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3
Construction
3.1
Before Anything Else
Before you do anything else, please take the time to completely go through this
manual. Done? Okay, let's begin.
3.2
Getting Started
It's a good idea to have a few paper plates or bowls handy for spreading parts
out while keeping them neatly coralled and organized. Beware that you'll be
playing with small shiny things. Cats like small shiny things, so make sure cats
can't get to your workspace. It's also extremely important that you do all this
on an anti-static surface.
Put on your grounding strap. Open the clear ziplock bag and empty it into a
plate or bowl. Check the list of parts in section
there is what you have in the bowl. Now open the grey bag and pull out the
printed circuit board and the slab of foam with chips and sockets embedded in
it. Check those parts against the list of parts too.
The colored bands on resistors are read with the gold band to the right. That
band indicates that these are 10% tolerance parts. The ceramic capacitors are
very easy to distinguish from one another. There is only one 120ρ unit. It's
blue, and the value is written on the piece of tape holding its leads together.
There are a lot of bypass capacitors all wrapped up in a bouquet. The 22ρ units
are taped together side by side with clear tape and resemble match heads.
Tantalum capacitors are a bit more difficult. The 22µ units are usually larger
and often have their leads bent out to more easily fit in their holes. The 1µ
units look a bit skinnier and probably don't have bent out leads. Check the
tantalum capacitors with a magnifying glass to make sure you know which is
which. Seperate them and/or mark them with a piece of tape. The positive
lead on the tantalums is marked with a tiny "+".
Your kit may be supplied with tantalum capacitors marked differently than
above. These have colored bands instead of printing. A 1µ will be pink near the
legs and up about halfway. Then comes a band of black, then a band of brown.
On one side, there's a white splotch. Hold the capacitor with the leads down
and the splotch facing you. The positive lead is the one on the right. Tantalum
capacitors have been known to heat up, melt, glow, burn things, belch clouds of
smoke, change colors, and stink (among other things) when mounted the wrong
way round.
Now it's time to turn on your soldering iron. Make sure the tip is clean and
tinned (consult the iron's manual).
2.2
and make sure what's listed
13
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