Newbie advice and suggestions

[fairweather]

Since my GI Joe days I've always felt that knowing was half the battle so I wanted to give some advice and kudos on the SCA kits I just put together. I'm going to leave the sound aspect off this post as I want to keep this general. Here goes...

First, if you are on the fence about getting one of these kits and have any trepidation about quality, don't. The kits are absolutely top-notch. Shipping was unbeliveably fast. The kits come well packaged, organized and labeled. The bill of materials was easy to read and organized as well. The parts are very high quality as well as the pcb. The chassis is solid, and in my opinion, very nice looking. I was immediately impressed at the whole package. I got the impression right off the bat that I was dealing with a professional buisiness that cared about it's product and it's customers. I can't say enough about how nice this is, especially after waiting a month for some cables from certain large retail "center".

Now, on to the advice. If you haven't built anything before on a pcb, I would suggest to get a few guitar pedals under your belt first. There are some great kits on the web that will get your soldering and debuging skills to a level where building these kits will be much more confortable. Guitar pedals are relatively cheap and also get you familiar with the different components. One of the best things I learned building pedals is what a good solder joint is, what it looks like, and to a certain extent what it feels like. Plus, once you are done you have something useful to mess around with. GeneralGuitarGadgets would be my first suggested kit supplier. The kits are also top notch, well documented and a great value.

Tools: I think the best thing I ever bought to build these or any kit was a my soldering iron. I upgraded from a cheaper weller iron to the Hakko 936 and have had great results ever since. This may be the biggest bite into your budget, but for me, my best investment. The tips are pretty cheap as well. I would suggest getting a "fine" tip for these kits as the pads are pretty small for the one that comes with the iron. Also on your shopping list should be a DMM, 63/37 .25 solder, good diagnal cutters, small needle nose pliers, a "solder sucker", a panavise and a magnifying glass (or better yet one of those lamps with the magnifer built into the top). While some of these are must haves and some may be considered "niceties", they just make your work environment something you don't have to struggle with. The panavise is especially helpful to maneuver the board into comfortable soldering positions.

I'd also get the "highly recommended" tools in the build instructions. The Tap and the Molex crimper may only be used sparingly but the make for a professional job, and why would you go through all of this just to skimp on a few tools?

I'm sure there is a bunch I am forgetting here but wanted to share another opinion on what a great product these kits are, what a great company Tim has and what the reality of building one of these kits is to a newbie who may feel the task is too daunting, especially, if like me, you have no electronics experience. I've built two kits so far and both have fired up on the first try. I credit my soldering and building experience with the guitar pedals as a primer. Good Luck!