Newbie tips from a newbie

[doublecoil]

After first time success with 2 N15's and a 72, just want to pass a few thoughts for beginners like myself.

-Have parts bins available. Parts are not bagged in sequence, but by type. You might end up with unbagged parts laying around loose.
-Measure and label all resistors for ohms and R# with tape before heating the iron. Measure again, and insert just the one you measured. Backtracking mistakes is a pain, and mistakes are easy to make.
-Super extra care with installing the chips. Triple check and be certain. Removing is impossible for newbies.
-Get a good iron. Spend 80/100 bucks. And find Kester no clean, .25. Forget the sample packs. Buy a pound.
-Careful while tapping the input jack that you don't get caught up on the little removable tab. I got stuck on it, and couldn't back out. Was able to pull the tab out and get the tap out after 15 minutes.
-Thank Tim for not offering the PS as a kit, and for pre-assembling so much of the case.

[doublecoil]

Oh. One more thing. I scanned the board and blew the image up before printing. It was very helpful to have an un-populated, large image of the board that I could refer to as I covered up the values with components on the real thing.[/i]

[Philo]

I think the best tip is to tape the parts list over a piece of styrofoam, then measure each resistor and stick it into the parts list. That makes it almost impossible to put the wrong value resistor in.

Phil

[Pleasurehead]

Great tips guys thank you very much.