Advertisement
Before you solder anything, make absolutely sure that you have the correct part and that it is
inserted in the board correctly. The board has all of the component values, outlines, and
polarities silk-screened on the top, so there shouldn't be any doubt about what goes where and
how. Nevertheless, if you have any questions about the assembly procedure, do not hesitate to
drop us a line at
support@eggtimerrocketry.com
before you solder the parts to the board. You
may have to wait a day for the answer, but it could save you a lot of grief later on!
The Eggtimer Quark Limited Warranty does not cover damage to parts while attempting to
desolder them because you inserted something incorrectly. We spent a lot of time making
sure that the assembly instructions were clear, but once again if you have any questions about
the assembly procedures drop us a line at
support@eggtimerrockety.com
before you solder.
OK, so let's get started...
Mounting the Resistors and Capacitors
There's a definite technique to mounting small SMT parts like the 0805 resistors and caps that
come with the Quark kit. Once you get the hang of it, a lot of people think it's easier than
mounting through-hole parts, because you don't have to bend leads, tape the part down to the
board, or clip the leads after you solder them.
To mount these parts...
1) Lightly tin ONE pad.
2) Hold the part in place with tweezers, then heat up the tinned pad until the solder flows
underneath the part. Hold for a few seconds, then remove the iron.
3) Hold the part in place for another 5 seconds until the solder cools. When you let it go, it
shouldn't move... if it does, you didn't get a good solder joint, you need to start over.
4) Using as little solder as possible, solder the OTHER pad to the part.
5) Inspect both solder joints with a 10x jewelers loupe, making sure that the solder covers the
pad and wicks up to the lead on the part. Touch up the solder joint if necessary, adding just a
tiny bit of solder if necessary. Don't overheat the part if you do this, because the whole part
can lift off the board and stick to your soldering iron if you do.
It is critical that you both inspect the solder joints, AND make sure that no solder has bridged
over to other parts. In particular, the parts that are mounted around the silver-colored pressure
sensor need to be soldered carefully, if you get a solder bridge onto the pressure sensor it may
be very difficult to fix since the pads on the pressure sensor are on the bottom of the part, not
the sides.
We provide a few extra parts for the 0805-sized parts because they're easy to lose. Chances
are good that you'll be thanking us for that at some point in the assembly...
Advertisement
