Five Mini Manuals

By Richard Buttars

This book contains the following mini-manuals:

Electronic Troubleshooting

This is a manual which will teach you the basic concepts of electronic troubleshooting. If you are an electronic technician, student, or even just someone who has an electronic device they wish to discover what has gone wrong inside, this manual will give you the basic idea on how to go about it.
PCB Assembly
This is a manual detailing the process of creating electronic printed circuit boards. This book is written for the hobbyist, prototyper, and small scale production.
Personal Radio Communications
This book provides a description of and an introduction to the different types of radio communication available for personal use. Information is provided for each of the different radio services available for personal use along with the frequencies and transmitter power levels available for each.

Soldering Electronic Circuits
This book is an manual on the proper way to solder in electronics. The author provides information about the best way to solder or repair common types of soldered connections found in electronic equipment.
Creating a Product
This manual sets forth the basic steps needed to create a product to sell in the public marketplace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard Buttars
• Release date: May 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781621090168

Richard Buttars

Richard Buttars was born in Ventura, California. His father worked as a carpenter during Richard's younger years so he moved between California, Nevada, and Utah as his family moved to follow construction jobs. Richard enlisted in the Navy at 17 and in which he sserved for 6 years. He spent the next 29 years working in electronics and computer software development.

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Five Mini Manuals

by

Richard Buttars

SMASHWORDS EDITION

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Copyright 2013 by Richard A. Buttars

All rights reserved

License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Five Mini Manuals

Introduction and Contents

This book contains the first five of my Mini Manual series collected into a single volume. This collection consists of the following books:

Soldering Electronic Components

Printed Circuit Board Assembly

Electronic Troubleshooting

Personal Radio Communications

Creating a Product

By collecting all 5 manuals into a single volume I hope to create a book that is easier for some people to read and use, depending upon your interests.

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Soldering Electronic Components

Introduction

This manual describes how to solder electronic components together to create a reliable physical and electrical connection between them. Soldering is an area where skill and craftsmanship can make a very significant difference in the finished product. This skill and craftsmanship comes from a combination of training and practice over time.

I learned to solder when I was 14 years old in a high school electronics class. Soldering was the only thing we learned for an entire semester and it was only after the students had learned to solder that we proceeded with learning electronic circuit theory. Whenever I smell the smoke from electronic soldering I remember my days in electronics shop class.

When I was 17 I joined the Navy in their Advanced Electronics Program and learned how to solder once again, this time with more sophisticated tools and equipment. As part of the Advanced Electronics program I was sent to school for nearly two years and this included a NASA certified soldering class.

Key Concepts in Soldering

The following are the Key Concepts of good electronic soldering:

Good wetting – mixing of the solder and base metal atoms to produce a good, solid joint with good electrical and mechanical properties.

Good wicking – allowing just enough capillary action of the liquid solder to ensure the insulation is not burned.

Insulation gap – wire being soldered should be stripped of insulation for the specified length on the end being soldered.

Visible wire contours – When a wire is soldered in place to a terminal the contours of the wire should still be visible within the solder covering the joint.

Cold solder joint – the parts to be joined are not heated sufficiently for the solder to properly wet the surfaces to be joined.

Joint fracture – moving the wire or component being soldered before the solder has completely cooled results in a fracture within the solder.

Wire over-wrapping – the wire to be soldered is wrapped too many times around the terminal or wire to which it is attached.

Loose exposed wire – the wire is not fully covered by solder in the area which is wrapped or otherwise attached to another wire or terminal.

Insufficient or improper flux – a sufficient amount of the proper type of flux should be applied to the surfaces which are to be wetted with solder.

Basic Requirements for Good Soldering

Solder

Solder is an alloy of several different metals that has the properties of low melting point and surface wetting of the metals such as those used in wires and electronic components. Metals commonly used in various types of solder include tin, lead, and silver. Solder is available in these forms:

Solid and flux core solder wire in various diameters. The flux core can be either acid or rosin flux; only rosin flux should be used for electronic work.

Pre-formed solder - pre-molded to a required shape.

Bar or ingot solder - designed to be melted in a pot for dip/ wave soldering.

Solder paste – powdered solder metal mixed with flux to form a paste.