Notes & suggestions on building a DIY board

The PCB board may look complicated but it is possible for a novice to build. Below are some notes and suggestions on building your own board by hand.

Some tools you will need are:

Ordering:

When ordering parts be sure to order a few more of the passive parts. They are very cheap and can be very difficult to find when dropped.

Some places where a beginner might have issues would be:

the orientation of the diodes & other parts (follow the silk screen, especially with diodes and ICs)
the small capacitors "0805 size" (they can be very tiny and once dropped they are almost impossible to find. The good news is that the board will still work without them in place)
the small 5v/12v leds and resistors (Tiny like the capacitors but if put in backwards or lost the board will still operate but the led might not illuminate)
solder bridges on the ICs (use the solder wick to remove excess solder)

Some other suggestions:

Use a light touch when holding parts, if you hold too tightly they will jump out of your tweezers and fly off to a place where you may never find them again.
Try to avoid putting too much heat into a solder joint. Many of the parts can take a little heat but if you put too much you can damage the part. Remember you can always try again if a joint isn't perfect on the first pass.
Use electrical grade solder and not solder intended for plumbing.
Start with the smallest parts first. Once the smallest parts are in place you can still reach the larger parts. If you install the largest first you might have issues in reaching the smaller parts.
Take your time. There is no rush. If you need to stop mid build put all parts into a ziptop bag.
Only open one part at a time. Many parts will come one a reel. You may be tempted to open the whole reel, avoid this temptation. Work with one part at a time.
Here is a nice video on how to (solder Surface Mounted Devices by hand.)[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzoPxvIM2qE]

To Do:

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