Spring 2016 3DOT Goliath,Assembling and Testing the 3Dot Board

/in , , , /by

By:  Ayman Aljohani (Project Manager)

For our Goliath project we will be using a custom made PCB that contains a microcontroller (known as the 3Dot Board) that will perform various tasks (ex. movement, laser shot, detector).  The physical PCB will be provided for us; however, it is required to solder all the components onto the PCB.

The steps we will be taking to solder the parts onto the PCB:

  1. Apply flux to the area you will be soldering and apply the soldering iron.
  2. Place the component on top of the soldering iron and heat the area to create contact between the soldered iron and the component.Soldering 3DOT Board components manually with Soldering Iron
  3. Check with multi-meter to make sure the components are connected to the PCB
  4. If alignment needs to fixed, we will use the heat gun to simultaneously heat the area to remove the component.
  5. Hold heat gun 3~4 inches away from the PCB for 30 seconds to heat up the board (prevent heat sync).                                                          heat gun
  6. Now aim the heat gun around 2 inches at the area you’re interested in for 15 seconds.Soldering with heat gun
  7. Apply little pressure to fix the alignment of the component.

 

 

Applying solder base to the area, this could be done in two ways:

a-All at once using stencil

Applying solder base using stencil

then clean the extra solder base manually

aplpling solder base

 

 

 

b-Manually apply solder base to all parts. This option takes loner time, but it will give a clear idea about 3DOT components and connections which makes the troubleshooting easier.

 

rsz_manually_solder_base

 

2- Use tweezers to place the components on the 3DOT Board:

rsz_tweezer  rsz_tweezer_2

 

3- After placing the component correctly, apply heat by placing the PCB in an oven

 

 

Assembled 3DOT Board:

rsz_final_product

 

 

 

The steps we will be taking to remove parts on the PCB:

  1. Apply flux to the area interested in to remove the soldering iron from a component.
  2. Put de-soldering on the area you want to absorb the soldering iron and apply the heated solder tip on top of it.
  3. Apply until you see the solder iron gets absorbed by the de-soldering material.
  4. Remove the component after most of the soldering iron has been removed.