First foray into SMD components this evening. I still haven’t quite figured out my preferred technique. Currently using flux pen to prep the pads, then stick a solder blob on one pad and lightly tin the other pad. I then get the component (all resistors in this case) in the tweezers and heat the solder blob so that the component can be plopped into it. Heat still applied I push the other end of the component down onto the tinned pad then add a bit more solder to improve the joint.
Still not tested anything yet, but I’ll grab the schematic tomorrow and figure out the best way to test the components.
Feel like I need a double pronged soldering iron tip that I can apply to a blob on both pads at once so that I can put the component down a bit more symmetrically.
Tested it live in production (ie threw it into the rack rather than testing components/traces) and it all seems good except for the “1+2 4+7” jack. No LED or signal even if I’ve manually set all bits on the Turing Machine to on. Need to check the resistor I think.
The resistor was fine, but after checking the schematic I was able to work my way back from the non-functioning output/LED to the AND gate where it seems like I didn’t do a great soldering job. A quick touch up on 3 pins and everything is working perfectly now.