Re: [Paparazzi-devel] First Post: Request for build help

[Matthew Currie]

David,


 Welcome aboard.  I have been building Tiny13 1.1 boards in my spare 
time and if my memory serves me I have completed 14 or 15 of them.  The 
build does look intimidating but as long as you take it slow you should 
be ok. A small list of tools/supplies I found to be indispensable are below:

Temperature Controlled Soldering Station with Small / Medium Tips ($80-500)
 Most of my soldering was done patiently with a small tipped temp 
controlled station
Pair of High Quality Precision Tweezers ($20)
 These cannot be stressed enough, I was not a believer until I tried!
Solder Paste ($40-60)
 Applied in small blobs from a spare 1/8W resistor, this can do the 
equivalent of adding a third hand
Hot Air Reflow Rework Station ($100-400)
 While not necessarily required, this can be a huge help when soldering 
some of the more large thermal masses, but almost necessary for repair 
and rework
Optics / Magnifying Setup
 I did not use anything during the build, only a basic magnifying lens 
to verify solder points but I have 24 year old eyes that could abandon 
me at any minute.  Use whatever is comfortable.

We can provide much more detail but a basic example to peel back some of 
that fear is the 0402-sized resistors can be mounted by simply wetting a 
pad with solder paste, positioning the resistor into the paste, and 
reflowing the blob with your soldering iron.  This will solder half of 
the resistor quickly and painlessly.  Simply dab a bit more on the 
opposite pad and do the same.

The ICs are a bit trickier but we can give some specifics.  I have made 
a Wiki page with some photos of my attempts at solder paste / hot air 
reflow of the main LPC here:

http://www.recherche.enac.fr/paparazzi/wiki/index.php/Tiny_Assembly

Save the GPS module, connectors, and antenna to the very end as you will 
find it difficult if not impossible to work around these without 
damaging them.


Regards,
Matthew Currie


address@hidden wrote:
> Hey All, I have been registered and following the Wiki and this 
> mailing list for some time now. Reading and learning. I must say a 
> very well put together site. I was successful (because it was so easy 
> and well detailed) the instructions for installing Paparazzi on my 
> Ubuntu Laptop (and Mac). CVS and all is working well there.
>
> I am truly stuck though now. I really really would appreciate any 
> URLs, photos, HowTo on building a Tiny 1.3. I went to that Website and 
> bought two of the PC boards a few weeks ago. I bought the Tiny 1.3 BOM 
> (all but the modems). I researched how to build a small Hot Air 
> Soldering Iron from some Radio Shack Parts. But as I look at the 
> smallest of the components it is very intimidating.
>
> I am truly hoping I am not alone and that there are others like me who 
> had to just jump in and start on it who can help me with some 
> instruction. You don't have to do it for me. I am looking to learn. I 
> just really could use a Wiki submission or something to show a few 
> step-by steps on the Tiny. Does it exist and I have not found it?
>
> For the curious, My goad/project is a personal one. Just to get my 
> feet wet. Build a ducted fan based MAV to do aerial images/video. I 
> like the ducted fan for many reasons. I'd like it to be able to take 
> off retract the landing gear and fly the mission.
>
> My motivation is just at 42 and having been working with computers my 
> whole life in IT (DBA mostly) I want to do something fun with 
> computers besides tune a Database or solve someone else's problem. But 
> if you're having Oracle 10gR2 on Linux in a RAC cluster environment 
> issues feel free to ask me I've yet to have Oracle Support fix an 
> issue before I finally figure it out myself here at my work. Consider 
> it my way to help out for your help with this.
>
> So, I'd even gladly edit the Wiki and add my steps I do take (I can 
> take photos and document the process) but really need some guidance. 
> The steps on the page that exists is great for how to solder something 
> like the GPS and antenna I read that a million times. Got it. Need to 
> get just the right solder paste down first before heating....but what 
> about those 50+ other tiny little parts some of which I can't even see 
> in the packaging?
>
> Again, even a simple URL or rough notes appreciated to get me to take 
> the first steps without destroying the parts in the process.
>
> Best Regards,
> David
>
>
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