You should now have a board populated
with 8 resistors. There is a ‘check picture’
further along in these instructions if you
want to check you have the correct
components in the correct place before
you solder. If you are colour-blind in any
way, or have sight impairment, you can
check values with a multi-meter touched
across the ends of each resistor in turn.
Now carefully turn the board over so that
all the resistors are flat against the work
surface. If you apply gentle pressure to the
board as you solder, you will find that all
the components are perfectly seated once
soldered.
So, here’s the board with the resistors just
soldered in and ready for the leads to be
trimmed. Each solder joint should have a
concave shape (slightly sunken), rather
than convex (pudding shaped). If your
joints are convex, you are applying too
much solder. Your solder-time per joint
should not exceed 3 seconds. If in doubt,
count 1 (apply soldering iron to joint), 2
(feed in solder), 3 (remove iron).
Once you have soldered the leads and
checked the solder joints for quality, you
can then trim off the leads with your
cutters. Bad solder joints will have a dull
grey look to them, good joints will be
shiny. Make sure there are no gaps in the
solder around the lead at the pad. The
solder pad hole should be full with solder.
