Hold 'er Steady
Instead of growing a third arm, use a PCB holder to solder components onto your circuit board.
Last updated March 2019
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Did you think I was kidding by saying to grow a third arm? It could be a very real possibility in the future. Researchers have made significant leaps by discovering the capabilities of precursor cells. While we wait for the technology to evolve, let’s use the next best thing – an adjustable circuit board holder.
These are very convenient when you start soldering components on your board. You might be able to get away with not using one if you just have surface mount components on the top layer. If you’re using thru-hole components or have surface mount components on the top and bottom layers, you’ll want to use a holder. If not, it will be difficult and annoying. To give you an analogy, have you ever sat at a table with unlevel feet? Then, when someone puts their arms on the table, it quickly shifts to where that downward force is applied. Pretty annoying, right? That’s what it will be like when you’re trying to solder a component on the bottom layer with components already placed on the top layer. The board won’t be level due to the different heights of each component, so it’ll keep shifting.
When we’re designing a board, we like to keep a clearance between the edge of the board and the components. This allows us to clamp the board in any spot around the perimeter of the board. If you’re using this particular circuit board holder, that clearance should be at least 0.1”. You may not be able to achieve this clearance around the entire board (right-angle connectors hanging over the edge), but make sure you have a couple spots where you can hold the board.
In lieu of a board holder, you could try adding standoffs if you have holes in each corner of the board. This will raise the board off the ground and keep it stable so you can solder on the components. Make sure that the height of the standoff is higher than the height of your tallest component on both the top and bottom layers.
What did we learn?
- Use a circuit board holder to make soldering on components much more efficient.
- Keep enough clearance between the components and the edge of your board.