Questiong about soldering / OpenCockpits Master Card help needed

I need some good quality pictures of ready Master Card because,
I dont know should i solder the not used holes with self (that on first side with that on 2nd side?). [picture]

And when i soldering an part to PCB - should I do a double-side soldering?

Sorry for noobie question but i cant find that or im blind ;(


Picture (lol):
http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/1862/imagination.jpg

Unused holes have no need to be soldered & only soldered on one side.Soldering only holds components in place & gives electrical connection.Please post a picture of your
mastercard .I am trying to find & resize my photo.

Chris :)

http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/albu...&pictureid=404

I think you are referring to the mounting holes, which you just use to mount the board to a base if you wanted to.

Here'a a picture of the Mastercards, the left one is purchased complete and the right hand one I did myself a few nights ago.

http://www.spring-air.com/737_project/cards/mc1.jpg

...and this is the soldered side, again left is finished right is homemade:

http://www.spring-air.com/737_project/cards/mc2.jpg

I have a short on my board, I get several inputs that continually flash on and off, so I have to look for the fault soon, . no Idea how to find it though as I did look at the board well and cannot see any damaged or bridged/splashed tracks.

I hope this post helps you.

If you are looking at the controller program & short out each imput until you find the one flashing, goes solid .One of these two pins may have a short.Check pins & tracks with a magnifing glass.

Could try to take another photo very high resolution & magnify on your computer to check tracks?I tried this with the photo below ,but just not good enough to see.

hope this gives you some idea's .

There are several inputs flashing, several are legible, 37, 38, 44 all of these inputs are on the first block of the J4 connector, I have checked the tracks but I can not see any bridging there at all.

There are high res images HERE and HERE , these images are about 2,2Mb's each.

The solder work looks a lot worse in the images than it actually is, ... I checked all the points on the bottom side with my multimeter but could not find a short.

Thanks for your time and advice.

In your pictures I see many pads where there appears to be marginal, if any, contact with the pins; e.g. in P1, J1, J2, J3 and J4. There are also solder splashes and tags which should be removed.

I'd recommend that you go over the board again reflowing the solder to ensuring that enough - but not too much -solder flows to fill the joints.
Use a magnifying glass so that you can see the work clearly.

There are a lot of joints to fill. Take your time. Take a break.

Jim

You might like to take a look at this thread Capetonian:
http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/showthread.php?t=17400

Cheers,

Rob

Hi there,
For a start, good soldering is a profession !
Most people do not have the right equipment for soldering dual side PCB's.

You should be using a temp regulated soldering iron capable to reach at least 350 dgr Celsius (400 is the best choice).
A Weller WCTP50 (24V 50W) is the most common used soldering iron in repair shops.
Use a long life or ceramic flat tip 1,5 to 2mm wide. Do not use iron or copper tips.
Use a good quality solder (doing at least 5 threads of fluid) 0,8mm diam (no more than 1mm diam)
Good soldering is all about speed. The terminal of the component needs to heat up as fast as possible to prevent the component to overheat.
Heat up the terminal and the PCB first, then bring the solder in. Let the solder melt by pushing it to the component terminal !! Not to the soldering iron !!! This is the most critical part in soldering. Melted solder will flow (by nature)towards the hottest spot being the soldering iron. As it has flown all aound the terminal take away the soldering iron and let the joint rest to cool down.

Keep your soldering tip clean at all time. Use a wetted sponge to whipe of resedue from the tip!! Do not solder more than 5 to 6 joints without cleaning the tip.

A good soldered joint is shiny and silver color. A bad joint has got a bubble and is gray color.

Hope to have been of some help..
Kind regards, Nico