Introduction to Soldering PCB Bread boards u uu

Introduction to Soldering (PCB Bread boards) u! uu e e P Co ol HO T Nick Carter 4/21/2016

Safety Rules • ALWAYS wear SAFETY GOGGLES • Soldering Iron CAN BURN YOU BADLY • Soldering iron CAN BURN YOUR CLOTHES Cool HOT OW! ONLY TOUCH or HOLD THIS PART OW! Hot like VERY HOT MELTS METAL boiling water • Soldering iron - in the HAND or in the STAND • PUT it back in the STAND when not soldering

Solder and the Joint • Solder is a metal mixture, mostly tin, that melts at 400 deg F (like your kitchen oven on MAX. ) • Parts connected by solder are JOINED together. It is Solder joint. They are joined in 2 ways: – Solder makes a MECHANICAL CONNECTION fastening parts together – used for copper water pipes and electrical circuits – Solder makes an ELECTRICAL CONNECTION between the parts – used for electrical circuits • To make a good joint, the solder needs to stick to the parts (wet the parts). Wetting is also called “tinning”. It is good to have parts tinned and silvery before soldering. – The iron tip needs to be hot, clean and silvery – The parts need to be clean so solder will stick to them – The parts need to be hot before applying solder • Solder contains a chemical – FLUX - that cleans the parts. – It makes the smoke you will see. Do not breath this Peeuuu!

Soldering is Joining Things Together We make a solder joint like this • Mechanically join the parts or hold them together. – They should not move while solder cools. • Heat both parts with the soldering iron. – 3 to 5 seconds depending on size of wires – Too much heat can damage components – If the component has more than 2 leads, after 1, go solder a different component and come back so that the component does not overheat • Poke the solder wire onto the hot joint and it will melt and wet the parts we want to join • Add solder wire until parts are wetted and holes are filled. • Take the iron and solder wire off the parts so they can cool (Solder first, or it may stick to the joint) • Let the parts cool before moving them. • A good solder joint will be shiny. If it looks grainy, melt it and let it cool again.

Soldering PCB – Looks Like This Co 3. Push Solder into joint ol HO T 1. Heat both parts with Iron 2. Wait until parts are hot (3 -5 seconds) 4. Solder wets both parts 5. Take away solder and iron and let joint cool OOPS Note: If you take away the iron before the solder, the solder may stick to the joint. If this happens put the iron on again to melt it and take away the solder.

PCB Breadboards • There are several kinds. Try to find most suitable for what you are building. – 1 pad per hole – make connections with wire – Groups of pads/holes connected together – Has special patterns for surface mount or special components – Has holes in groups that can be separated by cutting between them to make smaller groups

PCB Breadboard examples Not always pretty, but functional VERO board Has drill-like tool to cut breaks Added wires to join components

Your Practice Bag Contains • • Solder Copper Braid Small PCB Breadboard Stripped copper wires – One has long bare end

Soldering Practice 1 - Solder Bridges • Heat pad, apply solder, make nice low blob. • Heat next pad over, apply solder, make blobs join – If they don’t join add more solder – This is a “solder bridge” joining the pads – Remove the bridge by wiping tip of iron between pads • Make another bridge and remove it – Use the “Solder Wick” copper braid to suck up the extra solder so you separate pads again – Push braid on extra solder with iron tip and wait until it heats and sucks up the solder them remove it. – Braid gets hot so I made “handles” • FYI Another tool for removing solder is a solder sucker Solder is nice and shiny

Soldering Practice 2 – Component Wires 1. Take a jumper wire and feed bare ends of wire through 2 holes and bend apart to stop it falling out, heat wire and pad, apply solder, melt it to wet all parts and cover the pad. Leave other pad unsoldered 2. Apply the iron and count 3 seconds to heat the wire and pad then apply solder – it should flow and wet the pad and wires to join them 3. Do this for 3 wires next to each other – use the one with long end last. 4. Bend the long unsoldered wire ends to go across the other unsoldered pads with wires Solder all 3 pads and make sure all wires are joined. This is how you use this breadboard to make circuits. Bottom side 5. Trim wire ends. Top side – Hold then cut. Bend this long wire across on underside

This will work , but……. What could be better with this? Joining wire can touch unused pads - Use pliers to form wire before soldering Bare wire should be on underside. - Push wires through more Solder does not cover wire and pad, - needs longer heat up time and more solder

Planning your Circuit • This is like designing a printed circuit board and you can make the design into one later • If you have several holes connected together, match up a group of holes with each of the component connections using a hole for each component wire. • How many holes for these circuit connections A, B, C, D, E and F? How far apart should we make them? LED A B D C 4. 7 K Battery + 100 E 4. 7 K NPN F Battery -

Some Free Design Tools (I have only tried Eagle CAD and 123 D) • Stripboard Magic • Fritzing (for regular breadboards) • Eagle CAD – put your component ends on same places as board holes. You can use layout tool but make the breadboard instead of PCB • 123 D Layout, Simulate, PCB layout not good yet. Working on Eagle CAD file import/export