🤣 thanks man, it was good fun and definitely good practice! Looking forward to you revisiting yours 👍

Thank you

​@StezStixFix I ordered this and it came with no instructions, yours is setup so you know which is which. I've got them all open on a plate going wtf waste of 10 bucks

@@clinthipfner6042 Mine is the same. Just a bag full of components and a PCB.

While the solder is melting, mmm...

Yes. watching the components being self aligned is most satisfying.

I finished up the practice kit. I'm generally happy with what I've learned in the process. My final learning was: reverse tweezers are worth using - they made holding and letting go of the component easier (for me). I got some ceramic tipped ones and love them.

I think He has a boy in his body!

Your voice that’s something god decided not you.

Yeah He said solder paste, then puts flux and I go ohh nooo, then he goes ohhhh where's it going and I was laughing. It's always fun when someone learns to flow smd with paste.

@@TheMrDrMs Is it the sole reason the metal balls are flying off or is it also too much air flow?

@@goku445 Too much airflow mixed with too much additional flux (no add'l flux necessary). you'll never really avoid too much airflow problem but it's best to go as perpendicular to the board as possible too.. Also, more specifically to rework, its great when you can heat the whole board up too, not too hot, but say 100 150C then you don't need that much additional hot air to re/flow.

This. Not as important for the bigger components, but I'm using 0.6mm ones at work for down to 0402 SMD. It's a little too thick for 0201 and below but extremely helpful to have around for most jobs.

Agree. Not knowing, I started out with 0.8mm which, for my first time, was fine for 1206s and 0805s, but I bought a spool of 0.5mm for the 0603s & 0402s. The 0.5mm melts with less heat, too.

Try .3mm with the finest tip

Haha, fascinating, I'll take that! Yeah, I have ordered up some thinner solder off the back of this, i found it hard to find leaded solder, but think I've sourced some... Thanks for the tip 👍

GB, am I right in saying that the solder paste/stencils are for chips such as Wii CPUs, where the pins could be directly beneath the chip itself? Think I've seen My Mate Vince or Makho do that before.

@@ToxoRetro No that's BGA (ball-grid array) where you use tiny balls of solder, those use a stencils on the chip rather than on the PCB, this is a process called re-balling. Although people do use all sorts of methods including paste, good results are notoriously difficult to achieve without specialist equipment. There are many videos on this topic

Cheers@@gb7767, good to know. 🙂 You can see where I got confused.

Was thinking the same about solder thickness.

Indeed. Solder paste _is_ flux with solder balls suspended in it.

Solder paste and a hot plate. Put all the components on the board heat it up, all done in one go. Sorted.

@@jonno1130 Yep, solder paste + plate is the go. Also there are different solder pastes that have different melting points, SN42/Bi58 (Tin/Bismuth) melting point of 138c If using hot air dial the airflow right down. Some cheaper stations just blast too hard and move stuff around. Never flux when using paste, as already said solder paste is balls of solder suspended in flux already. Beware the angle / direction you're blowing from... straight down or the ability to be agile with direction is important... having a camera in the way doesn't help (personal experience) so a matter of finding a compromise between capturing footage and being effective. Last of all, that kit can be purchased on Ali Express in packs of 5 or 10 kits for very little coin if you want more practise... this is likely where the Ebay seller either dropshipped it from or where they sourced it and re-sold it.

Thanks Chris! Definitely got some good practice out of this one, and some good fun to boot! 😁

Thanks Fraz! Totally agree, hats off to Joey for doing it without a microscope 👍

@@StezStixFix you still did an awesome 👌 still incredibly difficult with the right equipment.

Used solder paste with heat gun, works wonders, but: 1) NO ADDITIONAL FLUX!!! 2) Use appropriate solder paste (they differ in ball size) 3) Add the right amount.

I laughed when the solder paste seemed to have a mind of it's own ... *WEEEEEEEEE!!! Let's head on over to that next set of pads* ... LOL!!! 😄

I say do it! I’m 29 and finally took the leap to go back to school for computer and information technology. I start the 29th of August. Do it man there’s no time like right now to go back.

@@xinniethep00h going good? I've just turned 30 and I'm thinking of doing the same thing. I actually studied engineering at college but went into mechanical instead of electrical but realised I love electronics so much more...

Thanks Tito! Much appreciated 👍

I'd recommend the Quick 861dw best bang for the buck its actually more powerful than the Hakko but less than 300 dollars

Thanks Rob, great info! 👍

Thanks Taylor! Yeah, I don't know how he did those 0402 ones without a microscope, they are ridiculously small. Glad to hear you've given it a go too. I am more comfortable with the hot air than the iron, so i found it much easier. But I'm glad I did a mixture of both to see what works best. The microscope is awesome isn't it?! Really helps on stuff like this 👍

Glad you've got into the hobby Taylor, good stuff 😁👌

Did they deliver all components as in schematic ? For leds i have got 470ohm resistors instead 330 but that doesn't really matter, worse thing is that they gave me 20m r49 resistor so the lights works, but nothing moves :D

@@maxmax-xx7nw For me they did. Check the output of the 555 chip. It should be generating a pulse to tickle the input to the decade counter chip. Pin 3 of the 555 chip is the output should have the pulse signal on it. This will send a pulse signal to the decade counter's PIN 14 Clock (CLK). Either the 555 is stuck in a single state or the 555 is running so fast, the lights appear to be all on. Might check the components around the 555 chip to see if they're damaged. Hope that helps.

@@DavidKHill it's stuck on one led, all 4 corners are on and others randomly, i gonna short this r49 and see what happens :p

@@maxmax-xx7nw I wasn't able to trace it to R49. Which resistor is that? Albeit a schematic is provided with the kit, but the component tags don't line up with the actual board. The according to the schematic there's a potentiometer controlling the trigger threshold. (RP1 - Resistor Pot?).

@@DavidKHill drive.google.com/file/d/1ZpOUZHS6E62HxLAHW4v_ffw5xTAmbj4y/view?usp=drivesdk

😁 Thanks Jinxy!

😂 thanks Stephen! 😁

Thanks John, that makes sense! I will definitely give it another go, I seemed to blow the paste all over the board, but I guess I need to lower the air flow too. Really appreciate the information, thank you! 👍

It's definitely the case that less is more when it comes to solder paste, you really don't need very much! It's also essential to lower the heat gun exactly from above, to avoid blowing the component away.

@@johnellerington2676 Thanks John! 😊

Thanks Stephen, yeah I'm definitely getting better. I only picked up a soldering iron for the first time less than 12 months ago. So I can only improve, I guess! 😊

Good tools go a long way. You can be good at soldering and fail miserably with low quality solder.

Thanks! 👍 Yeah, I learnt alot from doing this practice board, it really helped to build confidence with such tiny components! And you're right, it would've looked awesome with some different colours. I might replace a few of them leds with different ones at some point! 😁

@@StezStixFix I'd like to have a go at soldering SMDs. Still the tiniest SMDs look so small. They're almost like grains of sand. I shall keep soldering more THT before I have a go at SMDs. Still many of the good diy kits have SMDs. Anyways, thanks for responding. ✌

In the past when I've received foreign language written document, I either use the Google Translate augmentation app on my cell phone to translate the characters directly onto my screen. It is a bit hit or miss though.

😁 thanks Wayne! It's very satisfying when it's all done! 👍

Andonstar AD407 👍

@@warpath6666 Thank you

@@101ckes I bought mine for about $230 USD ... and worth every penny. It is quite the game changer compared to my old Radio Shack soldering set-up. A list of some of Steve's set-up is in the despcription.

Thanks Jon! 👍 I also got my board holder from Amazon, it works pretty well. It's this one: amzn.to/2UZtPXV

Hi Antony, thank you! Yeah, I would definitely recommend the microscope, i haven't used an AmScope (but I know they are very highly thought of). The Andonstar i have does give a good depth to it, and the quality is nice and crisp, so it works perfectly for what I need it for. I have tried a few different "lower-end" ones, and this one is definitely the best I've tried. Hope you have fun and good luck 👍

🤣 thanks HPW! The sticky stuff is tacky flux, it helps the solder flow and keeps the component in position while soldering. Very useful stuff! 👍

Hi Maurice, it's quite a thin board so I think I had it on around 340 degrees C. Good luck with your kit, hope you get to see the magic lights at the end! 👍

Thanks Snoosh! 🙂

Thanks Mr Flibble, hope Uncle Arnie is doing well. It's a cheap Yihua one that I bought off Amazon. They don't stock it any more, but its similar to this one amzn.to/3sBZ5bw

@@StezStixFix thx. Uncle Arnie says hello so do they other boys from the dwarf at least I think they did its hard to hear them in the quarantine suite glass.

🤣

Thanks Joshua! Great tips 👍