Soldering G120 module

One quick question:

Any advise on soldering the G120 module on a custom board? Reflow or hand soldering?

edit: changed GM120 to G120 (thx Gus :slight_smile: )

@ Patrick - If you are comfortable soldering a Gadgeteer socket, then you should be good to do it manually.

Check this thread:

https://www.ghielectronics.com/community/forum/topic?id=10397

You can solder by hand very easily if you have any soldering experience. Defiantly do not use a DIY reflow ovens. If you have a professional oven with 5+ zones then use that.

PS: G120, not GM120 :whistle:

I was thinking of getting myself a T-962A reflow oven. Will it do the job?

Justin uses one. As far as I remember he was happy with it. I would still go for manual with G120. Not sure how the components on G120 itself will react to reflow.

I would hate to ruin the module if the assumption is wrong. I had practice and feel comfortable soldering SMT components by hand, though.

@ andre.m - the reflow is about the same for any similar module and typically known to anyone with experience in SMT soldering.

Ok, thx guys. I’ll go for smt for the smaller parts and will do the G120 by hand.

I’ll ask Justin for his opinion and experience on the T-962(A). First things first, finishing my board and get a PCB from it :wink:

A total new experience but learning on the job!

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I also have the T-962(A) and used it for EMX and G120 which work great. I used it with a lead / tin solder past which has a lower melting point as non leaded solder.
Hand soldering can be done as well very easily but you need a solder iron with enough power.

As Rob said they work great and glad i ignored the reviews

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Hi Patrick

I hand soldered with ease.

By the way, a nice tip before you solder it all down. Only solder 2 power pins and the USB and then fire up your board and make sure it gets detected. If there is an issue, you can remove it easier with just those 4 connections soldered.

:smiley:

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Thx for all the great advise. I’ll keep them in mind. Next step: finish the board design and get it send out to a PCB manufacturer, any suggestions?

If the board is less than 150 x 100mm or even smaller, I would recommend the dfrobot service. You get 10 boards for the price and shipping by courier (for me anyway) is very reasonable. Once you have a size, you can check out there PCB options.

http://www.dfrobot.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=135_134

The first in the list is 4 layer so don’t be shocked by the price, although this is a very good price for 4 layer boards. Scroll down to find the 2 layer options.

Have you done a PCB design before or is this your first time? If first and the design is not anything secret, post it or part of it here and you’ll get some honest opinions on it. Assuming you are willing to have is look at your handywork? :slight_smile:

This board is my second one (although the first one isn’t produced yet) but is for 90% based on cobra II net variant. I got rid of the headers, reduced the size of the cobra by 10mm and added a flash (4mb) chip to replace the SD-card. I’m not expecting any problems. The board it self is 110 x 79 mm so DFRobot is an option for sure.

And now a coffee break :slight_smile: