In this section, we show you how this manual works by having you solder your first component onto the board.
Each Step page follows roughly the same outline.
It's all quite nice.
Today we're going to blah blah blah... Tools Needed
Parts Needed
Instructions
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So what is a soldering iron anyway? It's a boring way to say a super hot, several hundred degree pen that can put a hole in your table in an instant! YEAH!
Operating by the same principles as your toaster, it's literally like plugging in all the power from your wall outlet and concentrating it into one tiny point.
But why do something so awesome? Well, here's where it gets even cooler. A soldering iron is used to fuse two metal things together! It does this by melting a small amount of metal (in this kit, primarily tin), in between the two surfaces. This metal that we melt is called solder.
INSERT DIAGRAM OF SOLDER FILLING METAL JOINTS
You'll discover pretty quickly that it can be next to impossible to get components to stay on the board while soldering. You can try lots of different things. You can:
INSERT PICTURES OF UNSUCCESSFUL SOLDERING POSITIONING ATTEMPTS
This is a matter of personal preference, but I find all of those things to be more trouble than they're worth, when you can literally just tape the component to the board and have it stay there without any complaints.
So that's what I do now. I just tape it to the board, and everyone's happy. Everyone being me, of course.
Oh, and you'll probably need scissors to cut the tape. Just saying...
Cut yourself some electrical tape to hold components in place. You'll be able to use this over and over again, so cut a good amount. Not too short that it won't stick, but not too long that it gets in the way.
Do not attempt to use any other type of tape as they may leave sticky residues or melt during soldering. |
You may not know which pins are connected to ground just by looking at it (you might need to resort to the schematic to know that), but you will certainly know when you encounter one. Ground-connected pins have lots of metal connected to them, so they're very difficult to heat up. You will experience an unusual amount of trouble getting the solder to heat and stay heated.
Some pins will be harder to solder than others, for a number of reasons. Some are connected to more metal, bigger parts
In this case, the smallest hole on this connector, near the front, is connected to ground. Hence, it will be the most difficult to solder.
But don't give up! Just hold the iron to the pin longer until the solder flows. It will eventually; it just might take a bit longer. And remember, the longer the iron touches the board, the hotter the board gets, so be careful touching the board after the iron has an extended stay.