Associate
First few components on the board!
***Official Electronics Thread of Officialness (it starts off with lots of Nixie Tube Clock goodness
- Thread starter Aod
- Start date
Commissario
Looks good and everything looks so clean and new - You should see the state of my 'helping hand' 
Commissario
I don't know it but being 25w it'll be somewhat more useful than the little 18w Antex irons.
That board doesn't look like it's multilayer.
That board doesn't look like it's multilayer.
Looking good!
It's funny how quickly soldering equipment gets to the "ancient and grotty" stage!Looks good and everything looks so clean and new - You should see the state of my 'helping hand'
The board is a simple dual-sided board, nothing other than the traces on the top and bottom. it's very good quality PCB though, thick and stiff, well made, through-plated and the solder resist is very very effective.
Re. the Iron, see below \/
and here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=20039761&postcount=202Yeah, the 25w will be better than the 18w but i seriously think that the Antex Irons are crummy, although many disagree and have been able to use them very successfully, i've never gotten on well with them.
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Associate
I'm using a 50W adjustable iron from Craplin. It's their cheapest one, around £35... First time using it, and I seem to be getting on fine
Cool
The solder i was using had quite nasty flux in it which would have gummed up the Tip of my soldering iron in no time, were it not for this godsend:
http://www.henkel.com/cps/rde/xchg/...0001F690&categoryspecificredDotUID=00000002KJ
Available from where you got your Iron (the name is starred out because they're an OcUK competitor), it's like the cheat-sheet of soldering.
The solder i was using had quite nasty flux in it which would have gummed up the Tip of my soldering iron in no time, were it not for this godsend:
http://www.henkel.com/cps/rde/xchg/...0001F690&categoryspecificredDotUID=00000002KJ
Available from where you got your Iron (the name is starred out because they're an OcUK competitor), it's like the cheat-sheet of soldering.
Associate
Update:
Lots more components on the board now. Voltages tested and set. Almost ready to start putting the nixies on! That's the bit I've been looking forward to
Lots more components on the board now. Voltages tested and set. Almost ready to start putting the nixies on! That's the bit I've been looking forward to
Associate
Says between 170-175V. I had the same thought, but set it dead on 170V. Wasn't sure setting it below would have any negative effects elsewhere
Soldato
Toothy, are you soldering on the component side? 
Toothy, are you soldering on the component side?
No, he's doing it the right way. some of the holes are quite generously sized, which along with them being through-plated can cause the solder to wick through the holes and blob-up on the component side
<edit>
After looking at it carefully it certainly does look like most of the components have been soldered from the component side...
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Commissario
After looking at it carefully it certainly does look like most of the components have been soldered from the component side...
That's what I thought when I looked at the picture.
Maybe he's just being really generous with the solder?
Occasionally when i got a bit too generous with the solder it blobbed up on the component side:
(Phone camera image! that was almost twenty watts of direct illumination! )
Occasionally when i got a bit too generous with the solder it blobbed up on the component side:
(Phone camera image!
that was almost twenty watts of direct illumination! )
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Associate
Hehe. Nah, I'm soldering from the back side. But like Aod said, the holes are quite large, so where the solder runs through component side I've just been touching it with the iron. Makes things look a bit neater
Hehe. Nah, I'm soldering from the back side. But like Aod said, the holes are quite large, so where the solder runs through component side I've just been touching it with the iron. Makes things look a bit neater
Ah, *phew* all fine then
