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Step 4Populate the PCB
Once the board is checked, you may populate the board.
There are a few vias on the board. If you had your board manufactured, there's nothing to do here. But if you made your own, now is the time to place a short piece of wire in each via and solder both ends. I usually just use the lead clippings from through-hole parts for this.
Solder the 0805 resistors and capacitors next. Neither of these have a polarity (in this design, anyway), so you can install them in either direction.
Next up are the timer IC, ADC, and audio amplifier. These are harder; take your time if you're a little rusty. Use lots of flux, tack down two pins on each, then solder the remaining pins. Obviously, a fine-tip soldering iron is highly recommended!
Hardest of all is the Propeller microcontroller. As with the smaller SMD devices, tack the coners with solder then go around and solder each pin. You may solder them individually or using the "drag solder" method, whichever works for you. Carefully inspect for solder shorts when you're done.
The transistor, light sensor, switch, potentiometer, crystal and LED are next. None of these are too hard. The through-hole components will need to be raised up a bit to solder on the component side.
Now just come the headers, battery holders and speaker. Install the speaker last, since it covers one of the battery holder pins. These are a walk in the park compared to the SMD devices.
After soldering everything to the board, clean it thoroughly with 99% isopropyl alcohol. With a multimeter, test the resistance between the battery terminals to make sure they are not shorted.
There are a few vias on the board. If you had your board manufactured, there's nothing to do here. But if you made your own, now is the time to place a short piece of wire in each via and solder both ends. I usually just use the lead clippings from through-hole parts for this.
Solder the 0805 resistors and capacitors next. Neither of these have a polarity (in this design, anyway), so you can install them in either direction.
Next up are the timer IC, ADC, and audio amplifier. These are harder; take your time if you're a little rusty. Use lots of flux, tack down two pins on each, then solder the remaining pins. Obviously, a fine-tip soldering iron is highly recommended!
Hardest of all is the Propeller microcontroller. As with the smaller SMD devices, tack the coners with solder then go around and solder each pin. You may solder them individually or using the "drag solder" method, whichever works for you. Carefully inspect for solder shorts when you're done.
The transistor, light sensor, switch, potentiometer, crystal and LED are next. None of these are too hard. The through-hole components will need to be raised up a bit to solder on the component side.
Now just come the headers, battery holders and speaker. Install the speaker last, since it covers one of the battery holder pins. These are a walk in the park compared to the SMD devices.
After soldering everything to the board, clean it thoroughly with 99% isopropyl alcohol. With a multimeter, test the resistance between the battery terminals to make sure they are not shorted.
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