PCB Assembly Bootcamp

[Reproduction Game Carts Specific Information/Tutorial]

Tools for Soldering and Assembly

Hakko FX-888D Soldering Iron ~$95 (the defacto maker's choice slightly-higher-priced iron and here's a how-to guide.

Helping Hands (can be "helpful", but not good for many jobs. they're just not strong enough

PanaVise (the big brother of helping hands. stronger and better working features. look around on the web for deals)

Circuit Board Holder (cheap, works great. what we use at the space for many project)

ESD Safe Tweezers (curved are nice, straight are need too. really, you just need lots of different tweezers for different things. start a collection.)

Chip Puller (does what it says - pulls those IC's off)

Solder Sucker 1 & Solder Sucker 2(to be added) (basically these are the two you see. not all are created equal even though they look the same. if ur going to do a lot, get the nice ones. if only on occasion, you can get by with a cheapy)

Hakko FR300 Desoldering Gun (people say this is a good one. i haven't used it. shop around)

Hot Air Reflow (blows hot air to melt solder.)

Tutorials on Tools Above

If you put any of these tools into youtube you can find tutorials. Adafruit often has very good videos on the tools they sale as well. Sparkfun as well but less often. There's also instructables.

PCB / Circuit Board Design CAD Tools

KiCad (popular, free, and opensource)

Eagle CAD (probably the most popular with hobbyist, board size limitation is a con)

Solder Stencils

Sparkfun's Tutorial on Using a Solder Paste Stencil

OSH Stencils (a place to upload designs and order stencils)

Sunstone Stencil (same as above)

Adafruit DIY Paste Stencil Tutorial

Sparkfun DIY Stencil

Small Batch PCB Ordering

iTead Studios (pros: cheap, good reputation | cons:long lead time since it comes from china)

OSHpark (pros: reliable, high quality, faster delivery | cons: expensiver)

PCB Assembly Services

Small Batch Assembly (has pic n' place machine - in Virginia - a makerspace supporter)

There's one in Houston that sounded cool, but having a hard time finding again. (an)

Where to Buy Parts, Chips, IC's Digi-Key (sort by quantity to get common part - often info overload)

Mouser (narrower than Digi-Key, but still a lot)

Sparkfun (only the stuff you need as a hobbyist. until you don't, then see above), also and A Tutorial on IC's from Sparkfun.

Adafruit (even narrower than sparkfun, but even better tutorials, and supposed better trust/quality)

[www.buyicnow.com buyICnow.com] (where the replacement ROMs come from)

Ebay is also a common source for parts. Just be weary of shipping lead times, that you're getting the exact right part, and if it's an issue, that you can get it again. Don't build a product around an ebay product you may not be able to get again.

Electronics Testing Jigs

EEVblog Video on What They Are (there are many videos on this from that crazy aussie bastard. just search "eevblog testing jig".)

How-To from Sparkfun on Making a Testing Jig

Small Run Electronics Entrepreneurial

Tindie.com (the kickstarter of electronics - oh, and yeah, kickstarter ain't bad either.)

AdaFruit How-Tp on starting a hardware company

trusted book on getting stuff done for OSH hardware

Dragon Manufacturer Planning (for if you get past small run)

Bolt.io (venture capital on hardware - they're in maker news sometimes)

Some other Hardware Accelerators (frankly, like bolt, this stuff is kind of shooting at the stars, but what the hell. it's here if you want to look)