EggFinder TX, RX, and EggTimer Quark assembly

[OverTheTop]

, and a separate sponge is needed as the stand doesn't have a retainer to hold the tiny sponge provided.

To get better tip life ditch the sponge. Use dry tissues to wipe the tip clean. The thermal shock of water results in premature cracking of the iron plating on the tip, which then chews out much quicker. Sponges also hold the dirt you wiped off and put it back on later.

Don't forget to tin the tip again immediately after you wipe it, again to protect the iron plating.

 

[Voyager1]

I also use a tip cleaner that prevents a buildup of burnt flux.


Get a flux pen to aid solder removal with a wick. The flux improves solder flow and heat transfer.

 

[John Kemker]

To get better tip life ditch the sponge. Use dry tissues to wipe the tip clean. The thermal shock of water results in premature cracking of the iron plating on the tip, which then chews out much quicker. Sponges also hold the dirt you wiped off and put it back on later.

Don't forget to tin the tip again immediately after you wipe it, again to protect the iron plating.

I also use a tip cleaner that prevents a buildup of burnt flux.

View attachment 399408
Get a flux pen to aid solder removal with a wick. The flux improves solder flow and heat transfer.

Huh! Did not think about the thermal shock, even after over 40 years of soldering. I have a Hakko version of the "brass wool" tip cleaner. Will drop the sponge and start using the Hakko exclusively.

 

[caveduck]

I'm building a bunch (couple dozen) of Cris's kits right now, here's a quick list of stuff you need

• Temperature controlled soldering iron, like this Weller unit https://www.amazon.com/Weller-WE1010NA-Digital-Soldering-Station/dp/B077JDGY1J Or find the venerable and recently discontinued Weller WES51. I would not trust any of the "adjustable" units that have no active control. Those GPS and RF modules are pretty sensitive, I have killed them...
• A few spare tips...get really small ones. They have a finite life, especially if you run them too hot.
• A little tin of "tip tinner". Cheap and extends tip life and effectiveness a lot. https://www.amazon.com/Solder-Tinner-Cleaner-lead-free/dp/B00R3QB620
• A copper coil tip cleaner like (brand doesn't matter much) https://www.amazon.com/Kaisiking-Soldering-Cleaner-Cleaning-Station/dp/B07FYJC3DF Better than a wet sponge like John said above - doesn't steam-blast the tip.
• A solder sucker, your choice
• ESD-safe tweezers, also your choice. Bonus points: vacuum pick-up pen.
• Flat Pyrex Basics baking dish - 3 qt 9x13" would be the minimum, there's also a 4.8qt that's 10x15". Steal one from your partner if you can stand the risk. Otherwise check Bed Bath & Beyond for legal acquisition.
• A pair of L-shaped fiberglass pieces that you can tape down inside the dish to hold boards while you work on the main side.
• 1 mil thick x 1" wide Kapton tape to put under RF modules to insulate from the vias https://www.amazon.com/Mil-Kapton-Tape-Polyimide-yds/dp/B006ZFNB2I Do NOT use anything thicker.
• Wood clothespins (modified with Dremel for more clearance) to hold down GPS modules if you are hand-soldering them
• Paper masking tape to hold through-hole parts in place for soldering. Cris recommends this, but peeling off adhesive can generate quite a bit of static electricity. I try to avoid the tape and use clothespins or a flex-arms-with-alligator-clips gadget where possible.
• Panavise or similar to hold boards while you attach the through-hole parts. If you get a big octopus flex arm holder you can use that instead, but the positioning is not as definite.
• Some kind of 20-50x inspection magnifier. You can use a loupe, USB microscope, or optical stereo microscope.
• Flux in a syringe, no-clean type like ChipQuik SMD291 https://www.amazon.com/Soldering-Flux-TACK-CLEAN-SYRINGE/dp/B00R3REDOC Not cheap but it is fantastic for rescuing boards with dodgy solder bonds.

 

[billdz]

I've had good luck with an inexpensive soldering kit like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Electronics-Yome-Adjustable-Temperature-Desoldering/dp/B07P84TTCS/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1GKZV9ARB1BAR&keywords=soldering+kit+for+electronics&qid=1574618920&sprefix=soldering+kit,aps,180&sr=8-5

I don't know how long it will last, but it's not like I'll be assembling dozens of kits...

I just purchased this, set up the parts and tools on the bench, plugged in the iron, and ... no heat on the tip. The white rod between the tip and the handle is broken in half, that must be the problem. Fortunately Amazon is really good on returns and I'll have a replacement (hopefully functioning) in a few days.

 

[prfesser]

I'm building a bunch (couple dozen) of Cris's kits right now, here's a quick list of stuff you need

• Flat Pyrex Basics baking dish - 3 qt 9x13" would be the minimum, there's also a 4.8qt that's 10x15". Steal one from your partner if you can stand the risk. Otherwise check Bed Bath & Beyond for legal acquisition.

I may be unduly cautious here...but modern pyrex (lower-case spelling) is not borosilicate glass that has a low coefficient of expansion. It is instead tempered soda-lime glass (i.e. bottle glass or window glass) for which there have been reports of violent breakage from thermal shock. Look at the edge; soda-lime glass is greenish, while borosilicate PYREX is yellowish. For the same reason, caution is advised regarding so-called 'borosilicate' glass items being sold online. There have been dozens of reports of these items breaking from thermal shock, too.

That being said, most reports of breakage seem to be when a hot glass item is placed on a cold and thermally conductive surface. Or when a drop of liquid drips onto the bottom of glass hot from the oven (like a casserole). I don't think that the heat of a small soldering iron touching soda-lime glass would be sufficient thermal shock to cause breakage. But I may be wrong...

Side note: for decades the beakers and flasks used in chem labs have been borosilicate glass (PYREX or KIMAX). Recently at least one company (don't recall the company, I just saw the beakers) is vending tempered soda-lime items. I'm rather concerned, because it is common practice in chemistry to bring a liquid to a boil, then cool it quickly by plunging it into an ice-water bath. PYREX and KIMAX laugh off such treatment. I don't know about the soda-lime equipment.

Best -- Terry

 

[OverTheTop]

Flux in a syringe, no-clean type like ChipQuik SMD291 https://www.amazon.com/Soldering-Flux-TACK-CLEAN-SYRINGE/dp/B00R3REDOC Not cheap but it is fantastic for rescuing boards with dodgy solder bonds.

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALWAYS WASH NO-CLEAN FLUX!!!
A lot of people think that you don't have to wash no-clean flux off a hand reworked board. "No-Clean" flux relies on the entire amount of flux you have applied to the board to be heated up past its activation temperature. This normally occurs on a joint when soldering. The flux away from the joint (much cooler) is still unactivated. Once flux is activated (above a certain temperature for a certain time) there are no ionic residues, which means with the addition of moisture from the air it is still not conductive. That does not apply to the unactivated fraction. The residues will hygroscopically absorb moisture and the ions in the residue create leakage paths between the exposed traces/pads on the PCA, potentially resulting in an unreliable board.

No-clean flux is useful when PCAs are soldered in an oven, resulting in the entire assembly being heated and all flux being activated.

 

[Greg Furtman]

I may be unduly cautious here...but modern pyrex (lower-case spelling) is not borosilicate glass that has a low coefficient of expansion. It is instead tempered soda-lime glass (i.e. bottle glass or window glass) for which there have been reports of violent breakage from thermal shock. Look at the edge; soda-lime glass is greenish, while borosilicate PYREX is yellowish. For the same reason, caution is advised regarding so-called 'borosilicate' glass items being sold online. There have been dozens of reports of these items breaking from thermal shock, too.

That being said, most reports of breakage seem to be when a hot glass item is placed on a cold and thermally conductive surface. Or when a drop of liquid drips onto the bottom of glass hot from the oven (like a casserole). I don't think that the heat of a small soldering iron touching soda-lime glass would be sufficient thermal shock to cause breakage. But I may be wrong...

Side note: for decades the beakers and flasks used in chem labs have been borosilicate glass (PYREX or KIMAX). Recently at least one company (don't recall the company, I just saw the beakers) is vending tempered soda-lime items. I'm rather concerned, because it is common practice in chemistry to bring a liquid to a boil, then cool it quickly by plunging it into an ice-water bath. PYREX and KIMAX laugh off such treatment. I don't know about the soda-lime equipment.

Best -- Terry

Terry, I am an amateur telescope maker and real Pyrex dried up a few years ago. Corning has quit making it. Most of the telescope mirror blanks available today are borosilicate made by Schott of Germany. A Schott Glass.

 

[boatgeek]

I may be unduly cautious here...but modern pyrex (lower-case spelling) is not borosilicate glass that has a low coefficient of expansion. It is instead tempered soda-lime glass (i.e. bottle glass or window glass) for which there have been reports of violent breakage from thermal shock. Look at the edge; soda-lime glass is greenish, while borosilicate PYREX is yellowish. For the same reason, caution is advised regarding so-called 'borosilicate' glass items being sold online. There have been dozens of reports of these items breaking from thermal shock, too.

That being said, most reports of breakage seem to be when a hot glass item is placed on a cold and thermally conductive surface. Or when a drop of liquid drips onto the bottom of glass hot from the oven (like a casserole). I don't think that the heat of a small soldering iron touching soda-lime glass would be sufficient thermal shock to cause breakage. But I may be wrong...

Side note: for decades the beakers and flasks used in chem labs have been borosilicate glass (PYREX or KIMAX). Recently at least one company (don't recall the company, I just saw the beakers) is vending tempered soda-lime items. I'm rather concerned, because it is common practice in chemistry to bring a liquid to a boil, then cool it quickly by plunging it into an ice-water bath. PYREX and KIMAX laugh off such treatment. I don't know about the soda-lime equipment.

Best -- Terry

Terry, I am an amateur telescope maker and real Pyrex dried up a few years ago. Corning has quit making it. Most of the telescope mirror blanks available today are borosilicate made by Schott of Germany. A Schott Glass.

All the more reason to get your Pyrex glass item from a thrift store. Good tip on recognizing borosilicate vs. soda-lime.

I've built a bunch of Egg stuff with far less equipment: a temp controlled iron with fine tips, my wife's strongest reading glasses, an extra arms stand with two alligator clips, and a bright bike light. It's not ideal, but it works.

 

[Greg Furtman]

I have a de-soldering wick, but every time I've tried it, I haven't been able to get it to wick solder. I'm very new new at soldering. I built some spark fun kit and then a classic egg timer before doing the quark. I'm going to order some more stuff from egg timer so I might see if they will send me an extra optoisolator. If I get a replacement can I just cut the legs and then unsolder the remaining feet?

Thanks for the help and thanks for posting the videos.

I've found that to get good wicking I've needed to go to a slightly larger tip and crank up the heat a bit.

 

[Greg Furtman]

So far I've built the TRS/GPS and the LCD receiver. I've also put together 2 Quantums. All hand soldering. It definitely was easier when I dug out my Olympus Stereo microscope and used it. I did screw up one of the Quantums.

I'd heard about hot air reflow soldering and started watching YouTube videos about the process. It's pretty easy actually. You clean the PCB with alcohol, put a small amount of soldering paste on each pad, place the component on its pads, and then use the hot air gun to heat the soldering paste until the solder flows. The soldering paste comes in a syringe with different size tips.

Some cool things about this process is that the parts are somewhat stuck in the paste so they don't move if you move the board a bit. Another thing is that once placed on its pads you don't touch the component again. And it doesn't need to be positioned perfectly. Close is good enough. But the most amazing thing is that once the paste completely turns to solder the component self-alines to the pads because of surface tension. It is amazing to see.

This is the hot air gun I bought. Not very expensive at all.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H4RHZ21/ref=dp_cerb_1

 

[Voyager1]

I have a de-soldering wick, but every time I've tried it, I haven't been able to get it to wick solder. I'm very new new at soldering. I built some spark fun kit and then a classic egg timer before doing the quark. I'm going to order some more stuff from egg timer so I might see if they will send me an extra optoisolator. If I get a replacement can I just cut the legs and then unsolder the remaining feet?

Thanks for the help and thanks for posting the videos.

When using de-soldering wick, start with a clean end lightly wetted with a little flux from a flux pen or similar dispenser. Apply some flux to the solder joint too. This aids in heat transfer as the flux boils. Don’t be tempted to increase the heat setting of the iron unless it’s a particularly large joint.

 

[OverTheTop]

When using de-soldering wick, start with a clean end lightly wetted with a little flux from a flux pen or similar dispenser.

+1. Extra flux in the wick works great. A little bit of solder in the wick tip can help also. Remember that solder follows three thing: heat, flux, and other solder.

 

[caveduck]

On the what-kind-of-pyrex question, I've been using my modern genuine Pyrex brand dish (which looks to be borosilicate) as a soldering tub for a couple of years with no problems. I don't think it's an issue for that use. Tech data I found says that Pyrex will generally tolerate a sudden thermal shock of 120C, and that the main issue discussed is sudden immersion in or addition of a liquid of very different temperature. A typical electronics size soldering iron doesn't put out remotely enough heat to be a problem. I've also used my hot air tool for rework in the dish with no trouble. Air cannot conduct heat into the glass anywhere near as fast a liquid. Overall I think you'd have to be pretty creative to shatter your dish while soldering.

Sadly I cannot guarantee your results if you use a dish that is not showing a real Pyrex trademark, drop a stainless steel bar into it, or allow your toddler to bash slugs with it.

Oh yeah, I totally second what OtT said about cleaning all flux, even the "no-clean" types. If you don't cook off all the flux in a reflow operation, the residue can become conductive and mess with your life.

One more goodie, a nice video from Sparkfun specifically about soldering those castellated RF modules.

 

[Greg Furtman]

Oh yeah, I totally second what OtT said about cleaning all flux, even the "no-clean" types. If you don't cook off all the flux in a reflow operation, the residue can become conductive and mess with your life.

One more goodie, a nice video from Sparkfun specifically about soldering those castellated RF modules.

caveduck, good video. Thanks.

 

[prfesser]

On the what-kind-of-pyrex question, I've been using my modern genuine Pyrex brand dish (which looks to be borosilicate) as a soldering tub for a couple of years with no problems. I don't think it's an issue for that use. Tech data I found says that Pyrex will generally tolerate a sudden thermal shock of 120C, and that the main issue discussed is sudden immersion in or addition of a liquid of very different temperature. A typical electronics size soldering iron doesn't put out remotely enough heat to be a problem. I've also used my hot air tool for rework in the dish with no trouble. Air cannot conduct heat into the glass anywhere near as fast a liquid. Overall I think you'd have to be pretty creative to shatter your dish while soldering.

Sadly I cannot guarantee your results if you use a dish that is not showing a real Pyrex trademark, drop a stainless steel bar into it, or allow your toddler to bash slugs with it.

Oh yeah, I totally second what OtT said about cleaning all flux, even the "no-clean" types. If you don't cook off all the flux in a reflow operation, the residue can become conductive and mess with your life.

One more goodie, a nice video from Sparkfun specifically about soldering those castellated RF modules.

I agree, I don't think it should be an issue in this application. FWIW, most real borosilicate glass made by Corning is labeled PYREX, all caps. Most of the stuff labeled "pyrex" in stylized lowercase is the tempered soda-lime stuff.

I was about to ask why you use a glass dish at all (instead of just a flat surface like white shelving board) but then I realized that those little parts won't easily skitter away onto the floor where they'll never be found.

 

[OverTheTop]

I have to say I have never felt the need to solder on any sort of glass dish.

 

[caveduck]

Hah, I'd be less inclined to use a dish if I had a bigger work surface and parts did not seem oddly inclined to go flying out of my unsteady tweezers at relativistic speeds and bounce off the floor to points unknown.

 

[JethTran]

Hi....I'm extremely intrigued by this. I have two Eggtimer packs I purchased on a unique Chris had back in 2014. They are both unassembled, and one is even unopened. They are board fire up D/Firmware 1.48b units that I never found time to put together. What else other several amplifying glasses would be a great idea to bring for a form meeting?

 

[G_T]

I'm not sure I'd consider glass a safe surface to work on electronics. It wouldn't be allowed in an workstation for ESD sensitive devices.

Gerald

 

[OverTheTop]

If you are worried about ESD on glass, give it a wash with water and dishwashing detergent, then let it air dry. Air drying is important. The detergent film helps with dissipating the static.

This works for other sorts of surfaces too.

 

[Voyager1]

I have to say I have never felt the need to solder on any sort of glass dish.

Likewise! I use a cutting mat or anti static mat to solder on and a couple of small plastic trays to hold the loose components.

 

[ksaves2]

I have built several ET products in a glass baking dish and they all worked. I certainly flipped a lot of components early on in my experience. The glass dish caught them all and I continued on with the building process after recovering them. (Did have a project go south with likely solder bridges under one of the modules. It's in my junk box that I can't find for now as my bench top needs cleaning/rearranging!) Kurt