Another "Not about HiFi" project... (but about sound)

[jack]

Biggish order in at DigiKey... (thanks to Shane for putting me onto this one!)


"Perishable" ?????

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There was a cold bag in there... I'm thinking perhaps pecan pie ? Pretty please ?

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...with an ice pack... solder paste for making batches of SMD boards - lasts longer if kept cool, e.g. in the fridge... Top marks to DigiKey! 24 hours from the USA...

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[jack]

10 x Pi Picos in there... and a 1,000 or so other bits... all SMT

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[shane]

The more I see this, the more I’m glad I didn’t try to take it on myself.

I had a text from my son a while ago asking if I could put together one of these for him:

https://www.pcbway.com/project/sharepro ... 872e2.html

Never having tackled any surface-mount stuff before I volunteered to have a go, but didn’t give myself more than a 50% chance of success.

Knowing Nick (Jack) is something of a subject expert in both SM and bat detection I canvassed his opinion of the product and boy, am I glad I did! As you can see he’s dived in head-first, and I’m confident that his chances of success are a very great deal higher than mine!!

[jack]

These are the ones I'm building - it's the "full fat" version...

https://www.pcbway.com/project/sharepro ... deed4.html

Building 10, you hit all sorts of price breaks that really reduces the per unit cost, plus you get free delivery etc. which helps as well. The Digikey site is really good at helping you hit the breaks, i.e. if you say order 30 of something, it might pop up and point out the by ordering 50 it's cheaper than ordering 30 because the price break is so large. On one item I needed 80 of a particular SMT resistor, but it was significantly cheaper to buy 100.

[Ray P]

Nick, I've been using this stuff with great success - no need to refrigerate and with a a long shelf-life - so far, no sign of it 'going off'.

https://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/910-TS391SNL50

[Ray P]

Really interesting project BTW.

[jack]

Nick, I've been using this stuff with great success - no need to refrigerate and with a a long shelf-life - so far, no sign of it 'going off'.

https://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/910-TS391SNL50

I have some lead free paste too, however this project, specifically the Pi Pico daughter boards and the microphone, mean a specific thermal reflow profile has to be used and that means PbSn.

[Ray P]

[jack]

I like solder masks. V. cheap and much simpler than alternatives...

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[shane]

Watching with interest….

[jack]

https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/articles/ ... t-detector

[jack]

Not my best effort at SMT, but it's the first of 10... First time trying out my new hotplate as opposed to using a reflow oven. For some reason the surface tension doesn't seem as effective in pulling all the components into line as the reflow oven. Maybe its just me.

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[shane]

Any updates on this, Nick?

[jack]

Any updates on this, Nick?

Guilt mainly. I've had a mad couple of months and no proper holiday for a year or so, so am having a week off then will be back on it.

[shane]

Guilt mainly.

No need! No rush.