Solderhead.COM - Resources & Tools for Builders

As with any project on this site, every effort has been made to make these instructions clear and complete. However, by using this information you agree to observe appropriate workshop safety at all times. You also agree to accept all liability for any results, intended or otherwise. We are supposed to learn from our mistakes, not blame other people when we do dumb stuff. Since you are a SOLDERHEAD, these ideas are obvious. This explanation is a public service for the very few people who need it.

Single-sided Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs):

For the solderhead, these boards are a great compromise between good quality, good reproducibility and cost. They are easy to manufacture in a home shop and they beat "perfboard" except for the simplest one-of-a-kind projects.

Double-sided boards are also possible in a home lab, but are seldom worth the trouble. There is a very good reason that most consumer electronic items use single-sided boards--cost. This fact alone makes them a good choice for solderheads!

A drawback to single-sided

boards is the need for jumpers.

With careful layout, jumper count

can be minimized; however, this

can still be a problem for densely

populated boards

As with many manual processes, installing jumpers sounds like no big deal. But

like many other things, doing it properly involves as much art as science...

Step 1 - Using your favorite method, remove about 1/4" of insulation from a convenient length of wire. Using needle-nose pliers, form a 90 degree bend in the wire, beginning at the boundry of the insulation and newly exposed wire.

Step 3 - Make small adjustments in the jumper wire until it is straight and taut, and hold it in place with a finger from one hand while gently cutting through the insulation directly over the terminating hole--the idea is to positively mark the point where the final bend must go. Use a pen, if you prefer.

Step 4 - Extract the jumper and use sharp side cutters to clip the jumper wire about 1/4" from the score or mark just made. Finish removing the insulation from the remaining end. Be careful not to cut into the jumper wire itself because, like glass, the wire will tend to break along any scoring in the surface. Just because your project may not be going to Mars, it doesn't mean your work shouldn't be professional.

Bend a 90 degree angle in the remaining end, as in step 1. Press fit the completed jumper.

With a little practice, you'll get the bends in the right place every time.

Step 5 - With jumpers in place, use the needle-nose pliers again to "snug" them in and prevent them from falling out while soldering. The best approach for me is to hold the jumper in the board with one hand and then gently pull straight down and slightly outward from the jumper along the axis of the jumper.

If you are going to make a number of similar jumpers, you might save some time by pre-cutting "blanks"; these would be just a little longer than the finished jumper, so that you need only grab a blank, strip the insulation and bend the ends.

Step 6 - The last step is to solder the jumpers in place and trim the excess lead off of the solder-side of the PCB. To avoid melting the insulation, try to install several jumpers and then make two passes with the soldering iron.

The first pass should get one end of each jumper in the grouping, and the second pass should pick up the other end. The jumpers will cool between passes, and your work will look more professional as a result.

It should be said that melting the insulation is probably not a huge problem all by itself. But what if jumpers are close together? Now there's a headache waiting to happen.

And what about fumes from the insulation? Even though you are using proper ventilation, why create the problem to begin with?

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