Interactive Media - CS4062 - Semester 2 - 2008- Introduction to Soldering

Eoin Brazil

March 26, 2008

1 Introduction to Soldering

Soldering can be a dangerous process, by following these simple tips you can

ensure yours and other peoples safety. Lead solder and its fumes are toxic so

use the following rules to ensure safe soldering.

1. A soldering iron, when on, is hot enough to burn flesh instantly. Always

assume that your soldering iron is on and hot. Irons can take some time

to cool down so always assume even if it is hot even if switched off as

somebody else may have used it recently.

2. When cutting off leads, make sure they are held such that they cannot

fly away or hit anyone else in your work area.

3. Safety glasses or goggles should be worn at all times in your work area.

4. Avoid breathing smoke/fumes generated during soldering. Use a well-

ventilated space or fume extraction device.

5. Inhalation of flux fumes during soldering may cause irritation and dam-

age of mucous membranes and respiratory system. Eyes may become

irritated from contact with smoke from soldering.

6. When ventilation is not sufficient, a NIOSH approved respirator should

be worn.

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7. Legs and arms should be covered to avoid burns from splashed hot

solder.

8. Use pliers or vice to hold work in order to avoid burns from objects

that are heated. Heat will be conducted through metal.

9. Wash hands thoroughly after handling solder containing lead and do

not eating or smoking when soldering or at your work area.

10. Use lead-free solder when possible. Lead is known to cause cancer and

birth defects.

2 Soldering Tutorial

Use one of the following worksheets to create a shield which will sit atop

your Arduino board. This tutorial uses either the Arduino NG as shown in

Figure 1 or the Arduino Diecimila as shown in Figure 2.

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Figure 1: Arduino NG board handout

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Figure 2: Arduino Diecimila board handout

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3 Assembling the Diecimila Shield Step-By-

Step

Gather the parts The parts necessary for this tutorial are listed in Fig-

ure 2. The only difference between this layout and the parts for the Diecimila

and the NG is that it is better to use a 6 pin header strip to connect to the

power / ground headers on the Diecimila but it is optional and you could use

the same NG layout.

Figure 3: An Diecimila board and the parts needed for the tutorial

Size and mark the stripboard The stripboard will sit atop the Arduino.

It normally comes in a large sheet so we have to cut it to size. A sharp knife

or hacksaw should be used to cut the stripboard. A marker can be used

to mark out the outline as shown in Figure 4. The size can be verified by

checking against Figure 2 and by placing the header pins into the stripboard

at their correct locations. It is best to leave at least a single track spare when

cutting the stripboard. This should result in a piece of stripboard which fits

over the Arduino as shown in Figure 5.

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Figure 4: Mark off the correct size of stripboard required

Figure 5: Cut stripboard on top of the Arduino

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Lay out the components on the stripboard The next step is to place

all the components on the stripboard prior to soldering as shown in Figure 6.

It is best to use a vice or helping hands to hold the stripboard while you are

soldering it. In this case, I used a Panavise Jnr. The legs of the components

should be bent outwards slightly to help ensure they stay in position when

you turn them upside as shown in Figure 7. In Figure 7, you can see that

the header pins have already been soldered.

Figure 6: Top view of components laid out on stripboard prior to soldering

Figure 7: Bottom view of components laid out on stripboard during soldering

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Complete the soldering and cut off tracks on the stripboard Once

all the soldering is completed your stripboard should look similar to Figure 8.

The legs of the components have been cut and then you are ready to cut the

tracks from the stripboard as marked in Figure 2. It is necessary to cut the

tracks to prevent cross circuiting the board. The tracks could have been cut

prior to the soldering, its a personal choice whether for this design they are

cut before or after soldering. In more complex designs, it may be better to

cut the tracks first. The cut tracks can be seen in Figure 9.

Figure 8: View of the components after soldering

Figure 9: View of the stripboard after the tracks have been cut

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Fit the shield to the Arduino and write a sketch to control the

LED based on the potentiometer The finished shield can now be fitted

atop of the Arduino as shown in Figure 10. In Figure 11 the LED is lit and

controlled via the potentiometer and the Arduino board. The code necessary

for this is shown below in Section 4. Remember to select the correct board

type and serial port prior to running the sketch.

Figure 10: View of the shield when finished and connected to the Arduino

with the LED off

Figure 11: View of the shield when finished and connected to the Arduino

with the LED on

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4 Arduino Code Listing for Tutorial

int potPin = 2 ; // s e l e c t the input pin f o r the potent iometerint ledPin = 6 ; // s e l e c t the pin f o r the LEDint val = 0 ; // va r i ab l e to s t o r e the value coming from the senso r

void setup ( ) {pinMode ( ledPin , OUTPUT ) ; // d e c l a r e the ledPin as an OUTPUTSerial . begin ( 9 600 ) ;

}

void loop ( ) {val = analogRead ( potPin ) ; // read the value from the senso rSerial . println ( val ) ;if ( val < 127 ){

digitalWrite ( ledPin , HIGH ) ; // turn the ledPin on}else

{digitalWrite ( ledPin , LOW ) ; // turn the ledPin o f f

}delay ( 1 0 ) ;

}

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5 Appendix

The Electronics in Meccano Stripboard Layout Planning Sheet is a very

useful resource for your stripboarding prototyping. This is from an article

by Tim Surtell who has asserted his moral right to the work and provided

this resource for individual and educational use.

Str ipboard Layout P lanning Sheet Project:

Designed by:

Version:

Date:

Notes:

Actual size stripboard. Hole spacing 0.1” (2.54mm) Tracks run this way

Tips: • Mark out the Vs and 0V power lines first, then

place the ICs. • Remember to cut the track between the pins of

an IC. Mark the cuts on the diagram with an X. • Try to make resistors and axial capacitors lay

flat on the stripboard. Resistors usually require a gap of 4 holes, capacitors a gap of 8 holes.

• Use the actual size grid on th e left to check component spacing.

• Number the pins of the ICs as shown.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44

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Version 3 : 3/02 © 2002 Electronics in Meccano www.eleinmec.com

Figure 12: Electronics in Meccano Stripboard Planning Sheet

6 Copyright and Attribution

Copyright 2008, Eoin Brazil under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-

Share Alike 3.0 License.

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