Stencil SMD Soldering Night! Monday, January 20th from 7pm to 9pm

Events and Announcements
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Hi Everyone!!!

I’ve just put in an order for the new variant of “Illuminate This” boards, this will be v2.0 that has lots of upgrades to make them more reliable, easier to build, and far less bodge-tastic.

What is an “Illuminate This” board?

Well, it is a simple board that is designed to allow you to make wide area lights from LEDs we already have. We were donated TONS of surface mount LEDs in various temperatures. With these boards, you can make large panels (or even arrays of large panels) of LEDs.

For example, check out this awesome Lightbox project made with 4x “Illuminate This” boards:

Want to make a backlight canvas? This would work nicely.
Want to make a GIANT flashlight? This would work if you have a big power pack at 12v, sure!
Want to make some sort of lamp? This could work nicely with that too!
Want to just learn how to solder surface mount components? Sure! It is a great first project with low costs!

One of the design goals was to make these a functional board with only parts found ini the space. I’ve finally achieved that! You can use SMD resistors we already have, and the SMD LEDs we were donated as well.

When?

January 20th, 2020 from 7pm to 9pm

How Much?

The buy-in will be $5/board for members, $5/board + $5/per person for the build night for non-members. If you sign up that night, you can exchange your $5 entry fee for an extra kit ;). This includes admission to the build night. I have ordered a professional stainless steel stencil which is far superior to the one we used last build night.

Who can attend?

Non-Members, Members, anyone interested really.

Why?

Surface mount soldering is fun, especially with a template. This is an awesome intro do how to do it.
There are other members that can show the art of how to solder surface mount components and/or rework with an iron. While that process is awesome, and you are welcome do iron-solder these boards, I wanted to provide a place for people to learn how to do surface mount with solder paste.

Also, I want to drive up membership. I think the space is a healthy one when we have people coming to check us out. Bring your friends. This will be a VERY cheap way of doing something out of the house post-holidays. Last time we had a great time.

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I’ve updated this post to indicate January 20th, from 7pm to 9pm!

Looking forward to seeing you there! There is no preregistration, just show up. I’ve ordered a bunch of boards, so it should be a really good night. If you went to the last one, it should be a lot more streamlined and the board is a much better version.

See you there!

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Woop sounds fun I’ll be there

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The boards have arrived and I’ve got the new stencil. The stencil looks amazing! I haven’t opened up the boards just yet, but through the clear wrap they look nice too.

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Put me down for 2 boards…

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cool! Looking forward to it

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I’ll take four please :slight_smile:

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I’ll be bringing them into tonight’s music night just in case anyone wants to pick one up without coming to the event in January.

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I’m also in for 4. Wewt.

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I opened a package last night and I found a bug, apparently I didn’t round one of the corners, so I’m going to call this a ‘feature’ because I now have a nice reference corner :stuck_out_tongue:.

Anyway, I’ll fix it, it doesn’t impact performance, but it does bother me I didn’t catch it.

I’ll probably do another sign-up so I can have an idea of how many people we will have, but I think I’ll just do cash or interac on-site rather than pay online. I’ll set up the eventbrite so keep your eyes peeled for that. I’ll cap the seats so I can make sure I can help everyone.

Cheers!

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@mike I left 2 pots of fresh sealed paste in the dropbox for you.

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I am not exactly sure what this is, but i would love to learn, count me in.

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Count me in for 4, will watch for eventbrite. Thanks @mike!

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I guess is should be more specific pencil.me in for two boards

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Hi @mike,
Please add me in for 1 board, Thanks!

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Please don’t register multiple times if you want additional boards. This is registration merely for a seat at the table.

If you end up not being able to come after you register, please cancel so others can join. If it fills up, just give me a shout if you want to come, this is simply so I can plan accordingly.

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Thank you so much!

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I will bring my oven also (or drop it off in advance if I can’t make the intended date)

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I don’t think I can make this night - but if anyone wants to learn to SMD by hand let me know and I can put on a night. If you like soldering through-hole you’ll probably like SMD by hand also.

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I’ve also found that to be a super useful skill in rework. I’ve had to rework my own boards and have learned how to do some surface mount soldering out of necessity.

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