My future megadrum module.

[dmitri]

Is you soldering iron is actually made of iron?:) Any soldering iron should survive for longer than a week.

[Lakedaemon]

My soldering iron isn't broken...yet..hot solder doesn't stick to it anymore (no matter what I do or how I clean it). It makes soldering near impossible.
I guess it has to do with some "tin"-like property of the soldering iron having wore off.
Maybee I let it lie too long, hot and without solder.


well.... I discovered that I made a mistake this afternoon (I soldered the R100 resistors between the 4051 and the diods...instead of between the diods and the Jack connectors...)

I spent the afternoon soldering 2.7mm holes with 1mm soldering iron with 1mm solder....and that was really hard...

I'll just order 0.5mm solder and a 0.5mm soldering iron replacement....
Hopefully, this will make soldering of tiny spots easier...

Concerning the firmwares.
1) Would it be possible to have an option in the firmware to choose for each pin of the atmega32 whether it has to process a single input or a 4051-multiplexed 8 inputs
2) Would it be possible to set in a midi the midi instrument/note associated to an input/ton each input of a multiplexed signal ?

That way, with 1 and 2, the same firmware would be able to handle every kind of input configuration (with a price to pay latency wise for a high number of inputs), be it 22 or 32 inputs..etc.

[Goldie]

Yes it would be good idea with precise tip and solder wire. I got mine iron hot, cleaned it with cleanex, put some solder on it and cleaned again, it was dirty, now shiny like new. You dont need steel wool and stuff. You should do it every 5 minuts or so. Try this. Hold your solder gun tip on pins you need to solder for 4-5 seconds and then with other hand touch shortly with solder wire (from position 1 to 2 on drawing) , it should work.

[Lakedaemon]

Damn..hadn't thought about that :

You use your soldering iron to heat the pin and you use the heat of the pin (and not the soldering iron) to melt and apply the solder !
That's diabolical !

I'll try that tomorrow
Thanks for the tip ! (pun intended) ^_^

[Synthex]

Be careful not to burn component in doing so !!!

[Lakedaemon]

Ouch ! This is a warning I must heed.

I really don't want to work hard to solder broken things on a board....
And finding where the problem is on the finished board would be a nightmare...

mmmh, so I guess that I should only use this soldering trick with :

DIL/DIP Sockets ! (nothing to burn there and lots of tiny pins)
Connectors (same thing)

Are resistors and diodes safe to solder this way ?

Yersterday, When I was suffering to solder my parts on the board...there have been a few times when soldering diodes and resistors when I could feel the heat passing through the part and reaching my left holding hand...
Should I consider these parts dead ?

[zip1]

A long time ago I purchased some 5 core soldering wire. The spool no longer has a manufactures label on it so I am having trouble tracking a source down. I has worked well over the years and is easy to use, it will fill void better the soldering wire with just one core.

one of the few places I have found it one line is http://www.specialized.net/ecommerce/shop/layout.asp?product_id=072X320
Yes I know this is a US company but it gives you some info to look for

also here is a solder tutorial that will help.
http://www.talkingelectronics.com/FreeProjects/5-Projects/Page13.html

Tom

[Goldie]

Dont worry, those parts are made to be soldered. They must accept some heat. You just have to aply right amount. Yes, practice on sockets and connectors first.

[Lakedaemon]

Many thanks !

I didn't know soldering was that technical !

Thanks again !

[Lakedaemon]

Ok, here are my progress :
Today was my second try at building a megadrum all in one board.

(on the first try, I only soldered a Dil 16 socket, 8 resistors 16 bat85 diods and I butchered the whole design...., so I ordered some more parts to give it a second try).

Today, I soldered 4 dil 16 sockets, 32 resistors, 64 bat 85 diods and one 34 pins connector, with a much cleaner design.

I did it with my new 0.5mm soldering iron (with higher temperature as I use solder without pb) and 0.5mm solder :
soldering pins (using the great advices I have been given) is really easy...you just have to have :
good eyes,
a solid righthand,
good organisation (to hold the parts, the board, the solder and the soldering iron)
and a little technique
(to heat the pins, I first let a drop of molten solder connect between the pin and the soldering iron to help with the heat transfer and then I add more solder with the left hand)


I blotched a bit when it came to routing solder wires but half way I changed my routing method.
I'm now using the synthex way ^_^ : I use left over cut pins to make connections.
It is much cleaner and easier to do than with solder alone.
(connecting with solder alone is hell on earth)

Now, I'm quite proud as I managed to cram 32 inputs into a 32 (2.5mm) holes *16 (2.5mm holes) rectangle....
This should leave me with enough space to cram on this 10cm*16cm board :
1) the digital board
2) the synthex's true usb board
3) optionaly : another 32 inputs (could be usefull if my first 32 inputs don't work)


But, the next time I'll have time to play with electronics will be in 2008...So I got to be patient...
(and maybee order an atmega 324 and a 24 mhz quartz ^_^)

I'll have to think about how to put the parts on the board and how to wire them anyway...so....

btw, I had a question about the programing cables...
Wouldn't it be possible to program the atmega32 and the microcontroller of synthex's True usb board with the same cable ? (say a serial one)

I'm quite happy. I learned a lot today.
(and now, I understand why you should better make a PCB for boards that aren't very simple)
ps : I learned how to keep my soldering iron wet too (taking into accounts some of the great advices that were given to me)
pps : 2 more days thinking soldering and the board will be finished....I'll take pictures of my boards when it's done !
ppps : thanks dmitri and synthex ^_^