I reached stage 2.11 yesterday before other matters intervened, so hopefully today will be the day...
These hints may be blatantly obvious but here goes.
1.? My first step was to remove the four SMD inductors for no better reason than I could do it with the board flat on my work surface at that point.? Tweezers were helpful for two but the others came off stuck to the ball of solder on the tip of my iron
2.? If you are concerned about how much wire you need for T1, then wind L14 first and put it aside until needed.? Then you know how much you have left.? The inventory says 50cm is supplied, but the length in my kit was a generous 60cm and I had 18 cm (say 7") left at the end of my 3:3 transformer despite leaving longer tails than Hans suggests.? So you will have plenty.
3. I have several tips of differing sizes for my soldering iron, so I changed to a larger one for T1 and L14 for better heat transfer - there is room to wield a bigger tip if you are careful.? I also increased the iron temperature from my usual 350C to 390C (sorry, if you work in Fahrenheit ask Mr Google).? Seems to have worked as both passed their continuity checks first time.??
4.? If you are in the position of having to buy solder for the build, go for 0.5mm (0.02") or thinner rather than the more standard 0.7mm or thicker.? Although you can build successfully with the thicker solder, it needs more care as it's all too easy to use too much solder and create blobs and bridges.?
5.? I haven't got there yet, but if you do no other pre-switch on checks, at least check that you don't have a dead short on the DC input.? All I will say is that melting insulation has a smell of its own......
And a note for those who are concerned about such things, my QDX (order 50300) left Hans on Thursday 28th, reached his local TNT depot in Izmir around midday on Tuesday 2nd and was handed over to me in southern England midday on Wednesday 3rd.? So no complaints there.??
Good luck and enjoy the build.
Chris? G4CWS
??
