I just discovered this channel. I didn't realize how much I missed the Ben Heck Show! So glad you're still making content, man!

Ben Heck - The Joy of Soldering

RE: Flux. Not sure why, maybe it's the quick turnaround time, but Oshpark PCBs have a tendency to get really "sticky" after using lots of flux or cleaner. Thus I avoid using it as much as possible. I will bring flux syringes to the workshop though.

I'd certainly buy this as a kit, if it was made available.

An expert in soldering- pure relaxing, thoroughly interesting and bloody fascinating- huge support from me in the uk!

Ben's going for that Bob Ross vibe today. Happy little chips.

One of the best videos on surface mount soldering.that I have ever seen. It actually gave me enough confidence to attempt a simple SMD project.

I've missed this kind of Ben Heck video, it feels like the old skool stuff.. or maybe I just like watching him solder LOL

You're a really great teacher for all this tech stuff. I Realy appreciate the time you spend on all your videos. Just because your videos I start to Solder my own electronics and getting better every time. Thank you Ben! Best wishes from Germany

"Most of the time, rubbing alcohol will suffice." Words to live by.

Soldering is a skill i'd love to learn at some point. Watching people who are good at it is always very impressive.

Thanks for teaching the surface mount soldering technique! I've always been deathly afraid of it because of the small sizes, but what you showed makes a lot of sense and took away my fear of it. Would love to build one of these to play with.

It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.

I'm taking note of this huge success, anyway the board is done its so surface and mounted. Now these lines of basic make a beautiful line and the board is soldered for the event on time. So I'm glad I watched this video think of all the things I learned for the Ben who is still alive.

You're like the super smart, likeable and nerdy tech teacher I've always wanted to have. This was a triumph, wasn't it.

I always find it humorous when people make a z80 board and there's a micro controller doing something small on it that out specs the z80 like 10 times over lmao

Super relaxing to watch! This is exactly what inspires me solder by "de-mystifying" everything going on. Time to go repair a broken speaker! Ps - as a lifetime metro-detroiter, it took me a shockingly long time (until my mid 20s) to realize that there was no "south" Detroit

I was wondering if the convention had already happened bectause I was curious how it had turned out - Nope, cancelled. Stay safe and healthy.

Great Stuff! Like always! I saw the 15 decimal for the joystick value and I thought 4 least significant bits like atari...and you said it at the same time!!! It stays with ya!!!!

7:19 Man, Ben is so good, he is able to solder during an earthquake 😂

Love that reference at the end!

That was actually fun and relaxing to watch. :-)

I sometimes use painter's tape to hold the chip in place while soldering the first two pins. The tape has enough give for small fixes, and is much easier to hold than the tweezers.

This is actually a great way to introduce people to soldering. You should sell these as a kit. Teach a wider audience soldering and make some money on the side.

Would love to buy this if you made it available as a kit

That soldering was very well explained, I will definitely make use of it in the future. Total noob at soldering here. I'm a decent welder and some of the tricks are similar.

Love watching your show

Nice project! Nice work!

Bob Ross, Steve1989, and Ben Heck. Three things I didn't think could be possible to have in one video yet alas, here we are. You love to see it.

It's hard to overstate my satisfaction...

once again: one of the most entertaining ways to learn how to solder there is... apart from other videos like this from him... ^^

This video seems strangely intimate. I like it.

Great stuff dude! I want to get something made by you, you are an inspiration!

I think some flux would go a long way on those small pitch chips

Ben’s like the Bob Ross of board stuffing

I really wish I could go. Hopefully the gerbers and design files are up on github. I'd love to be able to build my own.

Would it be possible to interface something like this with a nintendo cart & make an expansion for the nes with it ?

That is some awesome wick you have.

why is this so soothing

I usually crazily clean my tip and use a little no clean flux to make the solder pull onto the iron tip. It's a lot faster that way with PS4 HDMI's since they have a similar pin pitch.

Mr. Heck, can you sell this bundle as a build it yourself at home project?

OCD making me twitch but keeping it all to myself lol. Nice project overall, enjoyed watching the progress.

Greetings from Windsor, Ontario.

louis rossmann is shaking his head at the lack of Flux

Nice, love to buy and have one.

Holy crap this is a satisfying video.

I’ll have to catch the next workshop!

Recommendations for the final version: Cover your vias ;) And what about making the labels of the smaller ICs align with the orientation on the chip? Seems to be an eagle thing to only switch labels in their orientation rather than going in 90 degree steps (can be fixed by checking a box tho). Otherwise this seems like a really nice project, covers a nice span of packages for beginners (yes, SMD is no magic, I've gone as small as QFP208/0402 without ever learning how to solder in a course) with a final product that's interesting enough to keep people engaged. I also highly approve of the chip under chip approach with the DIP Z80 - compact designs (even tho PCBs are dirtcheap these days) is an art of it's own.

I love it! The mighty Bens need to get together. Ben Hack, Ben Eater and BennVenn.

Awesome! Can't wait to buy one!

Ben is a legend

I can never get my solder wick to work as effectively as it does here (and others). I haven't tried that brand but I've tried fairly costly, highly recommended brands. It almost always just ends up with me having soldered the wick to the joint lol Is my iron too hot? Not hot enough? Am I just awful at soldering/desoldering? I have no idea at this point.

Hey Ben, binged the whole 3 parts. Are you planning to do a follow-up video with changes you mentioned at the end of this video/release code and schematics on GH?

Hi Ben, another great project. I have been watching your videos for years now and I have always taken your advice when it comes to soldering, however when I solder my components my solder is sticky and is very stubborn to move. What's brand or makeup of solder do you use and what temperature do you set your iron.

When the file finally gets uploaded, do you plan on selling the parts to populate the z80 note as a kit purchase? Or will it be up to the buyer to source all parts

Thank you for this video Ben 🙏 What temperature do you personally solder surface mount components at?

Could you dab a tiny drop of super glue under the surface mount components like the atmega chip to hold it in place for soldering?

"Happy little clouds" :D

this is pretty cool

Is there going to be any way to get a kit of this project for people who can't make it to the conference?

Oh... I love when a plan comes together.... nice work! You know that this project is 10 orders of magnitude better than all of the 'last job' combined over the entire period since you left, right? haha (and almost same proportion on combined views as well ;p)

Love the content. But I kept whispering "flux" to myself every time Ben soldered something. Lol.

I do large pitch SMD chips with an even easier technique. I first tin all of the pads, making sure they don't have any tall blobs, then I brush on my liquid flux onto rows of pads and let it dry a little so it's not wet or runny. The liquid flux becomes sticky as it dries. I take advantage of the stickiness to literally line up and stick my components onto the board. Then with a clean iron tip I just heat a couple of pins to secure the chip into place (the amount of solder on the pads after tinning and the solder coating on the chip pins is more than plenty, no need to carry solder on your iron tip). Once I've got a couple of pins securing the chip in place I solder the rest by brushing the clean iron tip over each pin lengthwise, not side to side. This avoids solder bridges and the flux I brushed on the rows of pads also helps keeping solder bridges from forming. Quite foolproof.

its hard to overstate my satisfaction :)

Hey Ben, when did you catch the EATER bug? :))) As always very pleasing to watch! I've seen all your videos! Not only you make fun of eveything, but you explain everything with detail. Looking forward to your future stuff.

A good 'rossman' amount of flux along those pads before you solder fixes all issues with bridging. and IPA fixes all flux issues!

I felt nervous and anxious watching this guy tryng to soldering without flux XD

Have you ever used a gull wing tip? The one with the tiny reservoir. PACE calls them the MiniWave tip. I have always had the best luck drag soldering with them. They are my favorite tip for any soldering actually.

Is this hole “package” only available at the event or will it be something that can eventually be brought online?

Those SRAM chips are no longer in production according to Mouser. Are there any logic and pin compatible alternatives that are in active production?

@29:20 Atari Reading pokey port values. It was 35 years ago. And the are still with me. Thanx for this remainder...

i would love too build up this kit . please post links wen you have the kit up for sale . that looks like soo much fun .

Ya know... no matter what n e 1 says, I like your content, skills and your KZfaq channel. You may not have kids (depending on how you c it, it's a blessing), you may b alone (again, depending on how you c it, another blessing), you may have a dermatophagia (I completely understand that thing... whatever. Even Paul over at Learn Electronics and Mike over at Mikeselectricstuff seem to suffer from this...) but I like your funnies, I admire your skill and envy your knowledge. I've been watching your content since b4 Alison (if memory serves me right!). God bless you Ben! 👍

Это великолепно! Хочу быть таким, как ты, когда вырасту))

Hey Ben, could you please tell me what kind of solder you are using? It flows really nice! Thanks!

This project reminds me of the i8080 but with discrete transistors.

For those of us coming to the workshop, is there a list of stuff we should bring, if anything?

I would love to buy a kit. Cheers from Norway.

Its cool that you are showing how soldering technology really tries to make it hard to mess up, but seriously use thinner solder and quit blobbing it around so damn much. This is a great opportunity to show how to drag solder, and I like that you show cleaning up flux, you dont seem to add any. You could make nicer more consistent joints by using a little flux, but it comes at the cost of cleaning up more flux. Im kind of a minimalist, I try to use just enough solder and just enough flux, but always enough.

Wanderful Project

Good work

Is the pcb files available somewhere? I kinda want to build one or two for myself

random question, what solder do you use?

"You might be thinking but Ben doesnt look 44. Well that's because I don't have any children" Oh how true that is.

Your braid seems to suck up solder really fast. What temp is your iron at Ben?

First time I went to Wisconsin I also thought the accent there sounded a bit Canadian, hehe. For a non-native English speaker such as me, I most noticed the diphtongs (like in "food", "good", and "lease") being more elongated than in other regions.

Q: Is it possible to use Atmega644 - with pin changes ofcourse? Why not use solder paste- with solder+paste and solder using your toaster oven? Soldering with a toaster oven is the easiest thing to do ever. Are the files available anywhere yet? github etc?

Really cool project! Maybe do a 6502 version as well?

Hey Ben, what value is the resistor network supposed to be? I just grabbed a bunch of different ones since it wasn't on the BOM.

What temperature do you run your iron at for that SMD drag soldering?

Soldering the ATMEGA chip - you really need to add flux. The built-in flux in the solder is not enough. You want to keep the solder liquified, and keep it from getting lumpy.

You should consider tenting the vias with solder mask, OSH does have that capability.

In Putty you can make backspace send Ctrl+H instead of Ctrl+? under Terminal > Keyboard

Dr. Strangehack or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the surface mounts...

were do u order your pcb from i love the look of the purple mask.

Just a tip, tin your pads first, then apply a little solder paste....next, epoxy your packages to hold in place while soldering.

is there a place i can order a kit from you? as i like to support your tech and videos.

What is your soldering station?

Why would the SD card module cause contention? Won't the signals coming out of it be at 5v? Where is the problem?

Ben, are you going to offer these as a kit for sale anywhere. I live too far away from the US to be able to make it to any of your workshops, But I would love to play with one of these.