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As long aswe’re sharing…
I have a stripof Styrofoam that’s about 1” x 3” x 24” along the back of my rolling solderingstation, which is an old typing table with an anti-static mat, a power stripglued under the top toward the back, and a big magnifier/desk lamp bolted toit. Soldering station on the right.
When I startinto a new kit, I first just kick back, go through the box, happily pet thefaceplate for a while, and then sort the parts according to the inventorysheet. I stick the resistors into the Styrofoam in order of appearance. Whentime comes to solder, I grab all of one value, bend the legs with my trustylead-bending guide (as Paul says, “the best $3 you will ever spend”), and thenstart popping them into the board.
I’m VERYcareful about triple-checking values at this stage, and then once more as Iinsert them into the board. I learned the hard way with PAIA kits in my youththat you are your own worst enemy with electronic assembly, and the hours of aggravationtrying to troubleshoot a (hopefully not destroyed) PCB because you stuck in awrong value or put a diode in backwards _justain’t worth it_. It’s not worth rushing construction; let it takethree nights, if I build it properly I will have it for the rest of my life.
If theparts arrive on a strip, all the better. It will ensure proper inventory andconsistency across all kits in a batch (i.e., if one part is wrong, or evenintentionally substituted, then everyone encounters the same thing and we’llknow immediately on this list what to look out for).
About ayear ago, one of you good folks (can’t remember who right now) posted on hisweb site some wonderful progressive photos of a ‘300 VCO being built. That wascool! I was as interested in seeing someone else’s workspace as I was to seethe module!