Interactive Media - CS4062 - Semester 2 - 2008

- Introduction to Soldering
Eoin Brazil
March 26, 2008

1 Introduction to Soldering
Soldering can be a dangerous process, by following these simple tips you can
ensure yours and other peoples safety. Lead solder and its fumes are toxic so
use the following rules to ensure safe soldering.

1. A soldering iron, when on, is hot enough to burn flesh instantly. Always
assume that your soldering iron is on and hot. Irons can take some time
to cool down so always assume even if it is hot even if switched off as
somebody else may have used it recently.

2. When cutting off leads, make sure they are held such that they cannot
fly away or hit anyone else in your work area.

3. Safety glasses or goggles should be worn at all times in your work area.

4. Avoid breathing smoke/fumes generated during soldering. Use a well-

ventilated space or fume extraction device.

5. Inhalation of flux fumes during soldering may cause irritation and dam-
age of mucous membranes and respiratory system. Eyes may become
irritated from contact with smoke from soldering.

6. When ventilation is not sufficient, a NIOSH approved respirator should

be worn.

i
 7. Legs and arms should be covered to avoid burns from splashed hot
solder.

8. Use pliers or vice to hold work in order to avoid burns from objects
that are heated. Heat will be conducted through metal.

9. Wash hands thoroughly after handling solder containing lead and do

not eating or smoking when soldering or at your work area.

10. Use lead-free solder when possible. Lead is known to cause cancer and
birth defects.

2 Soldering Tutorial
Use one of the following worksheets to create a shield which will sit atop
your Arduino board. This tutorial uses either the Arduino NG as shown in
Figure 1 or the Arduino Diecimila as shown in Figure 2.

ii
Figure 1: Arduino NG board handout

iii
Figure 2: Arduino Diecimila board handout

iv
3 Assembling the Diecimila Shield Step-By-
Step
Gather the parts The parts necessary for this tutorial are listed in Fig-
ure 2. The only difference between this layout and the parts for the Diecimila
and the NG is that it is better to use a 6 pin header strip to connect to the
power / ground headers on the Diecimila but it is optional and you could use
the same NG layout.

Figure 3: An Diecimila board and the parts needed for the tutorial

Size and mark the stripboard The stripboard will sit atop the Arduino.
It normally comes in a large sheet so we have to cut it to size. A sharp knife
or hacksaw should be used to cut the stripboard. A marker can be used
to mark out the outline as shown in Figure 4. The size can be verified by
checking against Figure 2 and by placing the header pins into the stripboard
at their correct locations. It is best to leave at least a single track spare when
cutting the stripboard. This should result in a piece of stripboard which fits
over the Arduino as shown in Figure 5.

v
Figure 4: Mark off the correct size of stripboard required

Figure 5: Cut stripboard on top of the Arduino

vi
Lay out the components on the stripboard The next step is to place
all the components on the stripboard prior to soldering as shown in Figure 6.
It is best to use a vice or helping hands to hold the stripboard while you are
soldering it. In this case, I used a Panavise Jnr. The legs of the components
should be bent outwards slightly to help ensure they stay in position when
you turn them upside as shown in Figure 7. In Figure 7, you can see that
the header pins have already been soldered.

Figure 6: Top view of components laid out on stripboard prior to soldering

Figure 7: Bottom view of components laid out on stripboard during soldering

vii
Complete the soldering and cut off tracks on the stripboard Once
all the soldering is completed your stripboard should look similar to Figure 8.
The legs of the components have been cut and then you are ready to cut the
tracks from the stripboard as marked in Figure 2. It is necessary to cut the
tracks to prevent cross circuiting the board. The tracks could have been cut
prior to the soldering, its a personal choice whether for this design they are
cut before or after soldering. In more complex designs, it may be better to
cut the tracks first. The cut tracks can be seen in Figure 9.

Figure 8: View of the components after soldering

Figure 9: View of the stripboard after the tracks have been cut

viii
Fit the shield to the Arduino and write a sketch to control the
LED based on the potentiometer The finished shield can now be fitted
atop of the Arduino as shown in Figure 10. In Figure 11 the LED is lit and
controlled via the potentiometer and the Arduino board. The code necessary
for this is shown below in Section 4. Remember to select the correct board
type and serial port prior to running the sketch.

Figure 10: View of the shield when finished and connected to the Arduino
with the LED off

Figure 11: View of the shield when finished and connected to the Arduino
with the LED on

ix
4 Arduino Code Listing for Tutorial

int potPin = 2 ; // s e l e c t t h e i n p u t p i n f o r t h e p o t e n t i o m e t e r
int ledPin = 6 ; // s e l e c t t h e p i n f o r t h e LED
int val = 0 ; // v a r i a b l e t o s t o r e t h e v a l u e coming from t h e s e n s o r

void setup ( ) {
pinMode ( ledPin , OUTPUT ) ; // d e c l a r e t h e l e d P i n a s an OUTPUT
Serial . begin ( 9 6 0 0 ) ;
}

void loop ( ) {
val = analogRead ( potPin ) ; // r e a d t h e v a l u e from t h e s e n s o r
Serial . println ( val ) ;
if ( val < 127 )
{
digitalWrite ( ledPin , HIGH ) ; // t u r n t h e l e d P i n on
}
else
{
digitalWrite ( ledPin , LOW ) ; // t u r n t h e l e d P i n o f f
}
delay ( 1 0 ) ;
}

x
5 Appendix
The Electronics in Meccano Stripboard Layout Planning Sheet is a very
useful resource for your stripboarding prototyping. This is from an article
by Tim Surtell who has asserted his moral right to the work and provided
this resource for individual and educational use.

Tips:

• Mark out the Vs and 0V power lines first, then Stripboard Layout Planning Sheet
place the ICs.
Project:
• Remember to cut the track between the pins of
an IC. Mark the cuts on the diagram with an X. Designed by:
• Try to make resistors and axial capacitors lay
Actual size stripboard. Hole spacing 0.1” (2.54mm) flat on the stripboard. Resistors usually require Version:
a gap of 4 holes, capacitors a gap of 8 holes.
• Use the actual size grid on th e left to check Date:
Tracks run this way component spacing.
• Number the pins of the ICs as
1
2
8
7
Notes:
3 6
shown. 4 5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44

22 22

21 2l1

20 20

19 19

18 18

17 17

16 16

15 15

14 14

13 13

12 12

11 11

10 10

9 9

8 8

7 7

6 6

5 5

4 4

3 3

2 2

1 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44

Version 3 : 3/02 © 2002 Electronics in Meccano www.eleinmec.com

Figure 12: Electronics in Meccano Stripboard Planning Sheet

6 Copyright and Attribution

Copyright 2008, Eoin Brazil under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-
Share Alike 3.0 License.

xi