I use a peice of 1/4 inch iron about 4X5 inches. This will allow rotation/movement but will be very stable. Felt on the bottom will be even more stable..

         Use masking tape along two of the edges to secure the PC board. If the masking tape covers some of the pads or components it's OK.

         The tape can be moved to another part of the board after some of the components have been installed.

    2. Most pads will solder much better if pre tinned.

    3. Remove solder from the pads after tinning with solder wick or soldersucker.(Be sure the hole in the soldersucker is much smaller than any SMD).

    4. apply a very small amount of solder to ONLY ONE of the pads on the SND.

    5. Use tweezers to hold the SMD in place while the pad with solder is reheated so it will flow properly.

    5. Heat the junction of the other pad(s) of the component to the Flowing point, then apply a small amount of solder. Use small diameter solder.

    This will become easy after a little practice.

    Bill

  • in reply to billpenner

    billpenner wrote:

     

    Just a couple of comments from my years of experience with SMDs.

    1. Secure the PC poard to a flat peice of metal. preferably a piece of flat iron or lead..

         I use a peice of 1/4 inch iron about 4X5 inches. This will allow rotation/movement but will be very stable. Felt on the bottom will be even more stable..

         Use masking tape along two of the edges to secure the PC board. If the masking tape covers some of the pads or components it's OK.

         The tape can be moved to another part of the board after some of the components have been installed.

    2. Most pads will solder much better if pre tinned.

    3. Remove solder from the pads after tinning with solder wick or soldersucker.(Be sure the hole in the soldersucker is much smaller than any SMD).

    4. apply a very small amount of solder to ONLY ONE of the pads on the SND.

    5. Use tweezers to hold the SMD in place while the pad with solder is reheated so it will flow properly.

    5. Heat the junction of the other pad(s) of the component to the Flowing point, then apply a small amount of solder. Use small diameter solder.

    This will become easy after a little practice.

    Bill

    Thanks for that Bill. Very useful collectection of tips. With xmas just over the horizon and me leaving LARGE hints everywhere here about project bits it would be nice for santa to bring. Im sure I will be making use of some of them in the near future. image

     

    Ray

  • in reply to morgaine

    When I started inhaling the fumes of melted solder Heatkit stuff had tubes on them and you could put things together with a 250W soldering iron.

     

    Last piece I got from Heatkit and still have in working condition (once in a while I turn it on) is the Motorola MC6800 kit

    https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-wKaxkxFfoZQ/ThSQrMtVYwI/AAAAAAAAGfk/XAAno8LPrYc/s640/DSC02780.JPG

     

    Anyway if you want more tips about how to work with SMD components I put together a quick tutorial about how to put stuff on a board I designed for PIC MCUs

    http://www.ljcv.net/pp28/pp28-tut.html

     

    -J

  • in reply to jamodio

    Super job on both the Heathkit and the tutorial.

    Bill

  • in reply to fustini

    BTW drew CPC sell some pistol griped desolder tools which although not as good as the several 100£ units are only £50 ish. They truely kick the *** of Solder braid.

  • in reply to Problemchild

    But you are right the braid is better than the cheap piston suckers ....grr

  • in reply to johnbeetem

    Back on page 1 of the thread where the topic was demise of Heathkit,

     

    John Beetem wrote:

     

    It's one thing to say "I built it myself, and saved US$200" versus "I built it myself and had a lot of fun, but it cost me an extra US$200".  High-density SMT came along, and it became impractical for the general public to build things themselves.  Preparing the kit -- sticking components into paper bags and envelopes, etc., became more expensive than assembling the board with an SMT assembly robot.

     

    It occurs to me that component suppliers like Premier Farnell already do exactly this --- "sticking components into paper bags and envelopes".  With the addition of a department focused on creating kits, they could feed off their already existing component handling and become the new Heathkit, putting their stocks to good additional use.  These forums would be a reasonable start as community-based support for kit builders.