Soldering Printed Circuit Board (PCB)

Project

Status

Complete

Date Created

February 12, 2025

Author

Untitled

Tools & Skills

solderingelectronicsPCB

[CoF] Careers of the Future

TechnologyAdvanced Manufacturing

Launch Lab Connection

Competency

Safety
Safety Tips
Supplies & Set up
Supplies
Set Up
Soldering
Battery pack & Switch
LEDs
Clean up

💡

This documentation assumes that you have your PCB board ready and available. Documentation on how to make your own board will be available soon.

Welcome to Soldering Printed Circuit Boards

This document Will go over

Soldering Safety practices
Supplies and prep needed for started soldering.
Soldering tips for Solder PCB: Battery pack, Switch and LEDs.
Cleaning up station

Safety

Keep it Safety! Here are some safety tips when soldering

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Safety Tips

Protection

Before getting started make sure to put on safety glasses.This will avoid any solder splatter or other materials falling into eyes.
At the end of any soldering projects make sure to wash your hands thoroughly.

Caution Hot

Soldering iron is incredibly hot!
Soldering iron temperature can reach up to 650°F-900°F
Keep hands away from tip of soldering iron. Use a clamp to hold project in place and work on a surface that won’t burn.
Only hold the soldering iron by the rubber grip.

Exhaust Solder emits smoke when heated This smoke is a combination of solid particles and gases that can be harmful if inhaled. Ensure to turn on and have exhaust close to work area to draw away and filter smoke.

SolderSafetyPoster.pdf206.0KB

Supplies & Set up

In this section we will layout what supplies is needed and steps to take before getting started.

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Supplies

Soldering Station Supplies:

From right to left in the photo (Figure 1) you will need:

Soldering Station: depicted as blue and yellow. The soldering iron lives in its encloser and has a cable attached to the station that controls the soldering irons temperature.
Wire cutters: depicted with red handle that is used to trim wire or other components.
Safety Glasses: located in the center. Safety Glasses are important to avoid and solder slashing or cut components landing in eyes.
Clamp or helping hands: depicted on the bottom left with a white grip to hold models. The Clamps helps to avoid damage to your hands or to the table. A piece of scrap wood can also be used to work on top of.
Exhaust: depicted as a yellow box with a black spongy filter in front. The Exhaust helps to remove and move away smoke created by the soldering process.
Solder: looks similar to silver wire wrapped around a green container.

Supplies on a wooden table. Supplies are listed from right to left as:

Soldering Station: depicted as blue and yellow. The soldering iron lives in its encloser and has a cable attached to the station that controls the soldering irons temperature.
- Wire cutters: depicted with red handle that is used to trim wire or other components.
- Safety Glasses: located in the center. Safety Glasses are important to avoid and solder slashing or cut components landing in eyes.
- Clamp or helping hands: depicted on the bottom left with a white grip to hold models. The Clamps helps to avoid damage to your hands or to the table. A piece of scrap wood can also be used to work on top of.
Exhaust: depicted as a yellow box with a black spongy filter in front. The Exhaust helps to remove and move away smoke created by the soldering process.
Solder: looks similar to silver wire wrapped around a green container.

Figure 1: Soldering station and additional tools and supplies.

PCB or Printed Circuit Board Supplies:

From bottom to top in the photo (Figure 2) you will need:

PCB: depicted here in purple color with gold copper plates but can come in many different colors. This board has a built in circuit ready to have components soldered in to complete the board.
Switch: depicted as a small component with five pins and a black switch. The outer pins on the far left and right hold the pin in place while the middle three are apart of the circuit. Make sure to solder all pins to have full functionality.
3V coin battery: depicted as a silver circle that is similar to a coin. This battery is a CR2032 lithium cell. Battery is only inserted into PCB when soldering of all parts is complete.
3 LEDs: depicted as little lights with two long legs. One leg is larger then the other. LEDs stand for Light Emitting Diode.
Battery holder: depicted as a silver clip. The battery holder holds the 3V battery in place.

Figure 2: Supplies for Printed Circuit Board (PCB)

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Set Up

Turn the soldering machine on and wait until it heats up.

Caution: Every time you are not using the soldering iron make sure you place it in its base. DO NOT place the iron anywhere else if you are not using it, you could get hurt or cause a fire!

Once the iron is hot enough clean the tip with the copper brush. Give it a nice rub.

The tip should look clean before you start soldering; Try to avoid any external contaminants or old residues.

Soldering

In this section we will walk through basic of soldering components onto the PCB.

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Battery pack & Switch

First grab your PCB and identify where you want to place your components. For this board we will start by placing our battery clip and switch on the back. Once finished we will then add our LEDs to the front.

User interface elements showcasing options for text formatting and column layout organization.

Figure 3: PCB before and after solder

Place the battery clip on the back of the board. Slip two pins in so that it pops through the front. Then line up the switch with the holes on the PCB and push the switch in so that the black switch is facing outward. You may need to use a hard surface to help push switch into place.

Step 1: Carefully pick up the PCB and turn it over. Heat up the surfaces, that you will be soldering on, by touching it with the iron for 5 seconds. Heat it up a little bit to facilitate the solder application. Avoid applying pressure as you do so.

Step 2: After heating the components you can start soldering. Take the iron on your dominant hand and the solder coil in the other one. Touch the component with the iron. Bring the solder to the contact point between the iron and the component.

If you did the last steps correctly, the solder should stick to the component. The solder should like a mountain; that means that it adhered to the component nicely.

Repeat Step 1-2 with the rest of pins .

WARNING: The solder should not connect multiple pins, that could cause a short and damage the components. Always check for accidental pin connections after soldering components.

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LEDs

Locate the LED pins

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LED stand for “Light emitting diode” and they are directional. This means that electricity can only travel in one direction. If you solder the LEDs in the wrong orientation the PCB won't work.

Introduce the LED legs through the corresponding holes FROM THE FRONT. (long leg = circle, and Short leg = square).

Solder every leg just as you did with the battery pack and switch. Tip: You can bend the legs in a 30 degree angle to avoid unnecessary movement when soldering them.

Cut the extra material of the legs

Make a final check for possible short circuits. Insert the battery

and turn the switch on to see if the circuit works. If you did everything

right the LEDs should light up.

Clean up

Make sure you turn off the soldering machine and ventilation fans after you are done. Also, Please place back any equipment that was used to their assigned station and clean the workspace.