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Step 7Pitfalls You Can Avoid
In the course of completing this project, I made a few design and construction mistakes that, although they did not adversely affect the performance of the ArduinoBoy's core function, they did make construction more challenging and the final presentation a little sloppy. Here are my mistakes and a few common glitches, and how you can avoid or correct them.
Metal Case Work
Of all the design decisions I made, the decision to use an Altoids mint tin as a case was perhaps the most disastrous. The problem is not with the tin itself, but the tools I had available in preparing the case and the fact that I have done very little work with thin sheet metal. First off, use the right tool for the job. Tin snips, or at least the ones I used, tear up the metal rather than cut it cleanly, leaving behind hard to remove sharp edges that do not remain flat to the case. Use a nibbler instead. Also, when drilling holes, always drill from the finish side, or the side that you will see most often (outside), whenever possible. When you drill a hole you are likely to leave burrs in the metal and cause the metal to bend into the hole from the direction you drill. By drilling from the outside, you leave the burrs on the inside of the case, making the outside neater looking and safer for absent-minded people.
Prototype Board
Cheap materials are not always the best to work with. The prototype boards I used to build my ArduinoBoy came from RadioShack and, while perfectly useable, they are hard to solder to by their very nature of being cheaply made. No plated-through holes, so solder is not sucked up into the holes, resulting in these large solder blobs on the board that do not thoroughly hold the soldered parts in place. Try your best to find boards with plated holes. If you can't, I have heard that a little solder flux smeared into the hole just before soldering will wick molten solder into the hole, just as if it were plated. On the subject of cheap proto-boards, keep in mind that because the solder will just pool up at the top, they can be prone to...
Shorts
When I finished soldering together my ArduinoBoy, I noticed that the LEDs were not lighting up properly. Problem was not my wiring, that was perfect, but my soldering. Tiny, pretty much impossible to see amounts of solder and dust were bridging the gaps on the board, preventing some LEDs from lighting and tying other LEDs together. If this happens to you, run a knife blade between the solder joints and clean thoroughly using q-tips, paper towels, and rubbing alcohol.
Super Glue
Try as you might, you can never use super glue without getting some on your fingers. Just a general warning for everyone out there. Don't get me wrong, it is great stuff when two parts have got to stick and stick quickly, but never assume that you can use it without gluing your fingers together.
Metal Case Work
Of all the design decisions I made, the decision to use an Altoids mint tin as a case was perhaps the most disastrous. The problem is not with the tin itself, but the tools I had available in preparing the case and the fact that I have done very little work with thin sheet metal. First off, use the right tool for the job. Tin snips, or at least the ones I used, tear up the metal rather than cut it cleanly, leaving behind hard to remove sharp edges that do not remain flat to the case. Use a nibbler instead. Also, when drilling holes, always drill from the finish side, or the side that you will see most often (outside), whenever possible. When you drill a hole you are likely to leave burrs in the metal and cause the metal to bend into the hole from the direction you drill. By drilling from the outside, you leave the burrs on the inside of the case, making the outside neater looking and safer for absent-minded people.
Prototype Board
Cheap materials are not always the best to work with. The prototype boards I used to build my ArduinoBoy came from RadioShack and, while perfectly useable, they are hard to solder to by their very nature of being cheaply made. No plated-through holes, so solder is not sucked up into the holes, resulting in these large solder blobs on the board that do not thoroughly hold the soldered parts in place. Try your best to find boards with plated holes. If you can't, I have heard that a little solder flux smeared into the hole just before soldering will wick molten solder into the hole, just as if it were plated. On the subject of cheap proto-boards, keep in mind that because the solder will just pool up at the top, they can be prone to...
Shorts
When I finished soldering together my ArduinoBoy, I noticed that the LEDs were not lighting up properly. Problem was not my wiring, that was perfect, but my soldering. Tiny, pretty much impossible to see amounts of solder and dust were bridging the gaps on the board, preventing some LEDs from lighting and tying other LEDs together. If this happens to you, run a knife blade between the solder joints and clean thoroughly using q-tips, paper towels, and rubbing alcohol.
Super Glue
Try as you might, you can never use super glue without getting some on your fingers. Just a general warning for everyone out there. Don't get me wrong, it is great stuff when two parts have got to stick and stick quickly, but never assume that you can use it without gluing your fingers together.
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Here's a 2"x3" vectorboard from digikey for around $6
Digikey # V2025-ND