The Red Ring Of Death

Come along on my latest journey in micro soldering. This one is filled with laughter, lots of tears and of course lots of solder. Join me as I pull what's left of my hair out, trying my luck on the smallest chips I have ever installed.
It's not pretty.

[@StuffPeterLikes]

Solder paste & the hot air gun will to the trick, you won't need a stencil. Put a bead of paste down each row of pads. Place the chip close to the correct spot, as long a the pins are not touching the wrong pads, you will be fine. Use a low air flow and circle the chip. You want to heat all the pins evenly and not blow things off the board. When the melt comes, surface tension will draw the paste between the pads into the joints and center the chip as if by magic. Have fun!

[@AnnaVannieuwenhuyse]

If you look at the pins and where they go, you can see they all go to ground. That also means the heat goes to ground. And that ground plane is maaaaassive, both in size and in mass. Preheating the board in some way can do wonders. Even if that means you just place it under a hairdryer, or like I do, put it on my 3D printer's bed! Leaded solder is in ways better than lead-free, and one big one is the vastly lower melting point. That itself leads to some of the benefits/upsides.

[@luckywetland]

Let's appreciate the clean and tidy bench.

[@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx]

Thanks. I like a clean area. Makes things more efficient

[@MichaelBarnes-iu9qd]

You've earned a new sub, thanks for the honesty and the recommendations

[@metsgal78]

I think The Amazing Testo is a great name for the multi-meter. And that transition...chef's kiss.

[@meltedrabbit]

From the video title, I was hoping the project would look like the power button of an Xbox 360 and randomly produce actual "red ring of death" codes. This works too.

[@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx]

That's what I was going for. This protect made me feel like the red ring of death did when I got it on my Xbox 360. Sad confused and angry

[@Doc_Fartens]

I will now call it the hoof tip, thanks for that

[@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx]

The HOOF!

[@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx]

The hoof

[@AnnaVannieuwenhuyse]

The CD4017BM chip is a counter, which means it changes its outputs based on a consecutive sequence of pulses. Looking at the end-product, it is very likely to be the chip that "rotates" the output selection of which LED to light up in sequence. It counts up and changes its pin states based on that. This one is a Decade counter, which means it counts in multiples of decades of our numerical system -- multiples of ten. Hint: if you look really carefully, there's also a multiple of ten worth of LED's on that board! :)

[@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx]

Thanks for the input! When it comes to anything lower then 24v my knowledge is very limited. Like I say in my videos (complain about.. a lot) the instructions for these kits are terrible. They barely explain how to put them together never mind what the parts do. I guess you get what you pay for. That is my goal for the channel. To start a community for newbies (like myself) and veterans to share knowledge and maybe have a laugh. Everything I have learned about electronics has come from you tube. From how to micro solder to what tools to invest in. So I figured maybe some folks would enjoy my take on things and we could learn together. Again thanks for the lesson on the chips. That was one to grow on. And I Hope you continue to watch. Have some fun stuff coming in the next few weeks that is more then some old man trying to be funny while having no idea what's he's doing

[@luizfelipelinsdias8423]

I liked the bench, clean and tidy.

[@mikebond6328]

I like the hoof tip.

[@davidrobertson1980]

Was looking forward to another XBox repair video. Never mind. You should try soLdering, it works much better (but you may have to leave your country to one that has an L in their alphabet LOL) Try soddering a single corner pin and then lining it up "best" and doing the opposite pin to hold it in place, speeds things up!

[@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx]

Potato potato it's all Greek to me

[@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx]

Funnily enough I say the same thing in my newest video about getting a corner pin. I also tried 2 neodymium magnets. It's works great! well if their strong enough

[@Majere616]

Ohhh science!

[@iampennochio]

Cheaper to buy one lol!

[@MichaelBarnes-iu9qd]

Please keep making videos

[@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx]

Thanks for the sub sir. I have, in the next few weeks, what I think are some fun projects. More than just practice boards and fidget spinners. Gonna try my hand at adding some woodworking to these projects along with some Arduino board projects. Maybe even an hvac install, my speciality Hope to see you then

[@ericrawson2909]

This is why I stay with tubes and through hole components.

[@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx]

Tubes?!? Like vacuum tubes. Sir you must be older than me. Seriously tho I did some through hole yesterday what a breeze. I'll do those all day.

[@ericrawson2909]

@@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx Yes, age 69. Through hole is great. I love the Hakko solder sucker. Makes removing components so easy. Don't bother with solder wick.

[@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx]

Actually yesterday I tried using the mechanical one for the first time when I put some header pins in the wrong way I was like this is not going to work but I was pleasantly surprised.

[@ericrawson2909]

@@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx You mean the hand held one with a plunger? They do work but are a pain and I don't like the way they kick back when they operate.

[@Daaannn]

Personally, i preffer leaded solder. Way easier for a beginner like me, but hey, if it works, why change it? Nice video!

[@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx]

Like I said in the video I have no idea what I'm talking about. I just put something else together just for fun and used leaded solder. So... much... smoother. I think because I was using such fine solder .01" and only soldering 603 smd for the last few kits I didn't notice. But now I wished I had used leaded for those chips I bet it would have been much easier. Good luck to you in your new hobby. I too, as you can probably tell, am a beginner.

[@gordselectronicshobby3853]

Where in the heck did you learn how to solder SMT devices?

[@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx]

You tube😂. Is that an oh my God you're pretty good at this oh my God you're terrible at this kind of comment. I'm down for some constructive criticism. I've only been soldering for 6 months.

[@YO3HJV]

Is there a reason for those DSP chips to be on that board?

[@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx]

Unfortunately... no this is a practice board and those chips have no purpose except to make the installer 5 years older

[@pleasecho2]

You could do the same thing with a 555 and 4017

[@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx]

meaning like I thought? you dont need both?

[@luckywetland]

I think you need a better flux

[@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx]

Got to get that amtech flux!!

[@luckywetland]

@@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx Now we’re talkin’

[@YoutubeHandlesSuckBalls]

@@LetsMakeSt-ll2wx No need. The cheap chinese ripoff from AliExpress is just as good.