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Innosint
36
Aug 19, 2015
Yeah... no, please do not assemble the set as the "gift" as someone suggested.
If you really want Ergodox pre-assembled, then you really should have order an assembled set from falbatech. A lot of us ordered this exactly because this is a kit, and we can all add the customization we want onto the keyboard.
I also don’t get where the demand comes from, this version of the Ergodox is already easy enough to assemble, the only thing you need to solder are the switch and it really takes a special kind of skill to screw up soldering them. On top of that, you do realized asking them to have the key board pre-assembled as some sort of compensation will only add MORE quality control steps/issue and logistics which are the main cause of delay in the first place.
Honestly.... any gift is fine... just as long as they are practical with this project. And thanks to keep on top of the quality control.
Human
32
Aug 19, 2015
InnosintWhere/How would you recommend someone to learn to solder before building the ergodox? I don't want to be the kind of special that messes up assembling something I paid this much for in both time and money.
Vorknkx
24
Aug 19, 2015
HumanYoutube videos man. I myself learned in school but nowadays whenever I don't know how to do something I just look it up on Youtube. Soldering for this kind of thing is fairly easy but very time consuming. Take your time and don't put too much soldering lead. It's easier to add than remove.
ArnoNym
95
Aug 19, 2015
HumanI hadn’t soldered a single joint before building my original Dox. With this one you only have to do the switches which are _by far_ the easiest (read: biggest) thing to solder.
Iaeen
277
Aug 19, 2015
HumanI'm new to soldering as well. We should be ok, since soldering switches should be almost idiot proof.
I checked out youtube. EEVblog has some good intro videos on soldering. Then I got an iron and a couple of cheep learner kits off Amazon.
Innosint
36
Aug 19, 2015
Humanhttp://www.tangentsoft.net/elec/movies/
This site is probably one of the best over all tutorial video I can find regarding to DIY electronics.
After going through the tutorial, If you still feels uneasy, I would recommend you to purchase some universal printed circuit board, and purchase some of the cheapest resistors you can find, populate (feed both legs of the resistor through the board)
and start soldering each leg for practice.
daniel.walmsley
118
Aug 19, 2015
HumanGet some veroboard, some small wires and solder the wires into the board.
After a wire is soldered in test the join by jiggling the wire a little see if the solder cracks or if the track on the board lifts.
Attempt to solder two wires close together and see if you can do so with out connecting the two wires. Use a multimeter to test if the wires are connected.
The biggest challenge I see with these boards will be not getting things so hot that you lift the tracks on the pcb.
Guntereno
3
Aug 20, 2015
daniel.walmsleyI got myself a couple of these PCBs to practice on (I already had 6 keys from a sampler set I'd bought earlier, and had the LEDs I'd bought for this kit): http://techkeys.us/collections/accessories/products/techkeys-keyboard-business-card
It was my first bit of soldering and it really wasn't hard at all. I was able to solder them on and remove them again a few times for practice. It's also possible to mess around with the firmware to change the functionality of the buttons. They make quite a fun desk toy too!
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