After installing Speedball, only one half of the tube heats up [resolved]

[FruityPlasmid]

I am having a really hard time getting it to move, ill keep trying, but any recommendations

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Heat and time will make the solder flow.  Do you have at least a 30W iron?

 

[FruityPlasmid]

After so much time i did it, and it still acts up

OA - 77.4
IA - 158.7
B-A/B - 0
IB - 158.8
OB - 46.6

I think i broke the LED on D1 side B

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Your LEDs looked to be properly soldered, but not so much the transistors.

If you look in the last photo, the leg of Q1B closes to R1 didn't have solder passing all the way through the hole in the PC board.

I would suggest ordering up some replacement LEDs and taking a breather on this project for a few days while they are in transit.

-PB

 

[FruityPlasmid]

I had some LEDs to spare (bought them previously for the Stock Crack) and it worked fine

OA - 77
IA - 181
B-A/B - 0
IB - 181
OB - 81

But now the big board is acting weird

OA - 144
OB - 213
G - 0
B+ - 213

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Can you pop the big board out and send a photo of the bottom?

 

[FruityPlasmid]

Here you go

 

[Paul Birkeland]

These are still not heated enough.  Can you snap a shot of the specs of your solder iron and the solder you're using? 

 

[FruityPlasmid]

Tabiger Soldering Iron Kit 60W 110V-Adjustable Temperature

Temperature ranges from 200 C to 450 C

The solder im using is AlphaFry Rosin Core 40/60

 

[kgoss]

This may be a dumb question but are you keeping the tip clean with something like a damp sponge?

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Also, the temperature should be cranked as high as that iron will go.  A 3-5 second heating on all the solder joints except the LEDs should get the solder to flow through those board holes.

 

[FruityPlasmid]

Yes, I do, its ok to ask. I'll be honest, I'm really REALLY bad at this, with the Crack being my first project ever.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Try a 3-5 second count while you're heating up those joints. You'll see the solder appear to sink a little bit when it wicks into the board through holes.

 

[FruityPlasmid]

I did what you said but i got nothing, maybe i broke the LEDs, I have already broken around 3 of them previously

 

[Paul Birkeland]

LEDs can be tested by some meters by using the diode setting. 

 

[FruityPlasmid]

I wish i found that out earlier, 2 of the 4 LEDs don't work

 

[FruityPlasmid]

After replacing the LEDs, i also moved 2N2222A from the A side of the board a little higher, and now the voltages seem to normalize a bit

OA - 110
OB - 198.1
B+ - 181.1
G - 0

i think the issue is that in the manual i doesn't give an example of how high off the transistor should be off of the PCB, so i left it pretty close, but now that i learn how to desolder the leads, i hop tomorrow afternoon i can be done, will update.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

It might also help to see how the soldering on the bottom of your board looks.

Having a high voltage at OB means very little current is passing through that half of the big Speedball board, which still points to solder joints or a broken wire (or potentially a flaky solder joint at B2/B5).

-PB

 

[FruityPlasmid]

I made some progress, all the LEDs light up now but OB still has 181V and the LEDs, D1 and D2 on B side, light up almost exactly when i turn the crack on. This was the problem previously but i don't know how i fixed it

 

[Paul Birkeland]

It still looks like there are some soldering issues that are preventing this board from working.  It might be worth considering a flat rate repair to get this project up and running.