It’s totally fair to say that the Tindie universe has a hefty portion of soldering kits. From absolute beginners through to complex “how small can you go” surface mount technology challenges, we have you covered. Commonly most of these kits don’t have mechanical or moving parts so this Electromagnetic Puppy Swing Kit caught our eye.
The kit consists of 3 printed circuit boards two of which are connected together using supplied brass standoffs and small bolts to create a base. The 3rd PCB is soldered into position and forms a tree above the PCB base. Soldering the tree to the base is a good example of using solder as both a construction technique as well as an electrical connector. The tree is decorated with through-hole light emitting diodes which glow statically red when powered, simulating fruit. The base has a similar collection of LEDs of different colours which flash in a pattern.
The real magic is in the electromagnetic portion of the project. There is a 4th PCB of a small puppy which once assembled sits on a small wire swing looped onto the tree PCB. A collection of magnets, a coil, and a few other components create a Hall effect sensor system which pulses the coil in time to make the puppy swing when powered on via a USB power source.
This looks like an excellent and fun project suitable for those new to soldering and it certainly would be an excellent platform from which to explore electromagnetic systems and the Hall effect principles.
If you haven’t learnt to solder why not make it your first challenge of 2024? This printed circuit board (PCB) Airplane with Flashing LED kit could be the perfect place for you to start!
It has numerous features that we think are excellent for beginners at soldering. Most of the components are through-hole meaning they are larger, easier to handle and can be positioned through their mount holes which hold them in place a little while you solder. The only surface mount components are the large battery holders for one coin cell on each wing and these have large pads which will be straightforward to assemble. The Airplane has numerous LEDs and 2 integrated circuits (ICs or ‘chips’), a classic combination of a 555 timer and a CD4017 decade counter. You don’t need to know anything about those ICs to assemble and operate this kit but they are a classic combination and the circuit would make a great research project for those new to electronics.
The ICs are mounted into sockets which are soldered into place. This again is excellent for those newer to soldering as you are less likely to damage the ICs through overheating when soldering. The two PCBs slot together and you get a little experience soldering aligning pads to make a mechanical and electrical connection between the PCBs.
It’s a great little challenge and you end up with a nice desk toy that you can be proud of as a first soldering project!
Love it or hate it, or somewhere in between, attaching parts to one another via molten solder is an essential skill for electronics assembly. Applying surface mount parts generally involves solder paste, and if you don’t have a stencil, this means squirting small dabs of the stuff over and over on your designated connection points. In order to dispense the appropriate (tiny) amount of solder onto your board, without the fuss of electronic manipulators, Albert van Dalen is offering the Spoty micro-dot solder paste dispenser.
The video below shows a demo of the device in action, dispensing paste for 0603, and even 0201 components, along with a clip of how the device itself is assembled. Use wise, you position the dispensing head over the solder pad, then push paste out mechanically via the trigger lever, similar to how a caulk gun works. It’s a beautiful in its simplicity, and something that should make things much easier than trying to squeeze out just the right amount of solder paste from a syringe unassisted.
For another solder dispensing option, I reviewed the e.Dispenser system here. It’s much more versatile, and even offers vacuum pickup capabilities. At the same time, it’s more expensive and complicated than the Spoty device, so you’ll want to consider which of one best suits your needs.
Raspberry Pi Zeros have been around for a few years now, and are capable of powering some incredible projects due to a diminutive size combined with incredible processing power. It’s no surprise that making them portable or powering them in-situ garners even greater results and so the PiSugar2, which does that, has become one of Tindie’s best-selling products!
The PiSugar2 is a mobile module which works with the Pi-Zero and Pi-Zero W/WH models with an output current of up to 2.4A. The unit can power a Pi Zero for more than four hours even at 900mAh – which is plenty enough power for an installation or performance, negating the need for any external power leads to trip over! It requires no soldering to install using the included pogo-pin connecting to the main board away from your precious GPIO – leaving them for other things. It also features timed power modes – so can be set to turn on automatically at any given time without human intervention.
It has a customisable button which can be set to carry out functions of your choosing, like switching between played back videos or sounds it might be playing – they’ve thought of everything! The PiSugar2 is sold by the imaginatively named PiSugar who are based in China, and offer a fantastic range of Raspberry Pi goodies for a number of applications.
If you sell PCBs on Tindie, you’ve perhaps designed a board to be hand built, then eventually set it up as a PCBA for assembly elsewhere when the volume and maturity justifies it. I went through this process myself with one of my products. Admittedly, there was a part where I was applying solder paste for assembly which could have been done in a neater and less wasteful manner.
One solution is to use a solder stencil, which in my experience comes with its own set of challenges – including the need to actually design and make. The second solution is to use a dispensing setup that can help you more accurately dispense globs of solder paste than with a manual syringe. Such a device comes with its own set of challenges, often including the need for compressed air. The e.Dispenser from Dan M does things a little differently by precisely displacing solder paste with a servo-driven linear actuator.
I got my hands on one of these units to try out and I’ve been pretty impressed, but read on to see my thoughts on how the device works!
e.Dispenser Initial Impressions
The system sells for a list price of $149.00 USD, including enough accessories (sans actual solder paste) to get you going. There are also a number of additional options available, including a foot-pedal and on-dispenser device trigger.
The device is made in, and ships from, Mexico. As an American buyer, my first hesitation was that there might be some import duties and/or hassle, however, I’m happy to report that in my case getting it was no trouble whatsoever. It simply showed up at my house in Florida via UPS, 11 days after placing the order. The item was very well packaged in custom-cut foam, which could double as storage apparatus if you’re careful when opening it up.
The device itself was well-made, with a laser-cut housing, and an LCD character display that will be familiar to anyone who has browsed an Arduino projects site for even a few minutes. The reversible USB-C power input was a nice feature, and there’s a 3.5mm jack for accessory connection. Finally, the driving stepper motor is keyed in such a way that it can’t be reversed when plugging it into the controller.
Dispensing Solder Paste
The unit is easy enough to plug in and turn on, and features a menu system driven by two encoders. The left encoder selects the menu option, while the right actually modifies it. When you press the trigger button, settings are saved to the profile you’re working with. When either is pushed in (at any time) the left pushes the piston forward, while the right pulls it back.
To insert solder paste, a coupler is included that lets you push it out of your old tube into the new tube quite elegantly. From there, the machine’s piston can push it out blob-by-blob. This is where things got a little hairy, due to:
I had no idea of the scale needed to push out a component’s worth of paste
My roughly year-old paste, stored in a hot garage wasn’t doing me any favors.
Quite a bit of excess initially dripped out after dispensing, and didn’t get the right amount on my pads to begin with. I contacted Dan M. about my predicament.
Long story short: I was dispensing way too much paste, and, according to Dan, depending on the type of paste you’re using, tiny air bubbles can cause a sort of internal spring effect. He gave me a few suggestions on things to try, and after a bit of tinkering, it worked much better. Also, it might seem obvious to many readers, but pressing down on the board before triggering the paste seems to work better than triggering it mid-air and attempting to dip paste onto the pads.
Dan’s support was prompt and excellent, offering me input and settings to try. That being said, I should have perused the documentation on his website more carefully, especially the page about dot dispensing to get a better sense of scale. I eventually made several prototype boards using the dispenser, which turned out much better than my syringe-only attempts.
After a bit of adjustment, oozing improved significantly
In my testing, I still get some paste extrusion after finishing a job using the dot dispensing mode. If/when I continue to tweak things (and/or buy new solder paste) I suspect this will improve. This adjustability is an excellent feature of this device, and up to 5 setups can be saved to allow you to work with different paste setups and/or scenarios.
External Trigger
As mentioned earlier, there’s a 3.5mm jack into which you can plug a foot pedal, or a trigger that slips over the dispenser tube. Both worked as designed, and I primarily tested the pedal. It’s also easy enough to start the device via the button on the main controller, though using the foot pedal felt natural and helpful once I started using it.
Vacuum Pickup
In addition to outputting solder paste, this device is also capable of picking up components and small ICs using vacuum. As there’s no air compressor involved, the way it does this is by pushing the piston into position, then pulling back to create a vacuum when triggered. I tested this with a few addressable LEDs, and even the Ooberlights circuit board seen above, and it works well.
The fact that it doesn’t need an air compressor is probably the #1 feature that will draw people to this device. The tradeoff here is that the driving stepper motor is on top of the dispensing syringe, which means that the center of mass is well offset from its geometric center. This wasn’t a problem for the limited assembly work that I’ve done with it so far, and I am thrilled to have this as a part of my workbench for prototyping. At the same time, this would likely be problematic if put into constant use over a full production shift.
A fascinating possibility for this device is that it seems to be just begging for people to use it in an automated manner per its external trigger capability. Dan has a guide to setting it up on a 3D printer here, but who knows what other people will (and have) come up with? Notably, the device can dispense other types of paste, opening up possibilities further.
The Verdict
This dispenser is well built and well supported, and it fills the niche between “what am I doing with this squeezy syringe thing” and full offshore production. There’s also the exciting possibility of repurposing a 3D-printer or other robotics assembly to work with this device. If you fall in the category of avid SMD prototyper, then in my humble opinion, it’s absolutely worthy of consideration!
Disclosure
Dan M provided the product at a discounted rate to me for this review. I’ve tried to be fair, open and honest in my appraisal of it, but if you’d like a second opinion (or forty-second opinions), you can check out the device’s customer reviews.
Do you like soldering PCBs? Personally, I’d choose a terminal connector any time over having to deal with soldering (check out Wednesday’s post about ESP8266 screw terminals). This may be due in part to my equipment though, including a cheap helping hand device which doesn’t hold PCBs too well.
If you have to deal with soldering PCBs quite a bit, or if you even enjoy it, then this PCB Rax circuit board holder by Bench Werx looks like it would make the job much, much easier. It can hold rectangular boards up to 9-1/4″ x 8″, and if you need to build/repair something even bigger, the connecting rods can be replaced.
Where it really shines though is that it has extension brackets that are designed to hold oddly shaped boards, like the Christmas tree seen above. Once you have things roughly fastened together with the extension brackets, the threaded rods that connect the two halves of this device can be tightened further without hand tools. Additionally, the device can be set in a vertical or horizontal position, allowing you to work on projects in ergonomic comfort to your heart’s content!
Check it out in the video below. It looks much better than the tools I normally use; perhaps it could even convert solder-haters into solder-tolerants!
2015, the year of exploding hoverboards, the Arduino split, and the Raspberry Pi Zero, has come to a close. Anyone making a new year’s resolution? For me personally, I want to bring more creative ideas to life and not be afraid if they fail. I started early and did my first 3d printing project this week. I’m excited to see what else comes of it.
For those of you who are still thinking of a resolution, Tindie can help. Take a look at these ideas and perhaps pick one for yourself.
Learn a New Skill
Not only do we have an entire DIY category devoted to beginners, one of our best selling products is the I Can Solder Badge. If you’ve never tried it before, it’s a handy skill that’s easy to pick up!
Be More Punctual
Being on time is a great character trait! Maybe you don’t even need to be more punctual and you just want a sweet new clock. We’ve got you covered!
We have an entire section of Tindie devoted to all things IoT. Get connected and go green with internet-connected sensors and controllers for a huge variety of things.
Have More Fun
There is no shortage of super fun projects and products on Tindie. The Automatic Rubber Band Blaster Kit is just one example, plus it’s a great way to use your 3d printer as well!
Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More.
The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.
