Maria, an embedded software engineer, came to our Verilog Meetup at Hacker Dojo last Sunday. Then she stepped into a lab next door and one of the serious solderers asked her if she wanted to try to solder. Maria said yes and soldered the first pin in her life!

You can do it too! Come to our Learn to Solder event on Sunday, August 11, 2024 at 2:30 pm US Pacific time at Hacker Dojo, 855 Maude Ave, Mountain View, California. If you cannot come in person, you can join by Zoom and do soldering at home watching how we do it.

 

During the event, we will first train the participants to solder pins, then solder headers to digital microphones and audio boards. These boards are used in Verilog Meetup, another event at Hacker Dojo.

We will provide instruction, a demo and all the necessary equipment: Weller and Hakko soldering stations, TS101 and Pinecil soldering irons, solder, flux, microscopes to check the quality, and other accessories.

You can check whether the part you soldered works by connecting it to an FPGA board.

We expect you to donate $20 to Hacker Dojo and $10 to the event organizer for the materials (soldering wire, components, etc.). Students, the unemployed, the retired, people with modest means, and online participants can join for free.

Below is a I2S GY-PCM5102 component for sound output, soldered by Maria. However note that we plan to solder the header facing the opposite side. Also note the position of the solder bridges (toward right, right, right, then left):

 

More details about the components and the setup to test them.

 

 

Make sure to carefully watch the video below, especially if you participate into the meetup remotely. This video shows the basic movement in soldering a pin:

1. Heat the joint from one side.
2. Add the solder wire from the opposite side.
3. Let the wire melt.
4. Remove the wire.
5. Remove the iron.

The whole thing should take 3 seconds and the proper temperature should be between 300-330 С or 570-630 F.

A list of the essential items if you want to do this at home while watching our event at Hacker Dojo:

1. The iron. I good choice is PINECIL – Smart Mini Portable Soldering Iron (Version 2) with a sensor integrated into the tip (we will explain why this is important) and conical B2 tip (which is standard when you buy PINECIL). Some people prefer BC2 tip because it transfers heat better but is less precise.

2. A power supply – you can use many laptop adapters, for example this one:

 

3. 63-37 Tin Lead Rosin Core Solder Wire (0.6mm 50g) – this solder wire has rosin inside which means you most likely do not need an additional flux outside

4. A PCB board for training, for example:

or another board, which is suggested by some people as better quality:

5. Headers for training, for example:

6. Soldering iron stand, with brass wool and cleaning sponge (you need to wet the sponge with water). For example:

7. Magnifying glasses with LEDs, for example:

Less essential items

8. While Pinecil or TS101 can solder rosin core wire without any external flux, I usually use flux for soldering with other irons. Flux removes the oxidation and promotes wetting of the join by the solder. You can buy flux in the following form:

9. People who do a lot of soldering strongly recommend to buy a fume extractor to protect your lungs and health overall:

10. I personally like very much a dissecting microscope with 20X-30X magnification to check the quality of my soldering:

11. Getting a heat insulation mat is another good idea:

12. I also use a solderless breadboard to keep in place the items with a header I am about to solder:

 

You may also need various desoldering tools, a good light, a helping hand tool and many other accessories. We will go through these parts during the event. You can see some of them here on my tables:

 

See you at Hacker Dojo or online on Sunday, August 11, 2024 at 2:30 pm Calfornia (daylight saving) US Pacific time!