Eggtimer Rocketry Eggtimer Quark Assembly Manual Download Page 4

Before You Start… 

 
•  Check the parts against the Packing List in the kit, and let us know right away if anything is 
amiss. 
 
• Go to our web site a

www.Eggtimerrocketry.com

 and download the latest Release Notes. 

 
• Go to our web site a

www.EggtimerRocketry.com

 and download the latest Users Guide.. 

 
• Read them thoroughly before starting… it will save you some grief later, we promise! 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
 
Thanks for buying an Eggtimer Quark.  The Quark is named after a tiny elementary atomic 
particle, which aptly describes the unit.  It is designed to be extremely easy to use, and is also 
very small so you can put it in virtually any rocket that you could possibly want.  You can fire 
the Drogue chute at either nose-over (just past apogee) or you can add 1 second for backup use, 
and the Main chute can be fired at 300’, 500’, 800’, or 1000’.  It beeps out your apogee after 
every flight, and you can easily test the deployment channels.  Finally, you can actually stream 
live altitude and status data out the serial port for simple telemetry use. 
 
Like other Eggtimer Rocketry products, we sell it as a kit, to keep costs down and provide an 
outstanding value.  This means that you have to do a little work, of course, but considering that 
most hobby rocketeers that would use our products have some degree of electronics expertise, 
this should not be much of an impediment.   If you do not have any experience soldering kits 
such as the Quark, we recommend that you ask around… chances are that somebody in your 
rocketry club would be more than happy to assist you for a small bribe (beverages work well!). 
 
 

About Soldering Your Quark… 
 

Assembling your Quark isn’t that hard, but we recommend that you don’t choose it as your 
first kit project.  You must be able to solder small components using fine solder and get nice 
shiny solder joints.  If you have never soldered before, you need to learn anyway, because if 
you are going to do rocketry electronics you’re going to be doing some soldering.  If you want 
to get into advanced projects like telemetry, you’re probably going to be doing a lot of 
soldering.  We recommend that you get a few small kits from Ramsey or SparkFun, put them 
together, and hone your skills on them first.  There’s a lot of fun stuff out there, so go for it! 
 
The Quark uses mostly Surface Mount Technology (SMT) parts, they are large by SMT 
standards, and are within the realm of being hand-solderable.  In order to help make your 
assembly successful, we have included about 12” of very fine (.020”), very low temperature 
(about 180°C), no-residue solder.  This is not the stuff that you get at Radio Shack… it’s 
designed for soldering small temperature-sensitive parts without transferring much heat to the 
part itself.    
 

Important note about using extra flux with this board:

  The solder that comes with the kit is 

Kester 245, it uses a water-based “no-clean” flux.  If you wish to use extra flux with the board, 

Summary of Contents for Eggtimer Quark

Page 1: ...Eggtimer Quark Assembly Manual Board Rev D3 2021 Eggtimer Rocketry All Rights Reserved...

Page 2: ...t what went wrong so it doesn t happen again If your Eggtimer Quark does not work properly after assembly take a deep breath get out the magnifying glass and a good light and see if you have inadverte...

Page 3: ...assembly but you should take the following precautions when using it or just about any chemical for that matter Do not eat or drink while using it Wash your hands after handling it Keep it in the prot...

Page 4: ...If you do not have any experience soldering kits such as the Quark we recommend that you ask around chances are that somebody in your rocketry club would be more than happy to assist you for a small b...

Page 5: ...to use it occasionally Weller makes a decent cheap 12W iron it s about 15 There is also a similar iron that s sold by ECG We like those but the copper tips seem to oxidize and corrode rather quickly...

Page 6: ...s loupe or small 10x magnifier for inspecting the SMT solder joints ___ A well lighted place to work preferably with a wood or metal surface also preferably not carpeted ___ Some PAPER masking tape do...

Page 7: ...oard with pre mounted barometric pressure sensor __ 1 ATTINY84A 20SU Processor 14 pin SOIC chip __ 1 NCP1117 33 3 3V voltage regulator SOT223 package __ 2 VN5E160S Driver Chips 8 pin SOIC chip __ 1 FM...

Page 8: ...before you solder and that you make SURE that you have them pointed the right direction before soldering Like the old adage says Measure twice cut once If you solder a part onto the board incorrectly...

Page 9: ...he part down to the board or clip the leads after you solder them To mount these parts 1 Lightly tin ONE pad 2 Hold the part in place with tweezers then heat up the tinned pad until the solder flows u...

Page 10: ...esistor on the center of the pad Remove the soldering iron and let it cool for 5 seconds before you let go of the resistor __ Solder the left pad of the 104 resistor Check both solder joints with a 10...

Page 11: ...er you will notice that there is a ST logo on the top left corner of the chip That is the Pin 1 mark which must align with the little box in the top left corner of the driver chip marking on the PC bo...

Page 12: ...der on the chip s lead but miss the PC board pad a good solder joint should actually flow underneath the chip lead and bond the elbow of the lead to the pad ___ Now solder the remaining leads in the s...

Page 13: ...esistor marked 104 on the right side of the board just below the driver chip that you just mounted ___ Solder the bottom 100K resistor in place in the same manner as the top one Mount the Bottom Drive...

Page 14: ...ds then carefully remove the soldering iron and wait 5 seconds for the solder to cool ___ Carefully solder the lower right pad Check the pad with a 10x jeweler s loupe to make sure that the solder joi...

Page 15: ...or chip on the board and hold it in place while heating up the previously tinned upper right pad Make sure that the chip is centered on all 14 pads then carefully remove the soldering iron and wait 5...

Page 16: ...1 uF capacitor next to the processor ___ Solder the capacitor in place in the same manner as the resistors Note that the right pad is next to the upper right pad on the processor they are actually co...

Page 17: ...1 uF capacitor that you soldered earlier this resistor does NOT connect to the nearby processor lead so if you get a solder bridge between the two you will need to remove the excess solder with some...

Page 18: ...rs they re just to the left of the silver baro sensor and are marked 472 on the board ___ Tin the right pad of the top 4 7K resistor ___ Solder the top 4 7K resistor in place in the same manner as the...

Page 19: ...4 7K resistors ___ Solder the 10 uF capacitor in place in the same manner as the other resistors capacitors ___ Locate the second 10 uF capacitor to the left of the processor and the 1 uF capacitor __...

Page 20: ...e is one large pad on the right side and three smaller pads on the left side ___ Lightly tin the center pad of the three pads on the left ___ While heating up the tinned pad hold the voltage regulator...

Page 21: ...left side of the board and has a mark with an arrow and a line at one end ___ Tin the right pad of the diode ___ If you look at the diode you ll see that the package has a stripe at one end This stri...

Page 22: ...want to have to remove the buzzer it s not all that easy ___ With a 10x jeweler s loupe check the solder joints on ___ The 10K 103 resistor ___ The 1 uF capacitor to the left of the processor ___ The...

Page 23: ...e tape Mount the Terminal Block optional Optionally you can install the 4 pin terminal block for your deployment wiring Given the relatively low cost of a Quark we generally recommend that you hardwir...

Page 24: ...ger holes are on the RIGHT side of the board the edge The closed off side should be on the left the inside part of the board Check this carefully if you install the terminal block backwards it will be...

Page 25: ...d the battery connectors so that we have an easy reference Match up the black stripes and you re good Strip about 1 8 from each lead of the pigtail and tin the leads Solder the lead to the TOP side of...

Page 26: ...ly keep things from working If you have a cold solder joint heat it up and put just a little bit of solder on it the main idea is to get a little more flux on the joint If there s too much solder use...

Page 27: ...hat you have a bad component We test each PC board and the surface mounted components before they leave us Nevertheless it is always possible that something may be wrong there may be a bridge on the P...

Page 28: ...or Incorrect battery polarity or bad solder joint on battery connector pads Bad solder joint on voltage regulator Bad solder joint on the 10 uF capacitors Bad solder joint on the 4 7K resistors Unexpe...

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