[hpsdr] RE Couple of questions on Building Hermes before diving

[dlwaddel at netzero.net]

Rick,

I have been struggling with building a Hermes myself. I suggest the following gross order for installing parts:
All those pesky ICs that have no leads.
All those ICs with lots of leads.
All the rest of the ICs,
Resistors, capacitors, diodes, and other SMD parts. (I did these with ordinary soldering iron with a needle point tip.)
Through hole devices.

I used the component placement guides, but beware of a few errors. Installing all the parts of one value works real well because you only have to open a package of parts once. Like, install all the 1K resistors, then install all the 10K resistors, etc. This is where the 27 page installation guide came in handy, although I just used the BOM and looked for each component most of the time.

I don't think the 27 page guide is intended to be in the order of installation.

I'm not quite finished - waiting for next order of parts to arrive. I'm very concerned about those leadless ICs. I have nearly no confidence I installed them with all the leads soldered and to the right board pads. I used a hot air tool, but those with a center pad just didn't want to go in place. I used a toaster oven to pre-heat the board and the hot air to solder. Took multiple tries for several parts. If you have someone who is equipped and experienced with installing these pesky parts, you're making me jealous!

Good luck!

Don
K3DLW
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