* The assembly of a PICNIC kit
2. Tools Required for Assembly
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Updated January 23, 2004 21:02
* Purchase
Please purchase the following three items directly from the Akizuki site.
- PICNIC kit ver.2 (order number : K-102) (@7,300 yen)
- LCD panel (item number: P-40) (@750 yen)
- AC adapter (order number : M-31) (@800 yen)
The price is a total of 8,850 yen. Applicable taxes and shipping are charged separately.
* Tools required for assembly
The kit itself comes with chip-resistors, capacitors, and surface-mount LSI (Ethernet NIC) already attached to the circuit board.
The work to be done involves soldering DIP sockets, connectors, LEDs, switches, and cylindrical capacitors to the board and adjusting the half-fixed resistor (VR1).
The tools required for this work are as follows.
[Items Required]
- Soldering iron (30 - 40W class, ceramic iron point recommended)
- Solder containing resin (diameter 0.8mm is easy to use)
- Soldering iron stand
- Nippers (precision type is easy to use)
- screwdriver (+)
[Other convenient items]
- Radio pliers (precision type is easy to use)
- Solder sucker (needed in removing parts which have been soldered incorrectly)
* Assembly
General notes／Verification of Kit Components／Soldering components／Soldering the LCD module connector
2.3.1 General Notes
As mentioned in Section 2.2 above, there are approximately 30 items to be assembled in this kit. For a person with experience soldering components onto a through-hole circuit board, it will take about an hour including a final assembly check.
As a point of caution, during soldering be sure to void overheating the following semiconductor type components. Let's ensure [ quickly and ] soldering. These items should be attached as quickly and accurately as possible.
[Temperature sensitive surface mount components]
- Temperature sensor IC LM35DZ (U7)
- Bridge diode (BD1) WL02 (and similar items)
- Light emitting diode (Light Emitting Diode 1-7)
- Crystal oscillator (X1)
Also, since the circuit board in this kit is a through-hole type (the component and soldering sides are connected on the top and bottom), once a component has been attached, the solder has seeped into the through-hole and the work of removing it is very difficult.
If you realize that you have attached a component incorrectly, remove it with the following procedure.
(1) From the soldering side, heat the joint of the component to be removed and melt the solder.
(2) Remove the solder with the solder sucker.
(3) Once all of the solder has been removed from the through-hole, slowly extract the component from the component side.
However, if a component such as the socket of the 40-pin DIP300mil IC has been attached backwards, it will require an almost expert hand to remove it cleanly without destroying any of the through-holes. (It will be almost impossible without a special vacuum type solder sucker device.)
Use "extreme care" in checking the component types and direction of installation before soldering them to the board.
The instructions included in the kit may be slightly difficult to understand.
Use the TriState Company site which includes pages with enlarged photographs as a reference.
http://www.tristate.ne.jp/picnic.htm
2.3.2 Verification of Kit Components
Updates and corrections can be checked from the URL below. Currently, there are no changes from the parts list in the instructions.
http://www.tristate.ne.jp/picnic/seigo.txt
Page 2 of instructions: "Black-Square" Verify the kit components using the parts list.Items in the list marked with a "Black-Circle" symbol in the "Pre-attached" column are already mounted on the circuit board.
A B4-size circuit diagram is also included. It is also a good exercise to verify items by comparing the item numbers in the circuit diagram (e.g., U3) against the actual items.
2.3.3 Soldering Components
On the back of the B4-size circuit diagram, you will find the following: * Assembly * Assembly diagram. Follow the directions in the order shown. The soldering iron is to be applied to the soldering (back) side of the circuit board in all cases.
The TriState Company site provides a page containing notes on circuit diagrams and assembly which are helpful in understanding the kit instructions.
The "On Building the PICNIC Ver.2 Kit" page can be helpful to have opened on a browser while you work.
http://www.tristate.ne.jp/picnic.htm
The soldering procedure will consist of the following general steps.
(1) IC socket (40pin and 8pin)
(2) Transformer (U6), capacitor, temperature sensor IC, 3-terminal regulator
(3) Bridge diode
(4) Light emitting diode, half-fixed resistor
(5) Crystal oscillator, reset switch
(6) A jumper and connectors
Finally, attach a jumper pin (red) onto jumpers JP1 and JP2.
Notes of Caution
- Jumper JP1: Bridge JP1:1-3 and 2-4 with pins.
- Jumper JP2: Hook a pin to JP2:1 only. DO NOT BRIDGE 1-2.
* Advice: When you "power up" (turn on) the circuit for the first time, do not insert the PIC microcomputer LSI or EEPROM into the IC sockets. If for some reason, power or signals are mistakenly sent to these ICs and they are destroyed, it will hinder subsequent operation checks
The only tuning required after this is the half-fixed resistor VR1, used for contrast adjustment of the LCD panel. Use a plus screwdriver or similar device to turn it fully clockwise (for maximum contrast).
Finally, double-check the more placement/direction errors and bridging of parts. This is a basic preliminary for troubleshooting and should be made into a practice.
2.3.4 Soldering the LCD Module Connector
- Solder the pin header (male) enclosed with the LCD module to CN5 on the PICNIC board.
- The pin socket (female) should be attached from the backside of the LCD and soldered in place.
* View of Assembled Circuit
In the following images, we show various views of the assembled circuit.
(circuit shown with ICs inserted)
[Photograph 1] Top component side view (click here to see enlarged image)
[Photograph 2] Side 1 (VR1, reset SW, LED)
[Photograph 3] Side 2 (CN2)
[Photograph 4] Side 3 (DC connector, serial connector, Ethernet connector)
[Photograph 5] Side 4 (CN5, VR1)
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