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Propeller Multicore Starter Kit — Parallax Forums

Propeller Multicore Starter Kit

ajwardajward Posts: 1,130
edited 2011-05-06 20:39 in Propeller 1
I finished assembling my starter kit... most of the work was on the Protoplus board. I have to say I've found few things more tedious than soldering all those tiny leads/pads! Except, of course, reading the color codes on those dam... er, darned 1/4 watt resistors! :lol:

Love the kit and I got the soldering technique down pretty well. Had to take off my glasses to see the pads and I managed to singe a few hairs in the process, but we be "Prop'ing".

Amanda

Comments

  • ajwardajward Posts: 1,130
    edited 2011-05-05 13:18
    Great! Bob seems to think he has a little brother...

    attachment.php?attachmentid=80893
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2011-05-05 13:21
    The family resemblance is amazing!!
  • Nick McClickNick McClick Posts: 1,003
    edited 2011-05-05 13:52
    Looks great Amanda! Not sure if it would have helped, but I did a little assembly video for the ProtoPlus (here). Also, I have a bunch of tutorials up here.

    I have a secret technique for soldering long rows of headers, I slide the iron over the headers at a constant speed, moving the solder along with it. Kinda hard to explain, I should do a video on it sometime...
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2011-05-05 14:32
    That seems similar to the drag-soldering technique for fine-pitch devices like QFPs.
  • Nick McClickNick McClick Posts: 1,003
    edited 2011-05-05 14:46
    Pretty much, except I go slower (to better heat up the lead) and hold the solder across from the iron, slowly feeding more in. It's easy to do, though.
  • ajwardajward Posts: 1,130
    edited 2011-05-06 12:46
    Hey Nick...
    Nick McClick wrote: »
    Looks great Amanda! Not sure if it would have helped, but I did a little assembly video for the ProtoPlus (here). Also, I have a bunch of tutorials up here.

    I have a secret technique for soldering long rows of headers, I slide the iron over the headers at a constant speed, moving the solder along with it. Kinda hard to explain, I should do a video on it sometime...

    Thanks... I did look at the video beforehand. I kind of fear that had I tried your method I'd have ended up with a long solder bus along the board! ;-)

    Looked at your tutorials and went as far as I could without keyboard and mouse connections. I have the PEK and I'm rerunning the activities in that manual on the Gangster board.

    Amanda
  • Mark_TMark_T Posts: 1,981
    edited 2011-05-06 16:47
    Except, of course, reading the color codes on those dam... er, darned 1/4 watt resistors! :lol:

    I'd recommend using a multimeter - far less fiddly and you can't be fooled by red that looks brown etc. My meter has a little gadget to plug in for measuring leaded components like this.
  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2011-05-06 20:39
    ajward wrote: »

    Looked at your tutorials and went as far as I could without keyboard and mouse connections. I have the PEK and I'm rerunning the activities in that manual on the Gangster board.

    Amanda

    @Amanda, adding a keyboard to your Protoplus is a snap! You'll want a couple 10k & 100ohm resistors and and a PS/2 connector and you'll be in business.
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