LED chaos panel build. 54 independently flickering LEDs.

[@kirkjohnson9353]

I think I'm pretty good at this kind of project. Almost all of my lighting projects end up flickering.

[@TimC_1964]

I know, it's a feature, not a defect, jeeez.

[@PuyoFax]

Oh wow, I immediately recognized those drill bits from an old job of mine. That is, making glasses. We used those exact bits (case and all) to drill into the lenses for drill-mount frames. As in, the kind where the temples and nasal piece are attached directly into the lenses. Those bits were used in a manual machine, and the lenses had to be dialed by hand to get the exact placement/angle, and was a sort of tiny drill press.

[@keeperofthegood]

Two other ideas for this: Infinity Mirror and filling it with a tinted resin, maybe a soft blue or blue pearl powder and a small silver flake.

[@DijonFromage]

I was going to suggest the cloudy resin to diffuse it, but didn't think of the infinity mirror. Good idea.

[@Alan_AB]

I made mine with a simple pegboard and a set of flickering christmas tree lights. A very nice effect indeed.

[@scottmarshall6766]

Years ago I built something similar with NE-2 bulbs in a relaxation oscillator circuit x 25 (5 x 5) with a electrolumiscent panel in the background. Had it set up on my bench at the TV shop where I worked in my early days. The owner thought my neon sign transformer based Jacobs ladder was a tad on the dangerous and somewhat "scary" side. (He was correct for the record) Kept people away from my bench and the cash box under it though. The light show was much less intimidating. This is back around 1978 when LEDs were expensive and I couldn't justify 25 at 3 bucks a pop, plus they didn't have self flashing ones for another 4 or 5 years, even then they were $3.50 us (1982 dollars). Eventually I ended up with an old 19" BW TV and a cheap stereo amplifier feeding the yoke with 2 mikes set apart at a distance, it would display a a lissajous pattern when you talked. Most people thought is was a computer ala Star trek. Always wanted to set up a speech chip to respond "working" PS - The relaxation oscillator was a 1n4007 charging a .1uf 600v through various size resistors 200k + (to set the frequency) - for 120v line voltage, for 220-240v double resistor values to keep f the same. Lacking a hot air pen, you can use a cheap home store paint stripper for a quick and easy reflow. Solder paste is nice as it keeps the parts stuck until the reflow, and has it's own flux. Picture frame is a nice touch. Sorry to run on, I'm blaming virus boredom this time.

[@chaos.corner]

Solder paste is great when all the parts slide into position with surface tension.

[@johngypsydoe862]

@@chaos.corner Yeah, I kept expecting Clive's improv method to do the same, but the tilted parts stayed tilted.

[@sbalogh53]

I still have a Jacob's Ladder using an old neon sign transformer in my cupboard. I take it out every now and again and carefully turn it on. It is on the end of a long extension cord and I am at the other end with the switch. 40mA at 12,000V is kinda deadly if touched.

[@scottmarshall6766]

@@sbalogh53 To think they used to hang in barfront windows with little to no insulation. The tubes were commonly connected with open twisted connections. I've heard dozens of stories of bar patrons shocking each other, and I don't think one of them knew what ohms law meant to their continued existence....

[@nolansprojects2840]

Scott Marshall for some people, it’s better they don’t know ohms law. Haha

[@derekgreenacre1738]

I built one like this with slow colour changing multi colour LEDs in the matrix... Kept my baby grand daughter fixated for hours!

[@simonhopkins3867]

Thanks Clive for the simple build. gave me a few ideas. Thanks for being you!

[@guyh3403]

The effect fixed a dead pixel on my screen, thanks!:D

[@mysock351C]

The techs at my old job used to build complex, densely packed surface mount PCBs and it would take them at least a few days to populate, but the workmanship was impeccable. Really impressive to watch, and required someone with near infinite patience to work under a microscope all day with a tiny pair of ceramic tweezers and a fine-tip solder pen.

[@charliedobbie8916]

I don't do PCB fabrication, but some years back I made a similar (but smaller) project with 7x5cm perfboard, fast and slow blink LEDs in series pairs and a bunch of (through-hole) resistors. Ran them from a 9V battery, which would drain in about 4-6 hours. It's such a simple project but such a great effect!

[@claydoughty7182]

I’ve seen a lot of people here on KZbin, saying that they are about to show me how to do this but they are fact always sucks. Yours was perfect as far as I can tell. Nice job man.

[@simonhopkins3867]

Clive learning about smd. This is awesome 👍🏻🤘🏻

[@michaelthibault7930]

I wonder if altering the shape of the SM resistor pads (e.g. having them taper, tear-drop-wise, out into the hinterlands) would provide, during re-flow, visual feedback about the completeness of the operation. Also, it might be interesting to have the LEDs focus (i.e. be aimed at) a point some distance out from the center of the board. Put another way: if the LEDs were, rather than axially parallel, but instead arranged as though each were normal to a uniformly concave surface (e.g. the inside of a large-radius spheric section), the visual effect would vary in intensity as the viewer moves in relation to the focus point of the ganged LEDs.

[@steverpcb]

Clive, if you get a batch made then I suggest using EasyEDA ( free by JLCPCB ), and sharing the design so that others can order it for themselves :)

[@bwobbles2368]

Steve Perry I wish I could give this more than one thumbs up

[@josh580]

Your family are very bright!

[@Melds]

Reminds me of an electronics project in the 80s that used neon bulbs and an RC circuit for each bulb in a similar arrangement. There was enough variation that the flickering would quickly diverge and make random patterns.

[@ManWithBeard1990]

Yes, Clive, Velleman is still around. It's a company from Belgium (which is where I live), so many electronics shops here are actually outlets for the Velleman brand. Sadly they don't make that particular PCB holder anymore.

[@webchimp]

I've got a Velleman LED dice kit

[@runforitman]

Thank you for getting me onto ceramic tipped tweezers, a bit back; they're my favourite tweezers for SMD stuff; it was a nightmare how much 0402 components would stick to my tweezers

[@ianwright6502]

Am I the only one that heard "heated reflow plate" and thought: clothes iron upside down in the vise of knowledge? 😂

[@gregorythomas333]

Nope...I did to when he mentioned it the other day :)

[@spikekent]

Me too

[@steverpcb]

I don't think an iron would get hot enough :(

[@TerryLawrence001]

Set to Cotton for Re-flow and set to Rayon for Grilled Cheese

[@shadymaint1]

@@TerryLawrence001 I have made a grilled cheese on an iron before. Works but sure makes a mess of the iron.

[@69SPACERAT]

The PCB assembly frame, i'm sure you could make your own using some 20x20 aluminium extrusion, a few T nuts/wingnuts, plus some some foam mounted on a sheet of MDF. Could make a nice little project.

[@nokiot9]

This reminds me of a hand held game I had when I was a kid. It was a panel with a grid of maybe 70-80 10x10 square CM led lights. But they were housed under these squishy buttons and it was a puzzle. You had to get all the lights out, and it was this beautiful pink light. I’ve never seen one and have been looking for one for years. I bet I could make one with some of this stuff and make it spell things as you push the buttons lol

[@bigclivedotcom]

Sounds like a game that was called Lights Out. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lights_Out_(game) www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.Xlights+out+game.TRS1&_nkw=lights+out+game&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=lightsout+game

[@nokiot9]

That’s it!!

[@gregorythomas333]

..."otherwise it's going to end up a very long video indeed" I really love the longer videos that you put out...you don't have to shorten them at all. You might also try a glass plate that you lay over the board while heating it to make the resistors drop into the solder blobs when the blobs liquefy.

[@IndependentNewsMedia]

Good video, you have the patients of a saint to manually place SMD components. I have seen online home build pick and place machines.

[@Offensive_Username]

Cool, you created an anti-burglar TV simulator that can also be bought fully assembled.

[@Smidge204]

For the gel, which I've really come to prefer over the "toner transfer" method, I use a cheap laminator to stick the gel to the PCB. Tape the PCB to a sheet of paper if it's really small, and pass it through twice. Fast, even heating and pressure versus a clothes iron which is easy to miss a corner or not press hard enough etc...

[@coldfoot99]

OK, you have me addicted to your channel now. I've been building electronic stuff since I was about 10 ( that's 60 years ago). Carried that through to the military and on into civilian life. My next project is SDR (software defined radio). Still working a bit but have more time now for the fun stuff. I got some make up channel viewing to do now.

[@fcmacken]

Gives the look of a power plant window for fictional space crafts.....very cool look for a faux window of the inside of a operating warp engine. Very convincing special effect.

[@18robsmith]

A couple of comments: Start putting the resistors on at the far side of the board and work towards you, rather than reaching across those you've just placed. It used to be possible to get pain-on solder paste, and use a small model makers brush to put it in place.

[@kennmossman8701]

yes it is a pain to get it on

[@pyk_]

@@kennmossman8701 Hehe, wait is it really called pain-on, or was that a typo?

[@kennmossman8701]

@@pyk_ think he meant paint-on

[@pyk_]

@@kennmossman8701 That's what I figured... would be funny though.

[@classicshit2]

Would make a nice mood light/ night light. 👍 Some colour changing LEDs would look pretty funky too.

[@steverpcb]

I was also thinking that :)

[@twocvbloke]

Nothing says "High-tech powerful computer banks" like blinky blue LEDs... :D

[@rolfs2165]

Blinkenlichten.

[@Cornz38]

No, green, red, yellow but not those hideous eleventy million candela blue leds. God awful things blue leds, far too bright.

[@AndreasDelleske]

Rolf S blinkenmatrixen

[@cyberhornthedragon]

OOOH these leds would look awesome in an infinity mirror

[@uddebomakerspace4829]

making liquid flux from solid flux, acetone and a cleaned nailpolish bottle is awesome!

[@thehobbyhermit]

This as the back lighting to a 3D Printed Lithophane would be quite interesting!

[@sugarbooty]

Maybe add a diffuser from A flatscreen backlight, too

[@tweed532]

Top trump you to Bangor Uni, 1974, made presents called 'The Brick'. In a waxed sandwich box, cast layer of clear resin 1/4" deep, sit handful of neons on top leads 90*, cast black resin to hold, then soldered caps and resistors across the leads connect mains lead and pot up completely. Pop out and polish up, 1 Xmas present. Those where the days stinking my digs out with resin fumes.... Knew I had one buried in the attic, dusted off and still works 46 yrs later.. :-)

[@brycerichert]

tweed532 Please post pictures... this would be interesting to see

[@kmftzg]

I have that same reflow hot plate. It works quite well, though I only use solder paste with it.

[@mickward2775]

Bigclive you should totally build an "on the air" light to put up when you do live stream

[@ElectraFlarefire]

Solder paste for chunky things like this is easy to apply with a toothpick and putting little blobs on each pad.

[@Slikx666]

And now we know how to make a UV-c light panel 😜

[@IloveElsaofArendelle]

A very good idea, since the masks are scares and I wanted to build a decon box for those, but everything is inadequate and it would be great if Clive could do it with 254 nm LEDS

[@sootikins]

@@IloveElsaofArendelle The cost of real 254nM LEDs is insane. I made a decon box using a 17W mercury vapor tube for under $20. The tubes are sold as plug-n-play water sterilizers for under-tank aquarium filters. My ultra conservative calcs (assumed that only 1/3 of the tube's output is UVC) say it delivers a lethal dose in under a minute. So I leave stuff in there for minimum 5 minutes just to be sure.

[@karllaun2427]

Gotta love blinky lights! I have a collection of "color change" LEDs that might make an interesting effect (internal timing). They make both slow and fast changing versions AND tiny SMD variety as well. I think I got them from AliExpress.

[@MrChief101]

A very good result. That iron ball chip paste is supposed to "go bad." Not sure what could go bad, but that's what it says-- which I suspect is a marketing ploy. (I knew I forgot to mention something-- yes as you say in the next vid-- refrigerate the stuff.) The chip goo dispenser I found had a large bore needle which allowed for a bit of positional accuracy. The carrier of the solder balls is flux-- so no real need for more. And-- the neat aspect I read of was that if the solder paste was placed evenly on the PC pad, the component would "self center," via surface tension. Now that's high technology! You might want to scrub the bare copper with an abrasive to give a little "tooth" and LESS is more. Almost no chip paste, so long as it's on the pad, will work. I used a food-type hot tray-- a food serving device with a thermostat. I used it to raise the temperate. As it rose, the components began to move, then I turned it down. Alas, I forget what the temperature was.

[@martinwinfield2935]

Great video thank you. I watched a good half wondering why it was upside down. Then realised that I had my phone the wrong way round. Too much booze last night. I like the production method apart from the surface mount stuff. Bring back things that you can actuly see!!!!

[@CezarVideoBlog]

Thanks mate, i have now 5 of the gallium pcb one of them already soldered

[@mac-fife]

I frequently hand-assemble with surface mount parts. With chip resistors and capacitors I stick to 1206 or 0603 parts as anything smaller gets too awkward. I use regular flux cored solder and put a small bead of solder on one pad only, then lay the component in place on top of the solder bead, holding it in place with tweezers, then reflow the solder with the iron until the component settles into the solder. then solder up the opposite end cap more or less conventionally, then re-touch the first end with some fresh solder if necessary. A little fiddly, but works fairly well.

[@Jinxid77]

Solder paste in a syringe and a hot air gun (not the huge wall-paper removing kind, mind you ;) ) makes very light work of smd soldering :) And as someone else suggested, start away from yourself, or spin the board around as you place so your sleeve or arm wont brush off resistors as you go.

[@RomanoPRODUCTION]

Thanks for making a 6*9 grid random generator!

[@FutzWith]

Neat, I did a Small version using Static and Flashing Clear Red Ultra brite LEDs a year ago, my Ideal was to put it into my server case in the Drive bay. I still have to make the big one for the Bay.

[@jamiejoker118]

Cool nice colour too Nice in a pool or fish tank

[@AlexNZL]

In my previous job for small run or touch ups I just used a 10ml syringe to apply solder paste. Worked well. I also think gel or paste flux would have worked better

[@CitizenKaneNZ]

that frame for holding the leds in place is fantastic!

[@Noxonomus]

The Post Apocalyptic Inventor did something similar about a year ago. The one that stuck in my mind was a bunch of self flashing red LEDs mounted in a streetlight housing, great effect with the lens.

[@gavinthomas8618]

Rosco makes a lot of different diffuser gel sheets, which I am sure Clive has come across before. I bet some of the frosted ones would make this look extra awesome.

[@RedwoodRhiadra]

Taking the Stones' advice here was definitely a good idea.

[@generaldisarray]

8:38 any other OCD people out there playing spot all the updside down resistors....🤣🤣🤣

[@generaldisarray]

@@Okurka. Oh I'm OCD but I can't type for sh1t...🤣🤣🤣 D'OH

[@dunzerkug]

Which one though?

[@rpdom]

White side up?

[@markfergerson2145]

@@Okurka. I C wut you did there.

[@95rav]

My OCD is so bad had to call it CDO.

[@springwoodcottage4248]

I have struggled transitioning to surface mount. My first attempts were with solder paste and a small Aldi oven which worked well and got better as I learned to find a needle that would give me just a bit of solder paste with a manageable amount of squeeze. So far I have resided using stencils because of the cost which makes the whole solder paste application a thief of time. Another issue was bridging of ic pins and the need to be very careful.Further if the board is left in the oven too long very bad things happen. I let out the magic smoke from some electrolytic and that is particularly acrid and unpleasant. Using hot air and tiny amounts of paste helped as i could just do parts of a board as I wanted and didn't need to lay out the whole thing as for the oven. Then I tried the Rossman approach of lots of flux and a microscope to see the components. This gave me some nice joints, but the downside is getting the flux off. I have found that one needs a proper flux remover at 60 deg C, similar to what Rossman uses and the fumes from this are wicked. It has been a vexing learning process, but seemingly unavoidable as many of the recent generations of ic are only available in surface mount and I am slowly getting better at using them. Thanks for sharing!

[@ChristieNel]

I have made quite an advanced artificial candle using a microprocessor and yellow/red dual LEDs. They are a bit hard to find, but work gloriously for this project. It actually simulates a person walking through a building with a flickering candle.

[@andyfranklunamorales2511]

great demonstration excellent thanks, good interesting project .

[@Eremon1]

I'd love to do this, but I'd want it to have the lights randomly (or seemly random) for a bit longer duration to make it look like some old 70's sci-fi computer thinking. I think that would be much more complicated than this. Great video as always. Cheers.

[@matthewbeddow3278]

Thanks, Clive, I wish you'd left all the footage in, just my preference.:-)

[@mcomiskey7]

Can't wait for tonight. Live with Clive.

[@greaser5691]

Seeing the solder flow took me back 30 years to working in a factory, watching vapour-phase reflow...

[@Godzilla941]

The method is sound, you just need to use the Amtech NC599 that Rossmann sells or something similar like Kester RF741 (rework flux). They have a longer activity window (as does the flux contained in paste solders). The liquid stuff is more or less intended for through-hole soldering with a shorter cycle time (selective, wave, dip or iron). The No-clean philosophy holds true provided the entire content of the flux goes through a flow/reflow cycle, otherwise it can remain corrosive. Generally I find that NC599 and RF741 still remain sticky and will be best cleaned off afterwards--alcohol works on NC599, other stuff will need anything from alcohol to lacquer thinner depending on how much petroleum goo is in it. Water soluble will work here also, it's active all the time and unless you can verify that you cleaned it ALL off the board AND out from under the components you're going to have problems (electrical leakage in the K ohm range and corrosion).

[@martijnvv8031]

The PLUS 'indicator' on the circuit board almost makes contact with the minus track !!

[@deepblueskyshine]

It will be enough to use gell flux - it (almost) centers the components and drives the solder up on the side of the contacts.

[@spikekent]

Are you planning on selling the PCBs when you get a batch made. I'd love a couple.

[@steverpcb]

easyeda.com/steverddrf/led-chaos-panel

[@getyerspn]

I'm a fan of the liquid topnik 83 flux myself and for hot air stuff the Kingbo RMA-218 flux ...both are cheap and work very well.

[@shemp308]

Nice Project!

[@evensgrey]

I've heard of people reflowing with everything from a toaster oven modified with a programmable thermal control (so it can follow a specified temperature curve) to a frying pan. Dave Jones did a few videos where he used a heat gun, and you could see how the solder paste abruptly flowed. Solder paste usually comes in a syringe, so it would just be tedious to apply to the individual pads by hand, but it does work.

[@TheCORC964]

That’s pretty cool tbf! Personally I think it’d look nicer with double the LEDs closer together or maybe half flickering half flashing LEDs.

[@batchampa]

Putting a resistor between the data pins will allow you to draw more power if you ever need it. Different values will result in different available current depending on the power source

[@macro820]

I'm going to put this led in my PC for the power light

[@MrGeekGamer]

A lot of the stuff in my local Maplin-like store is Velleman.

[@notpublic7149]

Really enjoying your videos. Cheers for making them mate. :)

[@GWorxOz]

Always good.👍 👍 👍 👍

[@rodakscreens]

Clive, you're the first person I've ever heard say something positive about Fast and Furious Supercharged

[@jeremytravis360]

Nice project Clive.

[@CoolDudeClem]

This would look good as a controll panel on a sci-fi space ship, maybe with white or random coloured lights though.

[@Monkeh616]

Those soldering frames are fairly easily available still with a little searching. TME keep several sizes, the smallest being BL142042. They're pretty expensive at £65 a pop, though. Seems trivial enough to make - a little 10x10 or 15x15 extrusion, some angle, a few screws, feet, and some (conductive, won't somebody please think of the ICs?!) foam attached to any random scrap board. Life made easier with a 3D printer to produce the thumbscrews, board holders, brackets, etc. Those who still do a lot of through-hole (not I) will save the time required to make it in a few sessions.

[@iamdarkyoshi]

Try the flux from Rossmann's store. It's an absolutely wonderful flux

[@W4BIN]

All were already soldered when the camera switched to the hot plate shot, but second one down on the leftmost row (right hand connection) never made it. I would have "tinned" the pads (or the entire copper) with electrodeless "TIN" instead of using a soldering iron. (the resistors would have laid flat) Soldering paste and a hot air gun is also a good idea. Ron W4BIN

[@lwilton]

Don't reflow with your soldering iron. Hold the chip down with your tweezers and heat the part up with that small rework hot air tool that you have. That will get all the pins heated at once and you won't have possible problems with bridging pins with excess solder.

[@forevercomputing]

Ideally, you should wire up the data wires. Just short them out. Otherwise, some USB power sources may limit it to 500mAh. Shorting them out allows for more current to flow if needed.

[@brianharper9798]

Wonder what it would look like with a matrix of those slow fading colour change LEDs?

[@rpdom]

I don't have a reflow plate. I just use an ordinary soldiering iron for surface mount. A tiny bit of solder and flux on one of the pads to start with, then hold the part in place with tweezers (the ceramic ones are good). Heat up the solder until it sticks, then apply solder to the other end(s) and finally a bit more to the first pad to make sure.

[@isettech]

Hint, On those very brittle PCB bits, use a cheap Chinese desktop engravers to drill the holes. They work very well for that without breaking the brittle bits. Some come fitted with low power laser diodes for laser engraving and can be used to raster scan and expose your circuit board. Google CNC desktop engraving machine.

[@isettech]

For reflow, use lots of flux. Flood it. Flux oxidizes. Quick reflow with a blanket of flux works well. Get the plate warm, apply board to hot plate, then remove after about 20 seconds. Longer than that the flux is no longer working as it has oxidized.

You have the patience of Job.

[@robertrobert5583]

Definitely get a batch made please!

[@LateralThinkerer]

Flickering candle LEDs (perhaps not "warm white") are pretty easy to find at about 10¢ each or less.

[@horrovac]

For applying the solder paste you could use a sort of silkscreen-printing technique. Take a piece of thicker film, cut out the form of the solder pads, squeeze some paste onto the film, position it over the pads and squeegee the paste into the voids with a spatula. I believe the shape of your solder pads is not ideal as one of them comes from the side and so may pull the capacitor sideways as the solder goes liquid. Having just about the right amount of paste to wet the spot should prevent that from happening.

[@hanstransjuicer8911]

I'd like to enroll for a couple of the PCB's if and when you have them. Tempted to try a reflow as well but that other 'experiment' kinda tempered my enthousiasm :-o

[@asmolbean9300]

Finally...It feels like i've been waiting soooo long

[@weylin6]

I've wondered what kind of integrated circuit these kind of LEDs use. Several years ago I hooked up one of those self-blinking LEDs and probed at it with a radio receiver, and got a lot of strange sounds from it depending on how it was tuned. Whistles and sweeps and buzzing underlying the little pop it made with each cycle. I just assumed it used a tiny capacitor in an oscillating circuit, with a counter that flipped the LED on and off after every several hundred pulses

[@absalomdraconis]

I would guess a constant-current diode feeding a reverse-biased avalanche diode for the randomness,though goodness only knows. If done right though, you could _almost_ entirely skip the capacitor.

[@LateralThinkerer]

Some of these actually use stored music as the waveform ("Happy Birthday" among others) , but if you want a deep dive on it, search for the 2013 article "Reverse Engineering A Candle Flicker LED" on Hackaday

[@therealjammit]

Pseudo random shift register. A small capacitor (think about the size you could burn into a silicon die) for timing with mosfet's used as a relaxation oscillator or most likely an astable oscillator. The oscillator is probably in the mhz range (due to the small size available on a semiconductor die) feeding a metric crap ton of edge triggered flip flops. One or more of the "Q" outputs of certain flip flops is "EX-OR" gated to a reset on an earlier flip flop. Although it seems random to us, it actually repeats after a while. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear-feedback_shift_register The RF noise is probably caused by the flip flops fast rise and fall times.

[@mickeythompson9537]

@@LateralThinkerer Yes - this is the correct answer. Cheap, ingenious, mass-produced, Chinese.

[@neilshep50]

@@anonymic79 No, it was JAMMED

[@mikethemike1234]

wood have Ben nice to see it with surface Mont led s and put the copier clade side out

[@JohnnyX50]

I love it when you do things like this, very sci-fi. It looks like what I did for my fake log fire to aid the 'flame' effect' I did a video of it :) The blue flicker LED's look really mesmerising O.o lol

[@mnotgninnep]

Please would you do a video on making your own PCBs?

[@CBdesigns70]

dunno if anyone has mentioned this idea yet ?? " this may not work".my solder mask idea is candle wax melted in a wax warmer and painted on with a brush on the pads where you want masked off. once its cooled and hardened, give the board a quick coat of spray paint (non metalic of course) or use conformal coating then once dry (pos 24 hrs to make sure) place on a flat surface and cover with brown paper (not the glossy stuff but the furry/felt feeling kind) and use a warm iron over the top to melt the wax and the brown paper will soak the wax and paint up leaving a board ready for re-flowing / soldering wit a perfect solder mask so you do not flow solder right along the tracks.. I remember 35 odd years ago doing this on an art project and it worked sweet but it was acrylic paint not car paint so it is untested.

[@TheRainHarvester]

Why do you want the paper to absorb the paint too? I was thinking the paint would remain, and cover the traces. (The wax on the pads would be absorbed into paper.)

[@CBdesigns70]

​@@TheRainHarvesterit will only remove the paint that was on the wax. the rest of the painted areas should remin coated in whatever you used.

[@TheRainHarvester]

@@CBdesigns70 , oh that makes sense. (I wasn't thinking paint would even stick to they wax.) Thanks. I got some pcbs made for my PollyWantsACracker robot controller. Check it out!

[@petersage5157]

About that solder assembly frame/jig - they're still available. A quick image search for that phrase turned up quite a few sources. Looks like most of them are just 2020 extrusion and a few spring clips and fasteners though.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

I did notice that the ones you retouched with flux bedded in instantly, they may have been just to the point of doing it anyway, but I would touch them up with flux when you think it is up to temp'.

[@chrishartley1210]

I noticed that too, I also wondered if it was just the additional pressure from the brush touching the resistor.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

@@chrishartley1210 Flux should make things flow a bit better, if in doubt, add some flux, but clean if off later as it can corrode if left.

[@steverpcb]

A while back you could not work out how to get the entire "B" side of a pcb coated with solder mask, there are 2 ways, either ask them to do it in the comment box or place a pad in the center, set the size to 5 mil square and crank up the solder mask setting on it to cover the board :)

[@tyler6859]

This would be great with a 1-way mirror film on it

[@KJ6EAD]

Through hole PCB assembly jigs of the flip rack sort are still made by Ideal-Tek, Fancort and others.

[@FIXDIY]

Nice explain my friend