WP34S USB and IR board now available!

[Harald]

(04-24-2017 09:05 PM)c785 Wrote:  Harald was really quick, the kit got here faster than myself (I was away from home last week). Even though I used to do a lot of soldering (including, and especially) fine-pitch SMD stuff a few years ago, it struck me just how tiny that board is. Pictures I saw of it previously do it's small size no justice. Then again, I was very happy to find the FTDI in SSOP package, as opposed to SOP, because I find the smaller package easier to solder, given that the board has proper solder mask areas between the pads.

I have to mention that Harald managed to create the kit so that anyone can easily assemble it without any instructions: all parts are taped to a sheet of paper, which carries their labels and values, so all you need to do is pick them up and solder them in their respective places on the PCB. The components which require orientation are either marked (the IC has a dot which needs to be aligned with that on the PCB) or have a fool-proof go-in-one-direction-only package (diode and transistor). I found the toughest part to solder was the micro-USB connector, because I started with the outermost ground pads, and getting the thing straight and the pins lined up isn't easy because you can't see a bl**dy thing.

So this is the beauty I'm going to install in the calculator, along with the crystal, next time I open it:

(Oh, I have some more flux to remove.)

I'm not sure yet whether I'm going to install the IR LED because I can't see myself having an IR printer (or even the need for one) anytime soon. Then again, the HP48 can act as a receiver, can't it?

Thanks again to Harald for sending this well-designed kit so quickly!

Thanks for the review! Very nice soldering, well done!