Getting ready to build my first Eggtimer

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RocketSquirrel

RocketSquirrel

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Hello rocket family, hope everyone is havin a good weekend! Im building my first electronics bay, currently with an RRC2L, and im waiting on my first eggtimer to get here! (Also a M80 buzzer im debating on using...) I have experience with welding, understanding the intricacies of forging strong metal bonds. I understand soldering is similar but not quite the same.

17028381891958993048805069088313.jpg

In MIG welding, you employ either flux core wires or an inert gas to shield the bond. There seems to be a variety of preferences regarding the use of flux in soldering. Corrosion seems to be a factor, especially when there is rosin present and proper cleanup is needed. When would you consider it nessassary?

Invasive thought: I wonder if 3 rockets linked by a triangle brace could pull something off the ground with a kevlar rope anchored to the center given that there is no slack in line and motors are powerful enough..🤔
🐄-------🚀🚀🚀

i had this visual while typing, go away brain.
 
Use the solder provided with the eggtimer kit. It is a flux core solder, and is a "no-clean" type so you aren't required to wash the board when you're done assembling it. It is really good stuff. I've never had a need to add more flux to any of the kits I've assembled (I've built about a dozen of his various kits).

As a general tip for soldering, you want to get in and out quickly. To do so requires a clean tip tinned with a bit of solder. The clean tip and tiny bit of solder on the tip promotes quick efficient heat transfer into the joint. Getting in and out quickly minimizes the heat soak on components. If you can't get the solder to melt into the joint after maybe 2-3 seconds, recheck that you're tip is clean and tinned. Also, don't overdo it with solder. You don't really need (nor want) a huge blob. I keep a solder wick/braid handy in case I overdo it with solder and pull a bit out if I accidentally put a big blob down. Final note on the solder wick, it usually has some flux in it. After using it, be sure to clean the board with an alcohol soaked q-tip.

Have fun with the kit! I find it pretty fun and relaxing to sit and methodically put one together.
 
You’ll have fun building the Eggtimer kit!
Follow the directions and use the (plenty of) solder Cris puts in the kit for a good build. I’ve needed nothing more, other than:
* a good soldering station (dial-up temp and proper tip)
* something to hold the board while I solder (a ‘third hand’),
* Q-tips and 90% rubbing alcohol, and
* an illuminated magnifying headband for these old eyes.
 
If you follow the instructions Cris has provided you will have no trouble.

Remember when soldering that solder follows three things: heat, flux and other solder. Since you weld you have a reasonable idea about that anyway.

As others have mentioned, alcohol for cleaning works good, but I use an old toothbrush rather than q-tip. Use plenty of alcohol as you want the residue to be removed from the board rather than just spread around. If you have used only the solder provided you really don't need to clean the board anyway, as the flux has been fully activated and will have no ionic residues that can conduct current. I mainly clean for cosmetic reasons. Keep the alcohol out of pressure sensors, switches and buzzers if possible.
 
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mtnmanak said:
Which Eggtimer are you building?

I have been busy lately and haven't posted any new videos in a while, but may have done one on the product you are going to try:

https://www.mountainmanrockets.com/index.php/tools_tech/eggtimer-build-videos/
Click to expand...
Thank you!

I was sad to find the "setup and tips" section empty. Do you anticipate expanding that section soon?

I'll be building my first Eggtimer kits soon. I think I need a new soldering iron for it and I'm not sure what would be well-suited and affordable.
 
I use the $50 40 watt Weller solder station.

https://www.amazon.com/Weller-Digit...dqnD-BcGPetjQH5IUzrwXH6ZoDU6UJqhoC0IkQAvD_BwE
Set the temp setting around 3.5 or closer to 4 for bigger components.

Also get a needle tip, one from this kit is what normally use:

https://www.amazon.com/Soldering-Ta...03263&sprefix=solder+iton+tios,aps,154&sr=8-2
My first kit was a Quantum and after assembling two of those I had no hesitations at all building the Proton recently.

The supplied solder is great and makes it easy. Never had to add my own flux or clean a board.
 
A
Azamiryou said:
Thank you!

I was sad to find the "setup and tips" section empty. Do you anticipate expanding that section soon?

I'll be building my first Eggtimer kits soon. I think I need a new soldering iron for it and I'm not sure what would be well-suited and affordable.
Click to expand...

Apologies - I had all kinds of intentions this Fall to work on my website, but life got away from me with work and family things. Hoping to find some time over the holidays.

Agree with all the sentiments above!

If you search for "soldering station" on Amazon, you will find a whole bunch of options, including the excellent Weller station mentioned above. In the $50 range, you can probably find a decent station that comes with multiple tips and adjustable temps. Many of these are not perfect and the temps will most likely be off a bit from what is shown on the dial, but they will be close enough. I use Hakko stations at my home desk and in my shop. They are good and they are expensive, but I would hesitate to call them "professional". Probably "prosumer". Way overkill for Eggtimer boards, though.

For temps, for the solder that comes with the Eggtimer kits, I start out with my iron set at 680 F (360 C) and adjust from there. If you see that you are having a hard time getting the solder to flow (i.e. - it is taking more than 1-2 seconds for the solder to melt and flow), dial up the temp a bit until it flows nicely. If the solder is melting immediately or starts spitting/popping/spalling and sending small drops of solder flying, the iron is too hot - dial it down and wait a bit and try again. Also, if your tip keeps getting black almost as soon as you touch the solder, it is probably too hot. If you use different solder (not recommended), you need to know the melting point of that solder and adjust.

The Weller machines should maintain a fairly even temp, but be aware that a lot of the cheap stations on Amazon don't have robust temp control, so the board/component itself will cool down the tip quite a bit during each solder, so you should wait a good 5-10 seconds between each joint to ensure your tip comes back up to temp.

Clean your tip after every single joint. I am not a fan of the wet sponge method. I personally prefer brass wool for tip cleaning. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Soldering-Iron-Tip-Cleaner-Non-slip/dp/B08SLBSLK4

If you use the solder Eggtimer provides, you don't have to prep the board, use any extra flux, or clean the board afterwards. You can do all of those things, but I would recommend not doing any of that until you get some more experience. Using a decent iron and the supplied solder is all you need to make the board work.

Some kind of loupe to inspect the joints is a good idea, but I (like many folks on TRF :) ) have a bit of a hard time seeing things close up, so I use a lighted magnifying glass attached to the side of my desk, like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019R1FDEA. That model is not strong enough to inspect joints (get a 10x loupe), but it is great for doing the actual soldering.

You probably will mess up a joint or 7 in your first try (practice boards for the win) - don't let it get you frustrated! Get some solder wick like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0195UVWJ8 and all you do is put the wick on the solder you want to clean up, heat the wick with your iron and it will suck up all the solder. You can then start over. Easy day!

Practice kits are really an awesome way to start and can be fun!
Here is a practice kit for surface mounted parts: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HPSRXJ0
And here is a fun kit for through hole parts: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0142H2HBQ

There are people on TRF who do this for a living that are WAY more knowledgeable than I am. Ask questions and I am sure you will get awesome answers here! As for me, I will do my best to update my website. Good luck, have fun and enjoy the super awesome Eggtimer products that will now be available to you!
 
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OverTheTop said:
There are surface mount practice boards you can get on eBay. Great for improving technique before getting onto the Egg stuff.
Click to expand...

Or just practice on a Quark. They aren't much more than a practice board and when you're done you have a Quark instead of a blinky light.
 
I've built several now, they're not too hard despite my not-the-steadiest hands.
The previous posts have good suggestions. Make sure you get the recommended tip size. I found an illuminated magnifier indispensable but an illuminated ~ 10x loupe best for inspection.

Also: I'm old school--I printed Cris's instructions so I could check them off as I progressed.
 
NateB said:
Or just practice on a Quark. They aren't much more than a practice board and when you're done you have a Quark instead of a blinky light.
Click to expand...

This is good logic and makes sense. About the only caveat I would say here is that, although very unlikely, it is possible to damage one of the more sensitive components like the processor, voltage regulator, driver chips or rectifier with an iron that is too hot. Again, this is not a super likely thing to happen, but it can happen. A Quark is going to cost $20 + about $9-$10 for shipping. For the want of an $8 practice kit on Amazon, you get about 100 parts to practice with and you can practice on surface mounted parts until you are comfortable with your technique and with the equipment you bought. But, if you just go ahead and get a Quark, it would be a great way to learn.
 
For what its worth, I had never soldered any electronics before attempting a few Eggtimer kits. I agree with all the points above about magnification, illumination and multiplication of hands/good workholding. Clean and tin the iron, it definitely helps. mtnmanak's videos were super-helpful, I watched them a few times before starting.

I used a pretty inexpensive soldering iron from Amazon and while it took some trial and error with the temperatures it worked once that was dialed in it was pretty straightforward.

I did these kits in the following order. Somewhat arbitrary but I based on the Eggtimer difficulty scale:
  1. Apogee altimeter
  2. LCD Receiver
  3. Telemetry Module
  4. Quantum Altimeter
So far so good, everything is ground-tested and works. Haven't flown them yet.

Depending on how all that goes I will next try a Proton and a Mini-GPS TX.

Good luck!
 
pwrwgnwalt said:
You’ll have fun building the Eggtimer kit!
Follow the directions and use the (plenty of) solder Cris puts in the kit for a good build. I’ve needed nothing more, other than:
* a good soldering station (dial-up temp and proper tip)
* something to hold the board while I solder (a ‘third hand’),
* Q-tips and 90% rubbing alcohol, and
* an illuminated magnifying headband for these old eyes.
Click to expand...
If you are looking for a good soldering station, the one I bought last year worked extremely well. It has everything I needed, and temp seemed to be spot-on when set to what Cris recommends…. YIHUA 939D+ Digital Soldering Station ($54 on Amazon)
 
Lots of good advice here.

I recently built an Eggtimer Apogee. In the spirit of what others have said regarding "practice" I would encourage you to dive in on the Apogee based on my recent build. Mountain Man's channel provides an excellent video of an Apogee build so you can see exactly what you are in for.

I would consider myself a novice at soldering, and I thought I better practice before I built my Apogee. So I ordered a practice kit with about 100 components. I borrowed a nice Hakko soldering station from my ham radio club and it really improved my work. Now I have a nicely completed Apogee, a practice board and 96 leftover practice components.

Most of the components on the apogee are through hole, so the soldering is easy. There is one SMD which is fairly large and although the placement is a little tricky, I found the difference in soldering technique to be inconsequential.

You understand metallurgy and you are capable of building things so you are probably more aligned for a successful build than most. Cris' design and instructions have builders set up for success so you'll surely really enjoy it and have a great build once you're done.

The design is very thoughtful and the instructions are great. It is such a privilege to have high quality and high performance electronics kits available at a great price. A tip of the hat to Cris' and the Eggtimer team.
 
Finally got a soldering station, Weller WE1010 digital. It was available, along with different tips and knowledgeable staff, at my local electronic parts store.

When I asked about practice kits, he sent me to the TV repair shop two doors down. They have old circuit boards they'll just give you. So that's an option to consider if you want a little practice first.
 
Bill_Schmanski said:
Lots of good advice here.

I recently built an Eggtimer Apogee. In the spirit of what others have said regarding "practice" I would encourage you to dive in on the Apogee based on my recent build. Mountain Man's channel provides an excellent video of an Apogee build so you can see exactly what you are in for.

I would consider myself a novice at soldering, and I thought I better practice before I built my Apogee. So I ordered a practice kit with about 100 components. I borrowed a nice Hakko soldering station from my ham radio club and it really improved my work. Now I have a nicely completed Apogee, a practice board and 96 leftover practice components.

Most of the components on the apogee are through hole, so the soldering is easy. There is one SMD which is fairly large and although the placement is a little tricky, I found the difference in soldering technique to be inconsequential.

You understand metallurgy and you are capable of building things so you are probably more aligned for a successful build than most. Cris' design and instructions have builders set up for success so you'll surely really enjoy it and have a great build once you're done.

The design is very thoughtful and the instructions are great. It is such a privilege to have high quality and high performance electronics kits available at a great price. A tip of the hat to Cris' and the Eggtimer team.
Click to expand...
Yeah it was super easy. I tried the Quark next, i didnt have my iron hot enough and i joined 2 of the legs of one of the chips. I can probably fix it but i just ordered a new one so i can practice on the old one. Is rather pay 15 with an oops discount than loose a rocket from a $20 part
 
RocketSquirrel said:
Yeah it was super easy. I tried the Quark next, i didnt have my iron hot enough and i joined 2 of the legs of one of the chips. I can probably fix it but i just ordered a new one so i can practice on the old one. Is rather pay 15 with an oops discount than loose a rocket from a $20 part
Click to expand...


Go buy yourself some copper wick and you can remove that solder and get it fixed no problem. I wouldn’t even worry about using the flux the video below shows.

Solder Wick 1.5m Desolder Wire Copper Braid 2mm Wide, with Flux, 5ft Approx
https://a.co/d/9FyCKZK

 
I second all the encouragement on here. I built my first over the holidays: a GPS transmitter, and the LCD receiver with GPS receiver. All work well on ground. Flight tests coming up in February.

I enjoyed building the kits so much, I just ordered a Quasar, two Quarks and on Quantum. And a couple Openlogger modules for the two GPS transmitters. Since I had to buy a new soldering iron and some “helping hands,” I figured I would just keep building.

I went with the Hakko FX-650 iron. The right iron and tip are key! I made it work with the 1.0mm tip it came with. But since, I’ve bought the 0.8 chisel tip and a .2 needle tip (haven’t used that one yet).

And as others have mentioned, unless you have exceptional eyesight, get some magnification.
 

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