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How do we help you build a quality kit?
There are two main reasons that electronic kits may not work properly after
assembly: soldering problems and incorrectly loaded parts.
(Bad parts are much less common today than in the past.) We ensure that
you don't have these problems in several ways:
1. Soldering problems account for most problems in kit building. We
strongly encourage everyone, even experienced kit builders, to study the
soldering guidelines that are printed in the manual, which clearly show
how to make a good solder joint and what bad ones look like. There are
reminders every so often to "keep your soldering iron tip clean by wiping
it on a wet sponge periodically", and "maintain soldering iron contact
with the parts for at least 3 seconds after the solder starts flowing (6
seconds for pins connected to ground and power planes)", and "use enough solder to
thoroughly cover the leads", and other appropriate notes. For an extra
fee, we will include a pre-paid overnight shipping box with protective
antistatic packaging which you can use to send your completed boards to us
for inspection and/or testing, and we'll return them within one business
day. (Note: We currently do not recommend use of lead-free solder. Until
the components are all RoHS compliant, lead-free solder and boards will
cause problems that we don't want you to have. We are working on
converting our parts and boards to RoHS-compliant versions, but it's a
long process.)
2. A common problem with other manufacturers' kits is loading a resistor or capacitor into the wrong
location. To help you minimize this possibility, we have devised a better
way of loading boards. Each PC board kit has pre-sorted parts - all the
10K resistors are in one bag, all the .01uF capacitors in another, etc.
Therefore, you do not need to figure out the resistor color code or
measure the part values or read the tiny print on the capacitors before
you insert them in the board. This saves you time, makes it much less
likely that you will misidentify a part, and also makes it easier for us
to inspect our kits before shipment. As you insert a part, the manual
tells you what the part's name and value is (e.g., R12, 10K,
brown-black-black-red), not just where it goes. The boards are silk-screened with the part names, so as you insert R12 into the holes
labeled R12 and check off that step, you can be confident that you have
placed the correct part into the correct location. If you were to
accidentally load R12 into the location for, say, R122, then when the time
came to load R122, you would not be able to find the holes for R122 on the
board. Although finding the improperly placed part can then be a
challenge, at least you know you made that mistake before you turn
the board on. The manual has a complete image of the blank board showing
all the part names to help you find the parts. We offer tips and tools to
help you identify part values if it comes to that. For example, a
magnifying glass with built-in white LED light, available at Radio Shack,
makes it much easier to read resistor color codes. As you retrace your
steps, you can easily identify resistors by their color code.
3. Our PC boards are high quality .062" FR-4 epoxy glass, double-sided
or 4-layer, with plated through holes, solder-mask and silk-screening. The
SMOBC process ensures that you'll be able to apply solder without causing
short circuits between traces.
4. We do not provide IC sockets. IC sockets tend to cause more problems
that they solve, which can cause trouble after a product has been in
service for a while. If you need to replace an IC, the board's extra
plating thickness and solder-mask make it easy to remove parts using a
solder sucker or wick without damaging the board. While we do not void
your warranty if you choose to use IC sockets that you provide, we highly
recommend that you do not use anything but high quality sockets with
machined, gold-plated pins.
5. All static sensitive parts are in anti-static bags. We recommend
that you assemble your kit on an anti-static mat with a wrist strap and
ground connection. These mats are available at low cost from several
vendors and we will also make them available. Static precautions are
explained in the manual.
6. Parts with polarity designations (diodes, electrolytic capacitors,
ICs) have their polarity shown in two ways -- a square pad indicates the
positive side or pin 1, and the silkscreen shows a "+" symbol or a notch.
This helps you insert these parts in the correct orientation. Transistors
are shown with the flat side or tab visible on the silkscreen.
7. In addition to well-written instructions, we include detailed
drawings when there is a potentially confusing step. And we're just a
quick phone call, IM or email away if you have any urgent questions.
There's no feeling quite like the exhilaration of turning on a product
that you have built yourself and seeing it work. We promise to continue to
innovate and find better ways to make your kit-building experience
successful. Heathkit used to say "We won't let you fail". Our motto is a
more positive We'll make sure you succeed! |
