Deciding what order to fit the parts
We suggest you normally start with the smallest height
parts first, leaving the larger parts till later on, this
usually leaves most room to manouvere the iron.
Dry fit the parts
What is a really good thing to do on boards where the
parts are close to each other is to do a dry fit first.
This means pushing parts into place without soldering so
you can decide what order is easiest for you. Left handed
people almost always decide to do things in a different
order to a right handed person for example. The order is
ultimately up to you so don t rush in, think about it first.
Not confident in soldering?
Google soldering guide or soldering how to . There s
many great articles that people have produced. There s
videos on YouTube also. Soldering is simple to learn. Why
not ask your local school / college for a little help or what
we hope people have near them is a Hackspace or
Makerspace (google it) they are brilliant places to join.
Solder the parts
Soldering normal electronic parts (none in this kit)
1. Carefully push the part through the board, hold in place by either Blutack or gently bending the part legs before
turning upside down to solder. DO NOT hold with your finger, most parts easily conduct heat, don t burn yourself!
Soldering connectors (some are in this kit)
1. Using the Blutack or your fingers, hold the connector in place and solder just a single pin at one end.
2. Check that the connector is aligned in every direction, if not simply reheat for a second or two and gently move.
Avoid excessive heat and always be patient, soldering is a skill anyone can do badly, doing it well is about practice
and not rushing things.
3. When you are happy, solder the pin at the opposite end of the connector. Check visually
very carefully
again as
the is the last time it will be easy to move position of the part. Complete by soldering the rest of the connector pins.
Soldering surface mount parts (none in this kit)
1. Tin (cover in a coat of solder) a single pad first, put the part on top, perfectly aligned with the other pads. Melt
the tinned pad so that the first pin is soldered down. Re melt till the part is aligned then solder the rest of the pads.
Tweezers are perfect for holding parts, whilst soldering.
Handy tips for this kit (Slice of Pi)
1. The 2mm connectors are easiest to install if you have a Radio to plug into the headers to hold them whilst
soldering this keeps them perfectly parallel.
2. When soldering the 2mm connectors
DO NOT
use excessive amounts of solder because the solder can flow into
the connector and block it.
3. Only install the connectors you actually need for your project you can always add the ones you didn t use later if
needed. Eg if you do not intend to use a radio, leave out the 2mm connectors.
You will need these tools
1 x Soldering iron
1 x Length of electronics solder wire
(not plumbers solder)
1 x Side cutters
Optional but will make the build much easier
1 x Blob of Blutack
1 x Multimeter (preferably with continuity check)
Note: The Blutack is very good at holding parts while
soldering. Checking the solder joints for good connections
will in our experience save you time overall
First check the contents for 6 items
1 x Green printed circuit board (PCB)
1 x 2x13 female 2.54mm pitch connector
2 x 1x8 female 2.54mm pitch connector
2 x 1x10 female 2.00mm pitch connector
For help please email: [email protected]
Slice of Pi v1.1
2
CISECO
© 2013 - CISECO PLC
4
Location of the parts
Install the 2 row x 13 way header as shown (facing down)
The single row smaller 10 way 2mm sockets face upwards
The larger single row 8 way 2.54mm sockets face upwards
5
6
1
3
Always read this guide before beginning. This kit
requires basic soldering skills before use.
Getting started guide
The Slice of Pi is an add on for the Raspberry Pi miniature
computer, it is a 3 in 1 board. The suggested uses are:
Ÿ
To connect and power an XRF or Xbee style radio
module in to the Raspberry Pi serial port (UART).
Ÿ
Convenient breakout of the GPIO pins into an easier
layout for strip board or bread boarding projects.
Ÿ
Small prototyping area for compact or simple
electronic projects.
Check everything
Even if you are confident in soldering, please still check your
work. Almost all the problems we see (where boards do not
function correctly) are down to a poor/dry joint somewhere.
With a multimeter make sure you have good connections
between the various pins. On the back of this page is the
schematic layout so you can see what is connected where.
Testing & Building your projects
Build and test as you go in small stages, take your time
and always check twice before soldering, this extra small
amount of effort is always worthwhile. Rushing is the best
recipe for getting things wrong, backwards or poorly soldered.
