Soldering my 50$ robot

[SciOlyStudent]

I've begun soldering my 50$ robot circuit board, and it IS HARD!  How serious is it if I mis-solder?  Can it be undone?  Is it possible for the soldering iron to be too hot and damage the circuit board/electronics?  I soldered some of my DIP 28 socket thingy that the microcontroller goes into and the insides of some of the sockets look charred... please tell me that that is not bad!  Some noob questions to make you all feel better about yourselves .

[ed1380]

I've begun soldering my 50$ robot circuit board, and it IS HARD!  How serious is it if I mis-solder?  Can it be undone? solder sucker or braid Is it possible for the soldering iron to be too hot and damage the circuit board/electronics? depends on which soldering gun you have I soldered some of my DIP 28 socket thingy that the microcontroller goes into and the insides of some of the sockets look charred... please tell me that that is not bad! mine actually melted and came out. it'll be ok Some noob questions to make you all feel better about yourselves .

[SciOlyStudent]

Soldering is easier than I thought (my wire was WAY too thick, about 10 times thicker than recommended ).  By the way, Admin, your tutorial has a hole (or at least i missed something).  http://www.societyofrobots.com/step_by_step_robot_step3B.shtml
Just about the time you make that 1337 LED wire connection, 2 rows of 5 pin male headers suddenly appear without explanation... heres the pics...
here is before the appearance...

and here is after...



The major thing that is tripping me up about this is the connection between the pins.  Are the 5 pins on the outside connected (is that a "bus"?) and the other 5 left solo?  Please explain!

Edit: Nevermind, found where you mentioned it ( even said that there was no pick, duh!)

[SciOlyStudent]

In the tutorial when you are connecting the capacitor to the 5V regulator, do you solder all 3 pins of the regulator together?  A little confused at that part, thanks  .

[paulstreats]

dont solder all 3 pins of the voltage regulator together
just solder the capacitor to the Vin and gnd pins seperately

[Admin]

The biggest mistake you are making is following the pictures and not using the schematic

I put the soldering pics there mostly so people can see how I did it, but if you want to know which wire goes where, refer to the schematic. If you are still unsure after looking at the schematic, feel free to ask about it.

(I have been known to make dumb mistakes in my tutorials occasionally, so don't feel afraid to ask)

As for frying components with solder . . . the best way to solder is to do it really fast so the components don't have time to heat up. If it takes a long time, then your soldering iron might not be hot enough (hotter means faster). The only component I think that will get destroyed would be the LED, which is cheap and easy to replace.

[SciOlyStudent]

Ok, the main reason that I was going mostly off the pics was that the chart was confusing, but once I read your post I looked back at it and found that it made sense (although I still don't feel like I could set it up myself ).  Thanks for all the help, I'll be finishing the circuit tomorrow, so fingers crossed!

[bulkhead]

If it hasn't been said already...check your connections with a multimeter for shorts before powering on.  After you connect power check if any components are heating up excessively, and that the voltage is in the right range (actually, if possible, test this before plugging in components).

Solder braid is really useful.

[pomprocker]

I am stuck at this part:



I can't quite figure out how to do these solder bridges.

[Trumpkin]

that is very hard!! it took me so many tries to get it done. my advice, use bare wires instead, it much easier to do for beginners.

[Admin]

I can't quite figure out how to do these solder bridges.

Its a little tricky at first.

Basically, you need to rely on uneven heating. You have to have the two ends cold enough so they don't move, but the bridge needs to be hot enough to bond to both ends. Its easier with a good soldering iron where you can control the temperature.

[chitniss]

I clipped staple pins and used them to make some of the bridges. Just so much cleaner and less work I think. Also, my board did not have copper circles, it was just plastic with holes in it, which made it slightly difficult to solder, so staple pins worked better.

[ptumik]

I can't quite figure out how to do these solder bridges.

yeah, I had to start this process from scratch twice before I figured out how to do this:
firstly, apply some soldering on an empty hole, so that you will have a small bump of solder on it. Then, apply some solder to your soldering gun and touch this small bump and your pin - and they will get connected, do the same with the second pin and you will have a nice bridge. It's more of trial and error.
also, remember that solder will flow to the hottest point.

[SmAsH]

heh, yes i screwed up 2 boards before i got them right. as everyones said solder as normal then apply solder to the iron and place inbetween the two joints, let cool and repeat with other joints.

[Razor Concepts]

I messed up my first two boards too... this is getting weird 

[SmAsH]

lol, but on my boards i soldered pretty much everything except the ic socket on.

[Jdog]

I can't quite figure out how to do these solder bridges.

Its a little tricky at first.

Basically, you need to rely on uneven heating. You have to have the two ends cold enough so they don't move, but the bridge needs to be hot enough to bond to both ends. Its easier with a good soldering iron where you can control the temperature.

I came up with a solution for that, and a lot of the problems I had as a begginer solderer making the $50 board. I sent an e-mail to admin for a member tutorial but he never replied. Anyway, before you put the pins in the holes take some stranded wire (I used 20 gauge), strip it, and take one strand and thread it through the holes you're about to solder together. Then just push the pins in and solder it in regularly. It makes life so much easier. It also works for many other annoying connections he wired together.