Author Topic: Soldering board. Will this still work? (Read 5005 times)

NOOBinDistress · « **on:** April 21, 2007, 02:18:03 PM »

Hello. I am making the 50 dollar robot boar right now. When I first started making it. My dad was trying to show me how to weld and did the part where you add the very first thing and weld it. Well instead of welding each when seperately he accidently smudged them all together so now that I am at the part where I connect the yellow were I can not see which part to put the wire to because everything is soldered over. If I just guess about where it is will it still work or is the project already totally ruined

. Please help me out. Thanks.

Somchaya · « **Reply #1 on:** April 21, 2007, 02:27:13 PM »

Hmm.. by weld, I think you mean solder?

Anyway, some of the parts are supposed to be soldered together. If you click on the some of the images on the page, it'll link to an image that's color-coded and tells you which should be soldered together.

Compare what you have with the pictures. Here's one before the wires are attached: http://www.societyofrobots.com/images/sbs_connect1_large.JPG

If all the parts are soldered together into a big blob, then probably the electronics won't work, but the project is not ruined! You can either use a different part of the board and redo the soldering, or you can clean up the parts that were soldered together wrongly, using a solder wick, or a solder sucker. See http://www.geocities.com/mistertippy/howto/desolder.html for some instructions on desoldering if you need to

Good luck! My guess is that only a few parts may have gotten soldered together wrongly, so separating them shouldn't be too bad..

ed1380 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 21, 2007, 03:54:46 PM »

same thing happened to me, since I used a blunt tip gun. get 2 or 3 of the soldered pins hot so its liquid and hit it againts the table, so the solder flies down. repeat as necesary

NOOBinDistress · « **Reply #3 on:** April 21, 2007, 04:46:50 PM »

Yah thanks I will try that. I think I will add a pic, so you can see what is wrong.

NOOBinDistress · « **Reply #4 on:** April 22, 2007, 10:24:10 AM »

It wont let me add my picture. IT says the max size is 450kb.What do I do?

NOOBinDistress · « **Reply #5 on:** April 22, 2007, 10:57:10 AM »

It wont let me add a pic so I put it here:

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=183030384&albumID=0&imageID=32199

Please tell me how bad it is and if I should start taking it apart (or if taking it apart is hopeless). Thanks.

ed1380 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 22, 2007, 11:06:36 AM »

myspace? lol.
you can use photobucket

take a multimeter, and make sure nothing that ain't supposed to doesn't touch. and that is supposed to, touches.

that kind of board, where the copper pads are so close is going to turn soldering into haites.

NOOBinDistress · « **Reply #7 on:** April 22, 2007, 11:20:00 AM »

So what are you saying. Should I take the whole thing apart and buy a new board or what? I need some help. Thanks.

ed1380 · « **Reply #8 on:** April 22, 2007, 11:23:34 AM »

when me and my dad redid my board early this morning, we used phone wire to conect everything, even some of the power busses where 4 or 5 pins were soldered in a row. it made it look neater.

Gonna try it in a few.

to admin:is it ok that the cap on the new one is much bigger than teh old one, but still is 220uf

NOOBinDistress · « **Reply #9 on:** April 22, 2007, 12:28:11 PM »

So are you saying I should take it apart? And what should I use to make my soldering neater? Cant you buy like tips for you soldering gun? PLeASE HELP.THANKS!!!!!

Admin · « **Reply #10 on:** April 22, 2007, 12:46:55 PM »

Quote

It wont let me add my picture. IT says the max size is 450kb.What do I do?

lol you used myspace (btw the link is broken) . . .
just load your image into photoediting software and shrink the image, save as .jpg, etc.
your image is just too big

Quote

is it ok that the cap on the new one is much bigger than teh old one, but still is 220uf

The capacitor shouldnt be much lower than 220uF, but otherwise just about any value will work fine. Physical size is usually means the voltage it can handle. The cap should be rated at some voltage (written on the cap or in a datasheet), a number that should be about 2x the voltage your circuit will use.

For example, the $50 robot uses about 6V, so the cap needs to be rated around 12V or above. Anything higher will be ok.

NOOBinDistress · « **Reply #11 on:** April 22, 2007, 01:10:05 PM »

Admin. You saw the pic. right? Should I tear the whole thing apart or does it look ok? My problem is I think I soldered the very first thing to add wrong. Tell me if anything in the pic looks wrong or if I should keep going.

If you have not seen the link here are 2 (one should work)

http://home.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user&z=3&&Mytoken=F56080BC-4313-4787-8EB7C2771865D4E523773816

sorry I could not add 2 b cause photobucket is not working. sorry.

Admin · « **Reply #12 on:** April 22, 2007, 02:18:29 PM »

The image link doesnt work . . . I think it requires me to have a myspace account to view the pic (I dont have one).

Just shrink the image and post it, for squirrels sake!

I recommend following Somchaya's advice and get a solder sucker from radioshack to clean it up.

ed1380 · « **Reply #13 on:** April 22, 2007, 02:55:45 PM »

Heres the pic.
lol admin don't have a myspace, maybe you can get one to advertise this awesome site

I was asking cause i have some huge 160v 100uf ones form an old tv I took apart and wanted to use them on a servo exersicer. (stupid radio shack don't have 47k pots and 8.2k resistors)

Admin · « **Reply #14 on:** April 22, 2007, 03:06:49 PM »

omg lol you really messed up that soldering

I think a lot of you are learning skills I didnt even teach in my tutorial, such as how to solder . . . a few of you expressed difficulties . . .

To be honest I was really bad at it too when I first started - those darn three pin transistors were especially challenging . . . and mostly fried after I was through with them . . . haha . . .

So you should probably just solder suck up the entire thing to salvage the parts then start over. Be careful not to overheat anything or you could risk damaging the components. Or you could just buy new components since it wont cost more than I think $25 including shipping/handling.

Quote

I was asking cause i have some huge 160v 100uf ones form an old tv I took apart and wanted to use them on a servo exersicer.

that cap might work, but I wouldnt recommend it.

NOOBinDistress · « **Reply #15 on:** April 22, 2007, 03:10:11 PM »

Yah. My dad started doing it real sloppy. So I thought that is how you were supposed to I see now that you not. lol. I think I will need a solder sucker thing.

Brandon121233 · « **Reply #16 on:** April 22, 2007, 08:56:49 PM »

Do you know what size of soldering tip you are using cause it looks like its either way to big or you used way too much solder. Just a few tips: don't stick the tip onto the part and push solder into it to get a lot on, rather "tin" the tip (cover the tip of the iron with just enough to have an even thin layer on the tip) and solder with that, you are much less likelire to get "blobs" everywhere.

Admin · « **Reply #17 on:** April 22, 2007, 09:11:52 PM »

Brandon121233, I used to use that method myself but rarely use it now.

The best method I have found is to heat up your part real fast, then push solder into the part. If your part is hot enough, the solder will melt right away into a good bond. I rarely ever touch the solder to the soldering iron.

JonHylands · « **Reply #18 on:** April 23, 2007, 05:00:45 AM »

Melting the solder onto the soldering iron only works well if you use separate flux - sometimes when I only have two hands and I need three, I will do that, but I brush on liquid flux first to both the part and the pad.

If you're using flux core solder, once you melt it onto the tip, the flux is basically gone - you only get the benefits of flux core if you solder the way Admin suggests.

- Jon

NOOBinDistress · « **Reply #19 on:** April 23, 2007, 03:05:10 PM »

Oh well am I like supposed to buy tips for my soldering gun? Anyway I am buying a solder sucker.Will that help me get it apart? Thanks.

Brandon121233 · « **Reply #20 on:** April 23, 2007, 03:44:29 PM »

I solder with solid core solder, I learned to do it this way and I use a higher quality flux that is not as messy, for me it results in a much cleaner and professional looking solder joint.

Admin · « **Reply #21 on:** April 23, 2007, 04:44:46 PM »

Quote

am I like supposed to buy tips for my soldering gun?

tips can dull over time, but i wouldnt recommend buying extra tips until your tip is dull

jsmoker · « **Reply #22 on:** April 24, 2007, 12:34:51 PM »

This might be a crazy idea...and perhaps a little messy, but it's worked great for me for quick desoldering for both pin and surface mount applications. A CO2 bike pump, used in conjunction with a "pump needle" for pumping basketballs and such with the tip cut off so the air goes straight, and cheap CO2 cartrages sold for paintball guns at Walmart (1/4 the price of the ones for the bike pump it self, but made to the same specs) Its a bit messy, watch for solder splatter, but when used with a soldering iron, it sure is a quick way to remove a lot of solder. An afterwards you can use it to pump up that football and play a game outside. Or turn it upsidedown and freeze and ant with dry-ice

-JSmoker

As a disclaimer, each situation calls for it's own method.

dunk · « **Reply #23 on:** April 24, 2007, 12:56:16 PM »

ed1380 mentioned my personal favorite for getting rid of excess solder near the start of this thread but it worths pointing out again.

heat up the offending joints/mess of solder.
hold board firmly by one edge.
smack the other edge firmly off the table.

all the excess solder flies off. (onto anyother electronics in the splatter path.)
quick and easy.
no fancy tools.
no messing about.

you will still need a solder pump to get solder out of the tighter holes but it saves a lot of time on the big blobs.

dunk.

nanob0t · « **Reply #24 on:** April 24, 2007, 04:29:31 PM »

I agree, heat it all up and try to fling off as much as you can. That solder sucker is for small joints, so work off what you can easily, then suck off the rest. Or there is wire you can get made off copper, that when heated ontop of the solder, it will suck it all up into it. That's a crapload of solder though.

After you get out the parts, you might want to start over. That's pretty hectic. Looks like your dad was watching television or something while soldering it

A little practice before hand will make everything pretty. Try getting a few parts that are dead or something and practice. That little bit will pay off in the end.

zamboniman60 · « **Reply #25 on:** April 25, 2007, 10:22:02 PM »

It helps to get some old dumpster-dove electronics and desolder a bunch of stuff... that's how I learned to solder...

News:

Author Topic: Soldering board. Will this still work? (Read 5005 times)

Related Topics