Steps to Soldering Parts to the Digital PCB
Grab the Digital PCB and get ready to begin soldering. You can tell which PCB is the
Digital PCB, because it has “Digital” silk-screened upon it. How ‘bout that?
Headers
The best place to begin is by soldering the header connectors to the boards (if you plan to
use the connectors that is – if you don’t plan to use the connectors and are going to
hardwire the interconnections
don’t
install the connectors – this is where your wires will
be soldered). The connectors are, of course, the parts with the “J” reference designator.
Putting in the connectors first will ensure they fit and are seated flatly. There are a lot of
components on this board, and if you should install other parts first, they may come close
enough to where the connectors are installed, they may prevent the connectors from
seating flatly on the board.
Make sure, when you solder in the connectors, they do indeed sit flatly on the board, not
jutting at some obscene angle like a badly rooted incisor. A handy, if somewhat
potentially painful method of doing this, is to put a dab of solder on the tip of your iron,
place the jumper into position, and, while holding it, anchor one pin down with your dab
of solder. The painful part is, if you’re touching that pin you’re dabbing the solder to, it
will become hot and trigger a curse response from deep within your oral cavity. After the
connector is held in place by this modest bit of solder, solder the other pins in, then make
sure this original pin has enough solder as well. Bandage your finger (if required) and
move on.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Key
Key
Figure 7-2: Orientation of PCB Header Connectors
When you seat the headers, make sure they are oriented in the right direction!! There is a
pin 1 to each header, and that is indicated by a square pad. The silkscreen also displays
which side the header’s key should be aligned on.
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