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I finally got my first hand-wired board to type on and it only took me 4 tries
Was at a meetup in Portland last month and this guy was showing off his hand-wire job with these perfect diode rows. Mine looked like a rats nest. He told me to stop trying to make it look pretty and just focus on getting the connections solid first. Tried that method and after 3 failed attempts where nothing worked, the 4th one actually registered every key. Still not pretty under there but hey it types. Anyone else struggle with getting their soldering iron in those tight spots?
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karenlee20d agoMost Upvoted
Oh boy, this takes me back. I still remember my first hand-wire job - it looked like a spider had a seizure in there. But you know what nobody talks about? Getting the right iron tip makes all the difference. I used a chisel tip for years until someone at a local meetup let me try their fine point conical tip and suddenly those tight spots were way easier to manage. Also sounds obvious but a good flux really helps the solder flow where you want it instead of globbing up. I kept fighting with cheap solder and cheap irons forever before I learned that lesson. Anyway congrats on getting it working - that feeling when every key registers is something special.
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dylan_anderson18d ago
That spider line hit too close to home.
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@karenlee actually has a good point about tip shape but I gotta gently push back on that chisel tip thing. A chisel tip is actually better for hand wiring because it holds more heat and lets you bridge multiple joints faster than a conical point. Anyone else find that using a bigger tip helps in those tight spots?
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