my hip handbook of smooth moves

[gengis]

I used some perf board to wire up my circuit point to point - put the component lead through the holes and pull it to where it needs to connect then solder. ~50 components.

I thought I'd be cute and work from a pcb auto routing program. Somehow I managed to get "turned around" and forgot which side of the board I was working on - the net effect was to swap pins 1and 14 around - and 2-13, and 3-12, etc. etc.

I "rang it out" (used an ohm meter to check connections) and discovered the mistake. Also fortunate to use an IC socket. I pulled the picaxe out carefully bent every pin 180 degrees and put it in the socket upside down. Works like a champ.

 

[Dippy]

Oh dear. Hope you've learnt your lesson.

Any other cockups you want to confess to while we're all listening?

 

[gengis]

Oh dear. Hope you've learnt your lesson.

Any other cockups you want to confess to while we're all listening?

Nope. That's enough embarrassment, thanks.

This is a first for me. I normally mark pin one on the underside and wire from the schematic. I was perturbed for a bit, but the solution was simple enough. whew- I didn't want to start over.

 

[hippy]

I pulled the picaxe out carefully bent every pin 180 degrees and put it in the socket upside down. Works like a champ.

I've seen a few circuits like that in my time. If it's a double sided board it's sometimes possible to put a socket or solder chips on the track side and the later can also work with single sided.

 

[MartinM57]

So you've now invented the "Australian PICAXE" (tm) for us northern hemisphere'ites (or the "UK PICAXE" for the southerners)...where the leads are above the body of the DIP ;-)

 

[Andres Rodriguez]

Flooby, you are not alone, I did something similar. The only difference is that I was not smart enough to think about bending the legs. I just threw away the circuit board .
By the way the glow driver circuit you sent me works great. I use it in my ground support field box. It is a bit heavy for on-board application but it works as described.

 

[slurp]

I've made a few PCBs at home using an Iron Transfer technique... all was great until I made the first board for surface mount.

I etched a half dozen small boards with the tracks mirror image... would have been ace for through hole surface mount components!

Check twice, etch once!

regards,
Colin

 

[premelec]

Yep... check 3 or 4 times! however sometimes you can turn the smd part bottom up and give pins slight downward bend and kluge something up... depends on the pitch of the IC bigger spacing and length being more amenable to this treatment...

 

[212]

Flooby, you are a genius to figure that out! I recently started using the boards with the copper circles on it so I can re-use used parts on it, I've had to re-do several times too lol..

premelec, do I know you by another name from another site??? If not, you are only the second one I've seen use "kluge" in a sentence

 

[Dippy]

212; "..premelec, do I know you by another name from another site??? If not, you are only the second one I've seen use "kluge" in a sentence"

- 212, I doubt it. I'm sure there are more than two people in the world who can't spell 'kludge'.

 

[premelec]

It's my recollection that 'kludge' or 'kluge' came from the sound a large useless object makes when dropped into a viscous fluid medium - so perhaps the spelling depends on what sort of swamp or pool you are dropping said object into...

My use of the word comes from the activity of _making_ the kluge - which is an activity of very low standards - before it is tested in its final resting place.

Oh, yes, kludged code is - unfortunately - also possible...

 

[212]

Well I had to go look..he did spell it different...

"OK, kludge incorporated (D5, R8) back on the originals."

But..I thought your spelling was fine, don't listen to anyone that puts a U in color anyway

 

[JezWeston]

Yup, I've managed the mirrored board trick here as well. Masked, etched, drilled, didn't notice until I was trying to solder the parts on.

I've been putting lettering on the boards since then, solves the problem of which side/which way around.