Shortcut to avoid having to solder pins for limit switches

X-Carve Assembly
1

Let me be the first to freely admit I have horrendous soldering skills and I try to avoid doing it like the plague whenever I can. Soldering some twisted wires out in the free and clear? I can do that without too much trouble. But when I was faced with soldering those 8 tiny pins in to the circuit board during assembly of my X-Carve (the ones that your limit switch and spindle control wires connect to), a sense of dread ran through me. :smile: I gave it the old college try because it didn’t seem I had any other options, but it ended in failure and a lot of cursing that incurred the wrath of my wife. Not only was I filling the garage up with smoke because I had to get the pin hot enough with my gun to melt the solder that it was scorching the PCB, but when the solder eventually did flow around the first pin it also ran around the second pin at the same time because they’re so close together. So here’s a photo of what I ended up doing:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1Sx8UoqolwlNkRCb0JrREhuVHc/view?usp=sharing

I took some extra white limit switch wiring and ran it down through the appropriate hole in the PCB and then out the front of the “box.” I connected the appropriate white limit switch wires to these extension wires with simple male/female crimp connectors. The wires I inserted on the board are kept in proper contact with a few dabs of hot glue. My continuity tester shows they make and maintain the connection just fine. You’ll note the absence of the spindle control wires because I’m using the Dewalt.

I’m sure most people here can solder in their sleep. If you’re a danger to yourself or the community with a soldering iron/gun in your hand, or just plain lazy, this shortcut seems to fit the bill quite nicely. :slight_smile:

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Have you considered the new X-Controller?

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No, I am not familiar with it. I am just putting together what came in the box. Does this new controller come with the pins in question pre-soldered or something?

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From what I understand the new controller does require some assembly, but not nearly the detail work that the stock units require. X-Controller Kit | Inventables

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Yeah, sorry, I’ve always used the terms interchangeably. I indeed have the pointy small looking one. I told you, I suck at soldering. :smile:

1 Like
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If you are not going to use the Inventables electronics case you can use something like this between the Arduino and the gShield.