Long week

It’s been a long week and I’ve been very very glad of this weekend.  Unfortunately, a big fat chunk of this Saturday was also devoted to work-like stuff.  I didn’t get a chance to design or print much this month.

Once I get some time, I’d really like to get a MakerBot heated build platform.  The only problem is they’ve been out of their SMT kit for a while now.  And, without the SMT kit, I can’t assemble the HBP kit, so I won’t need the new relay kit.

10 thoughts on “Long week

  1. Yes you can. It takes a while longer and you need a magnifying glass but it is possible.

    Are you a man or an amoeba ? Show us you mad soldering skillz.

    Dna

  2. @DNA: I am an AMOEBA!!! Seriously, my soldering skills leave a LOT to be desired… My opto-endstops were the first time I used a soldering iron in years – and basically the first time I had used it for more than a simple repair. If I had to solder the MakerBot HBP, I’d be tempted to leave off all the LED’s.

  3. I soldered every part on the MakerBot HBP (including all the LEDs minus the two I lost) by hand… It took 2 hours, but after the first hour soldering the eight on one side, I used tape to hold down a bunch of the parts so I could solder rows at a time.

  4. @Makerblock, soldering the HBP was the first time I’ve picked up an iron in 15 years …
    The SMT hot plate will definitely look nicer but it gets turned upside down and hidden.
    I say, don’t be a block head, go for it !! ;)

  5. @MB, Oh sorry, you just Make the blocks, you’re not actually a block …. ;)

    Anyway, enough of the insults, have you actually made the HBP yet or are you just full of hot air ?!?

  6. Hey MakerBlock,

    To add to the “You Can Do It” chorus – the HBP was my first SMT soldering job, and I was able to do it just fine on the first try. I ended up following a simple strategy, which I talked about on the MakerBot Operators list: http://groups.google.com/group/makerbot/msg/3b00523ecb6a8422

    :

    1) Turn the board to work on one column at a time
    2) Tin all of the left-hand pads with some solder
    3) For each resistor, hold the resistor in a pair of needlenose pliers and tack down the left-hand side to the solder blob
    3a) Using the same pliers, apply pressure to the top of the resistor and reheat the pad, pushing the resistor flat
    4) Apply solder to the right-hand pads of each resistor
    5) Repeat steps 3-4 for the LEDs on this column
    6) Rotate the board 90 degrees and repeat. :)

  7. To clarify my earlier post, I think the total assembly of the HBP took 4-5 hours because I ripped a bunch of traces and had to solder the power wire to a via. I tried using a connector for the power cable and tried bending it but it just took the solder pad with it. It works fine now ;)

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