WP 2023 Badge Complete Solder Kit
part of the pirate puzzle
this guide is honestly gonna be kinda bullshit.
not gonna lie, this just got done way past the deadline.
so here goes a rough assembly order of components.
00) if you've never soldered before, you can learn with this kit.
other pirates have learned with harder kits.
don't be intimidated. this is not as hard as it looks.
first things first, you'll probably want the following tools:
- adjustable temperature soldering iron
- decent tip, ideally a flat chisel blade
(conical or point tips make soldering more difficult as
heat does not transfer as well)
- quality solder, not shitty 1% flux amazon shit
- quality flux, whatever kind you like - pen, goop, etc
- angle tweezers for holding components
- desoldering braid
- loupe or microscope
- if you're new, someone showing you how to keep a steady hand
(this is a learned skill, not an innate thing)
01) we're going to work our way up from the bottom of the badge
to the top, with a few small skips to exhaust component piles.
first thing is the voltage regulator. this is the second
hardest component, and the first thing you do. if you find
you need help with this, don't be discouraged.
use plenty of flux, quality solder, and an iron with the
correct temperature set (if unsure try around 350C for
leaded solder and 380C for unleaded solder).
this part fits only one way.
in general, the way I would suggest a beginner do this would
be to tin a single pad - probably one of the ones on the
two leg side. this means adding some solder to that pad.
add some flux after tinning. using your tweezers, slide the
component into the fluxed solder on the pad as you apply heat.
remove heat, then after the solder hardens (after a second)
remove tweezers.
after this, solder the remaining pins. use flux if necessary.
02) next you can solder C1, L1, D1, C2, C6.. for these,
tin one pad, flux the pads, slide the component in and let
cool before removing tweezers. solder the opposite side by
heating the joint and feeding solder into the joint.
C1 is the 4.7uF cap, L1 is the inductor, D1 is the diode,
C2 and C6 are 22uF caps.
D1 should be oriented so the line on the physical part is
on the left, looking at the board with the text upright.
all of the other parts have no designated polarity.
03) solder all the 100K resistors. this would be R1, R3, R5, R6.
basically, every resistor except for R4. same techniques
as before.
04) solder the P channel MOSFETS Q1, Q2, and Q5.
fits one way.
05) solder the N channel MOSFETS Q6, Q7.
fits one way.
06) solder the 220 ohm resistor R4.
this part has no polarity.
07) solder the 0.1uF capacitors C5, C7, C8, C9.
this part has no polarity.
08) solder the 74HC595 and CD4051 ICs. same technique as before:
tin a pad, slide the chip (making sure it is oriented correctly)
making sure it is straight on the pads, tack a pad on the
opposite side, then solder all the pins. use flux as necessary.
09) solder RN3 and RN4 SMT resistor networks.
this part has no polarity.
you're probably thinking, how do you do this?
these are actually really easy if you have a chisel or knife tip
and use flux.
start by fluxing and tacking down one corner of a resistor network.
don't worry if there's any solder bridge, or if you connect pads
together... any issues like this will be fixed later.
next, after the part is tacked down, add some flux.
then, with a clean solder tip, apply a very small well of solder to
the tip. you don't want the well at the edge of the tip where you
will be applying heat from, rather it should be back up and behind
the point of contact. as heat is applied to the joint, solder will
flow from this well into the joint.
with your prepared tip, _drag solder_ the resistor network on the
opposite side that you tacked. like magic, so long as you are
heating the joint on the PCB, the correct amount of solder will
flow into the joint and make a beautiful connection.
if for some reason you have a solder blob, or a short? solving
this problem is easy: add some flux, and drag again.
if you have way too much solder, you can use desoldering braid
to remove excess.
try to avoid soldering the resistor network this way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYpnHFNVuq8
instead, try to solder the resistor network this way:
(I would show you a video, but it seems like nobody does
it the easy way and insists on doing it the hard way)
10) solder 1uF caps C10 and C11. these are just like other caps
you've already done, just smaller.
11) solder the switch.
the mounting tabs are the hardest to do, so you should start
by soldering the switch legs. after the switch legs are
soldered, flux and apply heat as much to the joint as you can
as you feed in solder. if you apply heat only to the part,
there will be no connection to the pad.
you do not need excessive solder here.
12) at this point, all the SMT work on the bottom side should
be done. congrats!
you can now clean the board such as with isopropyl alcohol.
13) flip the board, and solder the red LED to the front side.
this LED is located right under the MCU, centered.
yeah, this one is tricky. the pads are small, you can't
easily get to this after you solder other things, and
the worst bit is the LED can melt if you have too much
heat on it for too long, or hold with tweezers too hard.
this is why you have spares =)
ultimately, if you can't get the red LED, you can ignore
it.
the cathode is indicated on the LED by the side with
a green dot or line on the TOP. (the bottom indicator
is NOT an indication of cathode and is instead used
for vision systems in pick n place machines to know
the orientation of the part.)
the cathode should face to the left, if the board is
oriented normally.
tin, flux, slide into joint, do the other side.
if you did this, you did the hardest component on the badge.
14) next, you can solder the white indicator LEDs.
these are just like the red LED, but much easier.
the larger pad is the cathode side. the cathode on the LED
itself can be seen by looking at the bottom of the LED.
the larger pad is the cathode.
you should tack in all 8 LEDs, make sure they are straight
and soldered well, then solder the other side of all 8.
15) solder the RGB eye LEDs. the notch in the LED should face
the lower right hand side.
16) solder the buttons.
17) congrats! all the SMT work is done. clean your board.
18) now you can solder the resonator. this should be placed
so it is on the BACK of the board, with the pins coming
up through the front. Solder as you would any normal
through hole component, applying heat to both the pad
and the pin. trim the pins.
19) you should clean again around the resonator as well as
inspect your red LED. after the resistor networks and
socket are installed, it will be hard to clean this area
or rework.
20) solder the MCU socket into place, ensuring the orientation
is correct. the notch should face to the left.
21) solder the resistor networks into place. the dot or diamond
marking on the resistor network should face the middle of
the board. trim the leads.
22) solder the pin headers.
23) solder the battery holder. make sure the polarity is correct.
note: the leads on the battery holder are very stiff.
do not use normal flush cutters to trim these, as you
will permanently damage them.
24) solder the vibration sensor.
this is difficult to describe. you need to bend the thicker pin
roughly half way at a 90 degree angle in such a way that
you can route the thin wire into the small TILT pad without it
touching the larger pin (which goes in the large TILT pad) or
anything else.
this is inserted into the rear of the board. you'll also solder
both of these pads from the rear.
25) if wanting to use the badge as addon, solder the addon connector.
this should be with the pins facing toward the rear.
do not solder so the shroud is on the top of the board.
26) clean the board. you're done soldering =)
27) if you want to use this board as an addon, assembly stops here.
if you want to use this board as a badge, skip to step 28.
attach the retention lanyard into one of the bottom two holes.
skip to step 29.
28) unbolt the nuts from the screws on the acrylic topper.
remove the paper from the clear acrylic.
screw the acrylic so the screw goes through the PCB, through
the acrylic, and into a nut.
screw 2 nuts onto each screw.
add a lanyard. one is not provided.
29) add jumper wires, connecting from the top pads to the bottom.
you get to choose the order.
30) insert the MCU into the socket. form the leads first if
they have not already been formed for you.
you're finally done =) enjoy!
BADGE TEST
The badge firmware will display a test sequence at power up
for about 3/4 of a second.
This sequence goes as follows:
- the eyes will light red, green, blue, then off
- the white LEDs will all illuminate, then a
pattern will illuminate; this pattern is the
firmware version in binary.
the shipping DC31 firmware was version 2.
- the red LED will light near the end of the
sequence.