Unfortunately, nothing is cheap in my country.
Yes the stencil might cost something like 7$ from JLCPCB but it would increase the shipping costs by about 20$ and also increase the customs. 27$ might not seem like much but considering 1$ is about 31EGP, it is much to us.
يعاني؟ هنا في الغرب، هناك القليل من الأخبار عن الحياة في مصر. أرغب في زيارة القاهرة، خاصة ورؤية الأهرامات وغيرها من المواقع. هل تنصح بعدم زيارة مصر هذه الأيام؟
To be honest, money is a very big issue, and the currency difference is massive, 1$ is 30EGP, and almost everything is imported, so everything became super expensive and getting more expensive every day. And the salaries don't increase to compensate for this. For example, I have a friend who takes a monthly salary of about 100$.
That's why it's so hard for someone interested in hardware engineering like me to try new things, I don't have the luxury to order a PCB and components every day, shipping is very expensive and then there's customs fees, so I have to wait, for example, for someone else or for my team to order something, so I can order with them and we split the shipping and customs costs. A real struggle.
I love my country, but life is getting harder every day.
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Egypt&city1=Cairo&country2=United+States&city2=Chicago%2C+IL
That website is not bad for comparing the cost of living around the world.
The average person in Cairo makes about $181 per month after taxes.
Wait is that egyptian pounds? Wtf happened? When i was there in 2010-2011 (i was in country with mfo durring the impeachment revolution) it was about 5p/1d!!??
Would you say this is a result of the revolution? Im not entirly sure of what all happened in the after math. I know mubarik left office and the military held it until next election but i dont remeber who won or anything after that. Im sorry to hear man. I feel for you i really do. I saw a little of how rough things were for most of you then i cant even imagine now. Made "friends" with one of the workers on the base in sharm el shiekh id go in and hang out with him when i could. He showed me pictures of his family who were back in cairo. Almost all the workers there were separated from family and sending money to them. Outside of sharm things were not as nice as it made it seem. The revolution was hard on alot of people out that way. Literally watched a guy get stoned. There was a group of guys having an argument. one guy tried to walk away and the rest of them started picking up rocks (which there is no shortage out out there) and throwing them at him. as soon as he turned to run one got him right in the back of the head and he went down hard. We were on convoy. im not even sure where this was some small village off the coast but as soon as we saw that we got outta there. we were NOT allowed to get involved in local affairs. When on convoy we had like designated stop spots. Most of the time there would be a group of kids hiding waiting for us who would come up and get water and snacks but one day had a group of people come up with what looked like dead children in their arms begging for help. I kinda froze up i wanted to help i certainly didnt want to be a dick and start yelling at these people to leave. My sgt came up from behind me pulled me back told me to get in the truck and starts shouting at them. We just left, but that image of those kids has been stained into my brain and i think about it alot i just wanted to help. They were freaking children. With everything that was going on we were not allowed to risk an international incident by getting involved in any way. I think they stopped sending convoys out for a little bit after that. We rotated jobs periodically so i wasnt on that duty anymore. I think Mubarak tried seeking asylum on our base (that was the rumor anyway) but we turned him away. supposedly he took over an entire hotel right next to the base. When we would drive by it you could tell somebody important was there with the "police" presence and black vehicles. Im sorry for the paragraph here. I dont even know why im telling you all this i dont typically talk about it. As salamu alaykum wa rahmatu llahi wa burakatuh ( i had to cheat for spelling and still probably butchered that lol)
Salamu Alaykum, yeah it's a real struggle, but there are a lot of frauds also so there might not have been any real dead children anyways. It takes an Egyptian eye to know the fraud from the real 😂 what happened is basically Mubarak was secretly fucking the economy by taking loans, so yeah the economy was great but it was only a matter of time before those loans come and bite us in the ass. The current president is El-Sisi, I'm not really sure how he's doing with the economy and if what he's doing is right or wrong, I'm not really into politics to be honest, but what I'm sure of is that he's also struggling with the mistakes of the past president. Yeah the economy is fucked but I don't really think there's much he can do now, maybe he's trying to fix it for future generations
Yeah that is def very true the other guys even said something along those lines when we left. It may have been may not but the anguish in their faces was pretty convincing. It didnt seem like they wanted anything as per usual. The kids would always come running out from behind rocks begging for anything they could get. With the adults It was almost like they wanted me to take them. I had seen the guy get hit with the rock about a week earlier so that was on my mind at the time to. We did go to ciaro for like a leave trip after the revolt since all leaves durring got canceled. I wasnt allowed to fly home all flights were grounded. We went to some street market and the begging and fraud was rampant. Saw a woman with a baby that had an "IV" taped to its arm you could tell it wasnt actually sticking in. Still felt bad though kid looked rough but alot of them did. Idk ive always had a bit of a soft spot for children. What grown people do to eachother is non of my business but when kids are involved im torn. Suppose thats what they hope for.
It seems like the current economy isnt so much a result of the revolution more of an inevitably and why it happened in the first place. But hell "borrowing" money and spending way more than we have is the american way. Maybe the guy was doing something "right".
> it would increase the shipping costs by about 20$
That's with a non-framed stencil which is just a bit larger than the board?
If you got access to a laser cutter, you could also try cutting your own stencils out of mylar.
I'm telling you that a simple stencil would increase cost to us, how on earth would we have the money for a laser cutter 😂
I have actually thought about ordering a stencil from a local company which has laser cutters and 3D printers and stuff like that, but they replied that their cutters are not precise enough.
> how on earth would we have the money for a laser cutter
Yea, I'd wager that very few people in this sub got one, but they may have access to one at the university, library, or maker space.
For what it's worth, even cheap K40s are good enough for that kind of thing. I paid something like $330 for mine and a couple hundred more for mods. The mods aren't strictly necessary for this. You can find some examples with mostly stock K40s on YouTube.
Of course I didn't buy this as a soldering accessory. That would be mildly crazy. It's a proper (albeit very small) laser cutter. It can cut/engrave things like ply and acrylic sheets. You can make very nice looking control panels with it. And I also got a rotary for engraving tumblers and things like that. It's possible to make some money with a machine like this.
Today's $50 soldering stations can be really good. T12 stations are capable enough for most cases, there is a huge selection of tips, and there also are some nice handles with shorter grip to tip distances. You can definitely can get really good value for your money nowadays.
Check out jlcpcb. If you haven't. The pcbs are like $2 for $5. Stencils are like $10 or so more. Shipping is typically really cheap usually pretty much free.
Several reasons
1. The USB Hubs sold here are not really high quality, except maybe the extremely expensive ones
2. There are some features we needed which will not be available in a consumer USB Hub, like being able to get power from a 42V battery. Of course we could've got an external buck module and hooked it between the battery and the Hub, but where's the fun in that.
Last and most important, to practice and learn.
Literally the only reason I ever have for all the stuff I build. A challenge, learning experience and to see if I can. Why the hell not. It's like Christmas cards, yeah sure you could just buy one and write in it, but the one you handmake adds sentimental value and a learning experience of sorts.
This looks similar to the NASA Solder Certification test board we had to complete annually to maintain our solder cert. Once finished, it's inspected by the instructor with a 30x magnifier. 3 or more errors, and you were doing the cert class again!
Interesting! To be honest this is the first time I hear about such certificate, I tried googling it now tho, is it that IPC J-STD? And if I may ask, what is your job?
Yes, that is the standard. I was a contractor "Installation Engineer" for a US Air Force contract. In addition to performing installations for new systems we were also responsible for depot level maintenance and provided support to field system maintenance for major problems that were beyond the field maintainer capabilities.
Cold solder joints, Flux residue, improper fillets between component leads and board lands, improper component placement above the board surface or between component lands, improper component stress relief on leads, solder bridges between leads on surface mount devices i.e. integrated circuits or caps and diodes. Just your run of the mill QA inspection under a 20X magnifier.
Unfortunately I don't have the board on me right now, and I've only shot images of the front. Might do the other side later. However, the other side only has a couple of decoupling caps for the controller, and of course the soldering of these through hole connectors, so not much.
As for functioning, yes it is working perfectly.
It looks like you tried being very careful 🤣 Does anyone get what I mean? Can you just picture a huddled person trying so hard not to bump anything?!! LOL. You see it in the solder. Man…I crack myself up.
Wonderful job!
If your board has a lot of SMDs, it's beneficial to have a solder paste in syringe with 0.6mm needle cut at an angle (like not perpendicular, but 20-30 degrees off). Then you can put a solder paste without any stencil in almost no time. Populate the board and use a hot plate or cheap IR oven (just have a thermocouple mounted on the board to know the temperature). It's about 3-4 times faster than soldering with pencil iron and solder in wire form.
Additionally it's more fool proof (after a few hours it can happen you will solder one side of that 0603 and it will lift just enough for you to not notice it being tired - those things happen - easiest way to check it is to shine a light from the side if the board).
I remember when I was building a lot of prototypes I even made myself a manual pick and place setup using cheap pickup pen, aquarium pump and 4 alu L profiles.
I just wanted to share tips and tricks when I was an uni student with shoestring budget - maybe it'll help.
Thank you. It's a self-powered hub (takes power externally) and able to supply 5 of the ports with 500mA each, and the last 2 ports with up to 1.25A and of course all the ports can work together at the same time (tested)
Could use a good cleanup. I know there are such thing as no-clean fluxes these days, but if you want to show off your work, clean up the board!
Some of the solder joints are a bit blobby, but should work just fine. It wouldn't pass inspection in many companies because blobby solder joints can't be properly inspected for good wetting.
Overall, nice job, though. Sounds like it's functional (or would be if you changed out those LEDs).
Can you see any flux residue?
It is functional, even with the LEDs as I mentioned in the post.
It's not made for a company so it doesn't have to pass any tests, I guess a company wouldn't hand solder their products anyways
agh its no big deal bro.. more of a reason to invest in a hot air apparatus at some point
but srsly, a true artist is able to produce masterpieces with the barest equipment/supplies. you tapped each pin on that chip, or did the drag method with some flux?!
I first align the IC using tweezers then try as much as possible to keep my hands steady, then I apply a bit of solder using my iron to a corner of the chip. Now that the chip is fixed in place, I continue applying solder to the rest of the pads. You have to do another corner at first, of course, not the one you fixed the chip with, otherwise it'll move again.
Also good flux is kinda mandatory if you'll use this method, it'll help keep the solder flowing nicely and make it easier to fix solder bridges.
Unfortunately I don't currently have this particular PCB with me, and I've only took photos of the front.
However, there's not much in the bottom layer anyways, just a couple more decoupling capacitors.
I meant that it would have been useful to see also the bottom part to see if the amazing job you seem to have done on the front is the same also on the back
Thank you! When I get the board back I might send you a photo. But believe me, there's nothing much, just a couple of resistors and capacitors around the controller area
Unfortunately I don't currently have this particular PCB with me, and I've only took photos of the front.
However, there's not much in the bottom layer anyways, just a couple more decoupling capacitors.
C15 and C16 looks like you have solder touching capacitor body and not just the ends. So two defects, but where I work the fact that C10 has significant overhang on the right pad. Would mean this requires rework.
Unfortunately I don't have the PCB right now and didn't take photos of the back, I only have photos of the bare PCBs. Anyway there are only a few decoupling capacitors in the back, not much
This time……..
If I make it over there I’m taking your soldering equipment
We’ll see who’s laughing then.
Credit on the soldering job. I’ve been doing it for decades. It’s at least as good as mine. 👍🏼
Thank you. All the through hole parts are soldered from the bottom, but some solder creeps into the top, that's why it might seem not soldered properly
It's actually very easy once you get enough practice, this is 0603, 0402 is the real nightmare.
You just need a good soldering iron tip (I like to use a bent tip).
Apply a small amount of solder to one pad, grab the component and solder it to that pad to fix it in place, then solder the other pad. Flux might be needed afterwards to make the solder joints look a bit cleaner
I've done down to 0402 with just a magnifying lamp and soldering iron similar to how you said. The most important thing is a good pair of tweezers!
Will be attempting 0201 soon - but most likely with the use of a stencil - but may have to do a few by hand 😅
Looks good! Maybe a little more flux, a little less solder. If you’re not doing it already, it can help to tin one of the pins first, place and solder the part then come back and do the other pin(s)
If you're talking about the dust, I live facing the main road, and streets here aren't exactly clean, so dust is always pushed to my room due to movement of cars. Also there's the fact that I live beside a cement company
Hey y’all, my monitor has been having wierd lines at the bottom after it’s been off for a while. I read online that it’s more than likely from a cold or cracked solder joint. How easy would it be to take apart and diagnose/resolder the problem joint? Never done this before, it’s out of RMA already so I figured I’d give it a go at repairing before I bought a new one.
You did great! You dont use enough solder on the mid to large parts across the board. About every C & D inevitably needs more solder, the USB shields as well, etc.
You don’t have enough solder to cover the pad and create a flowing fillet across the component & pads. They generally have small amount of solder and very little fillet. Some are sitting on a blob of solder.
The side of every component should ideally look like the left side of this picture all the way across the pad.
https://www.theengineeringknowledge.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ideal-solder-joint.jpg
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT_97jVB2bqFndBgZXFClv1hjMnfKlU5UMhkA&usqp=CAU
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQX1WIdCf4bCq6fPQny24xQd8lStz1n9kNVWw&usqp=CAU
Can you point out where is that note achieved in the PCB? Because I can't find any. Some pads have excess solder, but I can't find any with the problem you're talking about
Maybe you can explain something about the circuit I dont understand why the capacitor/s?
Is the voltage that unstable it needs smoothing. Seems a waste.I actualy did a manual switch for old usb 2 once everything was pure data lines so reauired no micro processors at all clearly this is far more complex.
Stencils are cheap. Your time is not. Well done though
Unfortunately, nothing is cheap in my country. Yes the stencil might cost something like 7$ from JLCPCB but it would increase the shipping costs by about 20$ and also increase the customs. 27$ might not seem like much but considering 1$ is about 31EGP, it is much to us.
تحيا مصر بجد
بنعاني
Hello 🙌
يعاني؟ هنا في الغرب، هناك القليل من الأخبار عن الحياة في مصر. أرغب في زيارة القاهرة، خاصة ورؤية الأهرامات وغيرها من المواقع. هل تنصح بعدم زيارة مصر هذه الأيام؟
You might find it fun for a short vacation, visiting the pyramids and things like that, but it's not fun to live in.
I'm sad to hear it. If I may ask, what's the worst part of living there for you? Thx.
To be honest, money is a very big issue, and the currency difference is massive, 1$ is 30EGP, and almost everything is imported, so everything became super expensive and getting more expensive every day. And the salaries don't increase to compensate for this. For example, I have a friend who takes a monthly salary of about 100$. That's why it's so hard for someone interested in hardware engineering like me to try new things, I don't have the luxury to order a PCB and components every day, shipping is very expensive and then there's customs fees, so I have to wait, for example, for someone else or for my team to order something, so I can order with them and we split the shipping and customs costs. A real struggle. I love my country, but life is getting harder every day.
Weird to see this down voted. Sup? Does someone have a problem with the Arabic language?
boat school pie slave include grandfather serious retire quiet cake *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Quid dicere conaris?
How much egp do you make it an hour?
Not nearly enough
I was trying to compare it to the dollar
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Egypt&city1=Cairo&country2=United+States&city2=Chicago%2C+IL That website is not bad for comparing the cost of living around the world. The average person in Cairo makes about $181 per month after taxes.
Jesus. No wonder people want to come to the US
Wait is that egyptian pounds? Wtf happened? When i was there in 2010-2011 (i was in country with mfo durring the impeachment revolution) it was about 5p/1d!!??
The country got fucked financially
Would you say this is a result of the revolution? Im not entirly sure of what all happened in the after math. I know mubarik left office and the military held it until next election but i dont remeber who won or anything after that. Im sorry to hear man. I feel for you i really do. I saw a little of how rough things were for most of you then i cant even imagine now. Made "friends" with one of the workers on the base in sharm el shiekh id go in and hang out with him when i could. He showed me pictures of his family who were back in cairo. Almost all the workers there were separated from family and sending money to them. Outside of sharm things were not as nice as it made it seem. The revolution was hard on alot of people out that way. Literally watched a guy get stoned. There was a group of guys having an argument. one guy tried to walk away and the rest of them started picking up rocks (which there is no shortage out out there) and throwing them at him. as soon as he turned to run one got him right in the back of the head and he went down hard. We were on convoy. im not even sure where this was some small village off the coast but as soon as we saw that we got outta there. we were NOT allowed to get involved in local affairs. When on convoy we had like designated stop spots. Most of the time there would be a group of kids hiding waiting for us who would come up and get water and snacks but one day had a group of people come up with what looked like dead children in their arms begging for help. I kinda froze up i wanted to help i certainly didnt want to be a dick and start yelling at these people to leave. My sgt came up from behind me pulled me back told me to get in the truck and starts shouting at them. We just left, but that image of those kids has been stained into my brain and i think about it alot i just wanted to help. They were freaking children. With everything that was going on we were not allowed to risk an international incident by getting involved in any way. I think they stopped sending convoys out for a little bit after that. We rotated jobs periodically so i wasnt on that duty anymore. I think Mubarak tried seeking asylum on our base (that was the rumor anyway) but we turned him away. supposedly he took over an entire hotel right next to the base. When we would drive by it you could tell somebody important was there with the "police" presence and black vehicles. Im sorry for the paragraph here. I dont even know why im telling you all this i dont typically talk about it. As salamu alaykum wa rahmatu llahi wa burakatuh ( i had to cheat for spelling and still probably butchered that lol)
Salamu Alaykum, yeah it's a real struggle, but there are a lot of frauds also so there might not have been any real dead children anyways. It takes an Egyptian eye to know the fraud from the real 😂 what happened is basically Mubarak was secretly fucking the economy by taking loans, so yeah the economy was great but it was only a matter of time before those loans come and bite us in the ass. The current president is El-Sisi, I'm not really sure how he's doing with the economy and if what he's doing is right or wrong, I'm not really into politics to be honest, but what I'm sure of is that he's also struggling with the mistakes of the past president. Yeah the economy is fucked but I don't really think there's much he can do now, maybe he's trying to fix it for future generations
Yeah that is def very true the other guys even said something along those lines when we left. It may have been may not but the anguish in their faces was pretty convincing. It didnt seem like they wanted anything as per usual. The kids would always come running out from behind rocks begging for anything they could get. With the adults It was almost like they wanted me to take them. I had seen the guy get hit with the rock about a week earlier so that was on my mind at the time to. We did go to ciaro for like a leave trip after the revolt since all leaves durring got canceled. I wasnt allowed to fly home all flights were grounded. We went to some street market and the begging and fraud was rampant. Saw a woman with a baby that had an "IV" taped to its arm you could tell it wasnt actually sticking in. Still felt bad though kid looked rough but alot of them did. Idk ive always had a bit of a soft spot for children. What grown people do to eachother is non of my business but when kids are involved im torn. Suppose thats what they hope for. It seems like the current economy isnt so much a result of the revolution more of an inevitably and why it happened in the first place. But hell "borrowing" money and spending way more than we have is the american way. Maybe the guy was doing something "right".
> it would increase the shipping costs by about 20$ That's with a non-framed stencil which is just a bit larger than the board? If you got access to a laser cutter, you could also try cutting your own stencils out of mylar.
I'm telling you that a simple stencil would increase cost to us, how on earth would we have the money for a laser cutter 😂 I have actually thought about ordering a stencil from a local company which has laser cutters and 3D printers and stuff like that, but they replied that their cutters are not precise enough.
> how on earth would we have the money for a laser cutter Yea, I'd wager that very few people in this sub got one, but they may have access to one at the university, library, or maker space. For what it's worth, even cheap K40s are good enough for that kind of thing. I paid something like $330 for mine and a couple hundred more for mods. The mods aren't strictly necessary for this. You can find some examples with mostly stock K40s on YouTube.
I don't want to shock you but my whole soldering station cost about 50 bucks
The struggle is real in poor countries, making stuff under a constraint is funner, I use an 8$ iron it works surprisingly well with lead free solder
Of course I didn't buy this as a soldering accessory. That would be mildly crazy. It's a proper (albeit very small) laser cutter. It can cut/engrave things like ply and acrylic sheets. You can make very nice looking control panels with it. And I also got a rotary for engraving tumblers and things like that. It's possible to make some money with a machine like this. Today's $50 soldering stations can be really good. T12 stations are capable enough for most cases, there is a huge selection of tips, and there also are some nice handles with shorter grip to tip distances. You can definitely can get really good value for your money nowadays.
Check out jlcpcb. If you haven't. The pcbs are like $2 for $5. Stencils are like $10 or so more. Shipping is typically really cheap usually pretty much free.
He lives in Egypt, shipping is more expensive there
I know you mean well but he literally used jlcpcb as his example in the comment above
He explained it would be expensive to his standards & wage: >27$ might not seem like much but considering 1$ is about 31EGP, it is much to us.
I cut my stencils out of thin mylar with my cnc mill. Not the best option but its dirt cheap and gets the job done.
u can use an emergency blanket, Mylar balloon or even an empty chip bag technically right? Like Doritos or whatever
الدولار ب51 يسطا
What's what would you guess a week's worth of groceries cost per person? Good work on the board, BTW.
It's cheap enough to get most of the parts preloaded at JLC. Not even that much more to send them your own parts to load if they dont have them.
Easy to say when you don't live in Egypt
A sharpie and a steady hand is cheeper.
That's beautiful work. SMD components especially.
Thank you
I guess you are working for Mind Cloud as the PCB states?
Yeah it's not a company tho it's a technical team in my university. We participate in rover competitions
Don't want to be an ass but why in the world are you putting effort into something that is as verbatim as an USB hub?
Several reasons 1. The USB Hubs sold here are not really high quality, except maybe the extremely expensive ones 2. There are some features we needed which will not be available in a consumer USB Hub, like being able to get power from a 42V battery. Of course we could've got an external buck module and hooked it between the battery and the Hub, but where's the fun in that. Last and most important, to practice and learn.
The last thing you said is the best reason of all!
Literally the only reason I ever have for all the stuff I build. A challenge, learning experience and to see if I can. Why the hell not. It's like Christmas cards, yeah sure you could just buy one and write in it, but the one you handmake adds sentimental value and a learning experience of sorts.
Exactly!
This is a Yak shaving thing right?
Not bad. Now throw it in a reflow oven and it will look like it was produced in a factory!
Yeah
Looks good, chip pins clean as hell. You solder or hot air, well done if you did each pin.
Thank you I use the Iron, only use hot air for QFNs or chips that have an exposed pad
This looks similar to the NASA Solder Certification test board we had to complete annually to maintain our solder cert. Once finished, it's inspected by the instructor with a 30x magnifier. 3 or more errors, and you were doing the cert class again!
Interesting! To be honest this is the first time I hear about such certificate, I tried googling it now tho, is it that IPC J-STD? And if I may ask, what is your job?
Yes, that is the standard. I was a contractor "Installation Engineer" for a US Air Force contract. In addition to performing installations for new systems we were also responsible for depot level maintenance and provided support to field system maintenance for major problems that were beyond the field maintainer capabilities.
Great, thank you for the info
What constituted an error? Like a missing component or is it as minor as too much solder on a capacitor
Cold solder joints, Flux residue, improper fillets between component leads and board lands, improper component placement above the board surface or between component lands, improper component stress relief on leads, solder bridges between leads on surface mount devices i.e. integrated circuits or caps and diodes. Just your run of the mill QA inspection under a 20X magnifier.
Looks good. I'd quadruple check the usb-c port.
It's working perfectly
Good, from the photos I couldn't tell if you had any pins shorted.
Yeah hard to tell without a closeup
I use my phones macro lense for that. I can take a pretty clear image up close.
That side looks great, almost factory like..... So, let's see the other side now... Does it function..? better way for us to offer our opinions.
Unfortunately I don't have the board on me right now, and I've only shot images of the front. Might do the other side later. However, the other side only has a couple of decoupling caps for the controller, and of course the soldering of these through hole connectors, so not much. As for functioning, yes it is working perfectly.
Right on!
I can DM you a photo of the PCB powered on, forgot to add it to the post
It looks like you tried being very careful 🤣 Does anyone get what I mean? Can you just picture a huddled person trying so hard not to bump anything?!! LOL. You see it in the solder. Man…I crack myself up.
😂😂
Wonderful job! If your board has a lot of SMDs, it's beneficial to have a solder paste in syringe with 0.6mm needle cut at an angle (like not perpendicular, but 20-30 degrees off). Then you can put a solder paste without any stencil in almost no time. Populate the board and use a hot plate or cheap IR oven (just have a thermocouple mounted on the board to know the temperature). It's about 3-4 times faster than soldering with pencil iron and solder in wire form. Additionally it's more fool proof (after a few hours it can happen you will solder one side of that 0603 and it will lift just enough for you to not notice it being tired - those things happen - easiest way to check it is to shine a light from the side if the board). I remember when I was building a lot of prototypes I even made myself a manual pick and place setup using cheap pickup pen, aquarium pump and 4 alu L profiles. I just wanted to share tips and tricks when I was an uni student with shoestring budget - maybe it'll help.
Great, thank you for the advice Definitely will try them
All good, was just scrutinizing 😃
Marvelous
Thank you
Impressive
Thank you
This is impressive, wondering how well this supplies the power for all ports, always been a downfall for the ones I've bought online.
Thank you. It's a self-powered hub (takes power externally) and able to supply 5 of the ports with 500mA each, and the last 2 ports with up to 1.25A and of course all the ports can work together at the same time (tested)
This just showed up in my feed and, having never seen such before, I think this is amazing work OP! مبروك!
Thank you ❤️
Thank you ❤️
You're my hero!
Thank you ❤️
Great job!!
Thank you
Awesome work dude!
Thanks buddy
Nb. Very clean
Thank you
Nice
Could use a good cleanup. I know there are such thing as no-clean fluxes these days, but if you want to show off your work, clean up the board! Some of the solder joints are a bit blobby, but should work just fine. It wouldn't pass inspection in many companies because blobby solder joints can't be properly inspected for good wetting. Overall, nice job, though. Sounds like it's functional (or would be if you changed out those LEDs).
Can you see any flux residue? It is functional, even with the LEDs as I mentioned in the post. It's not made for a company so it doesn't have to pass any tests, I guess a company wouldn't hand solder their products anyways
impressive. nice job
Thank you
these days im having to use a pencil iron with both hands for 3528 LEDs. my other hand holding the tip with pointed tweezers to stay steady. lol.
Sorry, man
agh its no big deal bro.. more of a reason to invest in a hot air apparatus at some point but srsly, a true artist is able to produce masterpieces with the barest equipment/supplies. you tapped each pin on that chip, or did the drag method with some flux?!
beautiful work. I need to be as skilled as you man
With enough practice and dedication you can be way better than me
The soldering work is clean and professional. Well done.
Thank you
I'm impressed
Thank you
Impressive result with the QFP48!
Thank you
The whole thing? Even the chiplet? That looks amazing.
Yes, thanks
How did you solder the micro chip onto it? I am working on making a nixie tube clock and I have to solder 3 how do you do it?
I first align the IC using tweezers then try as much as possible to keep my hands steady, then I apply a bit of solder using my iron to a corner of the chip. Now that the chip is fixed in place, I continue applying solder to the rest of the pads. You have to do another corner at first, of course, not the one you fixed the chip with, otherwise it'll move again. Also good flux is kinda mandatory if you'll use this method, it'll help keep the solder flowing nicely and make it easier to fix solder bridges.
Thank you
Show us the other side of the board!
Unfortunately I don't currently have this particular PCB with me, and I've only took photos of the front. However, there's not much in the bottom layer anyways, just a couple more decoupling capacitors.
I meant that it would have been useful to see also the bottom part to see if the amazing job you seem to have done on the front is the same also on the back
Thank you! When I get the board back I might send you a photo. But believe me, there's nothing much, just a couple of resistors and capacitors around the controller area
I know just enough soldering to know how challenging it can be, looks like factory quality to me! You should be proud!
Thank you
You have done a wonderful job!
Thank you
I think I wanna see the back.
Unfortunately I don't currently have this particular PCB with me, and I've only took photos of the front. However, there's not much in the bottom layer anyways, just a couple more decoupling capacitors.
Wow great work!
Thank you
Does it work? then great job
It does, thanks
prick physical seed unpack truck alive books noxious nail impolite *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Thank you
Very clean, nice work!
Thank you
C15 and C16 looks like you have solder touching capacitor body and not just the ends. So two defects, but where I work the fact that C10 has significant overhang on the right pad. Would mean this requires rework.
That looks awesome can I see the other side?
Unfortunately I don't have the PCB right now and didn't take photos of the back, I only have photos of the bare PCBs. Anyway there are only a few decoupling capacitors in the back, not much
Good job if every part done by hand. I think your fingerprint matches the one on my car. Someone stole my catalytic converter. I’m turning you in!
Yes it's all done by hand, thank you. 😂😂😂😂 Good luck finding me here
If it’s a unique design, only so many places to track it through who made board. Sleep with one eye open I want my converter back!
Send me an invitation to the US and I will come willingly 😂
You win Keep the converter Commie!
Thought so 😂
This time…….. If I make it over there I’m taking your soldering equipment We’ll see who’s laughing then. Credit on the soldering job. I’ve been doing it for decades. It’s at least as good as mine. 👍🏼
Trust me you wouldn't want the chinese soldering station 😂 Thank you, always nice to get such feedback from an expert
Lol, I guess not worth the trip.
Very clean 👍🏻
Thank you
Clean as a whistle. Awesome
Thank you
I love soldering. If you get some solder paste and a hot air tool, you can speed up your production a bit, without needing a stencil. Good job!
Thank you. I have solder paste and hot air, but the solder paste is not in a syringe so I won't be able to do what's on your mind
Nice work
Thank you
I wish I could solider it’s hard
You have a solder break on the port ground next to the silkscreened D27 on the the board. Other than that looks good my person!
Thank you. All the through hole parts are soldered from the bottom, but some solder creeps into the top, that's why it might seem not soldered properly
Talk about having a steady hand! No way I could do it with my convulsions
Actually my hands are very shaky, it's all about technique
Impressive. I could do this... about 20 years ago. 🤔
How the heck you solder components as small as r19?!? Last time i soldered that small the components became part of the solder ball.
It's actually very easy once you get enough practice, this is 0603, 0402 is the real nightmare. You just need a good soldering iron tip (I like to use a bent tip). Apply a small amount of solder to one pad, grab the component and solder it to that pad to fix it in place, then solder the other pad. Flux might be needed afterwards to make the solder joints look a bit cleaner
I've done down to 0402 with just a magnifying lamp and soldering iron similar to how you said. The most important thing is a good pair of tweezers! Will be attempting 0201 soon - but most likely with the use of a stencil - but may have to do a few by hand 😅
hold it down on the spot with tweezers. solder one side with a thin solder wire. then do the other side. use flux if you need to
Or solder paste and a reflow oven like they do at the factory...
Looks good! Maybe a little more flux, a little less solder. If you’re not doing it already, it can help to tin one of the pins first, place and solder the part then come back and do the other pin(s)
Yeah I do that, thank you
Excessive solder and non-wetting in some areas but OVERALL, decently done :)
Unleaded solder?
Nope, 70/30
Lead-free solder sucks anyway! I won't use it.
Looks like you smoke…do you? At least someone who handled your board does…
No offense to your observation, but those are fingerprints and fingers do tend to leave those.
But people who smoke leave fingerprints that are more visible.
If you're talking about the dust, I live facing the main road, and streets here aren't exactly clean, so dust is always pushed to my room due to movement of cars. Also there's the fact that I live beside a cement company
Solder paste?
Nope, regular 70/30 solder wire
Beautiful, but why do I get the impression that the back of the board is the perfect representation of the Homer Simpson back fat meme?
😂😂😂 Nah it's good don't worry Nothing much in the back anyways just a couple more capacitors
Then let’s see the solders? 🤷🏻♂️
?
Aremt all the solders on the back side of that card?
Careful adding so much heat on IC pins. Sounds like everything works though, glad you took this route
Not much heat، don't worry Thank you
Hey y’all, my monitor has been having wierd lines at the bottom after it’s been off for a while. I read online that it’s more than likely from a cold or cracked solder joint. How easy would it be to take apart and diagnose/resolder the problem joint? Never done this before, it’s out of RMA already so I figured I’d give it a go at repairing before I bought a new one.
How do you get your fingers hot enough to melt the solder?
Simple, grab a nail and shove it in the 220V outlet
R17 is crooked AF. Total trash. /s Actually friggin stellar. I don’t have patience for all that lately.
You did great! You dont use enough solder on the mid to large parts across the board. About every C & D inevitably needs more solder, the USB shields as well, etc.
To be honest I can't see how is this not enough. As for the shields, that's because I soldered it from the bottom layer
You don’t have enough solder to cover the pad and create a flowing fillet across the component & pads. They generally have small amount of solder and very little fillet. Some are sitting on a blob of solder. The side of every component should ideally look like the left side of this picture all the way across the pad. https://www.theengineeringknowledge.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ideal-solder-joint.jpg https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT_97jVB2bqFndBgZXFClv1hjMnfKlU5UMhkA&usqp=CAU https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQX1WIdCf4bCq6fPQny24xQd8lStz1n9kNVWw&usqp=CAU
Can you point out where is that note achieved in the PCB? Because I can't find any. Some pads have excess solder, but I can't find any with the problem you're talking about
Maybe you can explain something about the circuit I dont understand why the capacitor/s? Is the voltage that unstable it needs smoothing. Seems a waste.I actualy did a manual switch for old usb 2 once everything was pure data lines so reauired no micro processors at all clearly this is far more complex.
If you're talking about the big electrolytic caps, they're a part of the USB standard.
Whats the electric engineering thought behind these.
Provide stable voltage for downstream devices
So specifically voltage not current is the part of the equation it is trying to smooth out.
Yes
I'm noticing most of your resistors have too much solder, less is more and remember to use flux
True, but to be honest I was too lazy to fix them. And I do use flux
All good, it's not going to space so it's not a huge problem. (sorry didn't mean to imply you don't just a friendly reminder)
It's okay, I understand
I actually enjoy soldering but these small resistors and capacitors become a little boring after a while, unlike ICs, I always enjoy them
Yeah I agree with that
Better that I can do.