Lixie II Clock

#1

Hi all,

this is the project that I’ve been working on and off with for a while now.

It seems like a good makerspace project as it involves soldering, 3D printing, lasercutting, and I’d like to make a wooden surround for it. Also software, to make it a useful clock.

Progress so far:

  • ordered PCBs to the original design
  • soldered about 150 Adafruit neopixels so far… it’s a bit challenging, I’m not great at SMD
  • printed some of the frames that hold the edgelit digits - but each one has a raft I need to remove :frowning:
  • my friend laser cut some of the acrylic digits (only digits 6-0 - 1-5 are still to be done, lol)

Anyway it kept me going during lockdown, the bits I could do at home, anyway - attached a pic.

lixie2pcbs
lixie2pcbs.jpg2016×1512 1.18 MB

cheers,
Paul

2 Likes
#2

The SMD work is challenging, I find my eyesight and slight handshaking an obstacle. I guess taking regular breaks is important.

The Neopixels have hardly any surface to solder to, so I find it’s easy to misalign them on the PCB pads.
Once soldered in their four corners they’re very hard to remove again - I destroyed the pads on one PCB trying to remove a Neopixel that wasn’t making contact properly in one corner… attached a pic of running repairs that rescued that particular board - not pretty but I’m glad it wasn’t a complete bin job.

lixie2repairs
lixie2repairs.jpg1328×1280 713 KB

#3

Great project, looks very cool!
Nice work rescuing that board. I like to use really fine solder wick with rosin flux to get as much solder off as possible before trying to remove an SMD component, if you’re lucky it can come off with no issues. Many ways to do this though!

#4

Hi Morgan, thanks! I’ll post more photos soon, it’s not quite ready for assembly yet though.

I have a copper braid about 3mm wide for desoldering, is that what you mean by fine solder wick? I have a flux pen too which I use in SMD builds. Can I use that with the wick or would you need something like a dropper?

#5

Cool looking forward to seeing the progress! Yeah the copper braid is what I mean - I prefer the ones with the rosin flux impregnated in, they seem to suck up the most. I agree flux pen is good too for SMD.

#6

It might be worth giving hot air a try, especially for rework. I haven’t used the one in the space but we have one.

20220222_131216
20220222_131216.jpg1440×2277 457 KB

From https://www.ledlightinghut.com/files/SK6812%20White.pdf

#7

Do we have a hot air gun? I’ve used one of those for heat shrink in the past, but nothing as delicate and precise as desoldering an LED… is fine control possible?

#8

There’s a special kind for soldering; it allows you to precisely control temperature and flow airflow

#9

+1 on the hot air suggestion - use one of the ones for electronics in the space, lots of flux, it will tidy them all up perfectly and is way easier than hand soldering.

1 Like
#10

Hi Paul,

We are starting to look at our content inclusion for the Dulwich festival Maker fair we have a “Don’t be Shy! submit your Make” event happening on Friday. Would this be of any interest to you maybe and/or do you know anyone else I can reach out too?

Cheers
Dorine

#11

Hi Dorine,

This project got left on the back burner for a long time! I can bring parts of it in to show though.
I have a couple of other projects that I can also bring in if it helps.
Since I have evening plans Friday I’d prefer to come in earlier and not leave the projects behind ideally?

thanks,
Paul

1 Like
#12

Bring in what else you have :slight_smile: