#187 LED 3' Digits Clock SMD (TQFP, SOIC, LEDs) Practice - useful eye candy!

SMD clock (large 3"/75mm LED digits) practice kit with TQFP (thin, quad flat pack) 32-pin and SOIC chip, Perfect!

When I was learning SMD (Surface Mount Device) soldering I thought I should buy a proper kit and assemble it.

The best laid schemes o' mice and Ralph gang oft awry and it is now well over a year before I find the time to actually build this kit. Just as well I didn't try it too soon as it was quite 'tricky' and not for complete beginners! It's good for those thinking they need a bit of an SMD challenge (but not too much of one) with something to show for it at the end of the day. An actual beginners' practice board is listed below.

The results are very nice, not that I have a huge need for an LED clock in my workshop, but it works, tells me what day of the week it is (very handy when one day is much like the one before it) and even has an alarm.

You can adjust all sorts of visual effects too, of course, with the digits having different (or the same) colours, how fast they change colour, how often they change and so on. Experimentation (and lots of time) is the key.

Music from YouTube
On the Run by Doug Maxwell, Jimmy Fontanez

Don't forget to check out the PCBs and SMT capability of JCLPCB:

### List of all my videos
(Special thanks to Michael Kurt Vogel for compiling this)

### COMPONENTS
You can help support my channel by clicking on the affiliate links below before you buy ANYTHING from Banggood!

Geekcreit® Large Size Rainbow Color Digital Tube DS3231 Clock DIY Kit

SMD Component Soldering Practice Board from $2

THIS IS THE PRACTICE KIT I USED, WITH QUAD FLAT PACK CHIPS, only $3.15

Desoldering braid 1.5mm 2mm 2.5mm 3mm 3.5mm Width 1.5M Length, $2.56 each
Essential for removing bridges and solder from the PCB

DANIU Heavy Duty Soldering Solder Iron Tip Cleaner $6.80 (What I use)

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My channel, GitHub and blog are here:
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[meagrebones]

Thanks for the masterclass in smd soldering. I'm ordering a kit to try it for the first time. Showing your that the problems are easily fixable has increased my confidence levels.

[tookitogo]

I built one of those early this year! It’s a great kit. (I also built a few of the monochrome version that’s a full LED matrix.)

Good work overall, and great video and audio quality!

Anyhow, invest in a knife blade (PLCC blade) soldering tip for the LEDs. It’s kinda miraculous for soldering PLCCs (which is what 5050 LEDs are: PLCC-6), and useful for many other things.

When you have solder bridges that become reticent, bear in mind also that the solder itself can become what I call “overcooked” — prolonged heating both causes oxidation to happen (which flux can help reduce), but also dissolves more of the iron tip, component leads/contacts, and PCB pads, contaminating the solder with random amounts of copper, silver, gold, etc. (which the flux cannot fix), resulting in a goopy, unpredictable alloy that bridges a lot. When you notice this happening, “rinse” your tip with multiple changes of fresh solder, wiping it clean in between. Then go in promptly and resolder the bridged leads with more fresh solder. If you notice you have this happen a lot, get into the habit of rinsing the tip occasionally, especially when the iron has been sitting idle for longer than a moment or two.

Also, for clearing solder bridges, try pulling it away from the IC, rather than drag soldering it down the row again.

Also, overall, you’re applying a bit too much solder, especially on the LEDs and passives. The shape of the component leads/contacts should always be slightly visible. The fillets should be concave, not convex.

[tomgeorge]

Louis has become so famous with his flux application that now any amount of flux is dispensed in "Rossman" units...😃😃👍👍😃😃

[vonries]

Great to see you looking so fit! Now please, for your sake, and ours stay that way.

[DavidUnderhill]

Thanks for the video, good to see your sight is better. I have had laser surgery twice on both eyes in last year.

[keitholiver]

Hi Ralph, if I remember when surface components first came out they used to put a tiny spot of glue in the middle of the component to hold it whilst it’s being soldered. I think more appropriate for flow soldering machines (automatic insertion machines), but might be useful here to hold and align your components before soldering.

[TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

Nice clock I built one last year, it's currently sitting on the living room desk. only issue i have is the touch buttons work better if the other hand is touching the usb connector body.

[iancooper]

What size solder wire are you using Ralf???? You should be using 0.3mm or 0.2mm. Anything bigger and you get bridges as it is extremely difficult to control how much solder you are applying to the iron. Also, have a look at a solder iron tip that has a "well", they help a massive amount.

I know it would not work for this board but a future video could well be a home made Reflow Oven.

[McTroyd]

I tried the drag solder method and always ended up clearing bridges. Never occurred to me I was adding too much solder to the tip! Thanks for that.

[MartinBgelund]

Thanks for the video, Ralph.
Always some good takeaways in your uploads - I actually wasn't aware there were differences in quality between solder wicks, which is probably why I curse and swear every time I use the cheap type I bought.

[brianmiller]

I bought this kit 2 year’s ago, still trying to pluck up courage to start it, just have to get past the 58 leds each with 6 pins to solder, =348! Joints on the display side alone.

[superdau]

Next step up: a hot air station. At the latest when you found that you messed up pin 1 on a 48-pin QFP ;) It also helps pulling all those wonky components into position (or blow them off the board XD ).

[andymouse]

Hi Ralph, Yep definite improvement, worth it now though 'eh?...cheers.

[judgebeeb]

Excellent. Your SMD soldering skills have greatly improved. (You may recall my rather harsh comment from the first SMD video you did last year.) Now have a go at a QFN (quad flat no leads)!

[jstro-hobbytech]

Thanks for making alexa natter on about ot finding that light in the other room hahahaha

[asagk]

Oi, Ralph, do not forget to make sure the rotten pets do not swallow the smd parts to become hippie rainbow style! Pets tend to do crazy stuff when on a hippie style trip ... :)
Pretty good soldering btw.!

[JerryEricsson]

Greetings! I am still messing around with the internet radio, my latest go at it was to mount it all in a cardboard box, ran into problems because I decided to use a smaller buck power supply, running it off the remnants of an old Mac-book Pro battery, using 4 of the 5 packs that still hold power, arranged to put out 12 volts. Problem, that blasted power supply was so noisy that it was virtually unusable. So I went back to the old PS that I built myself using a 7805 and some caps, that works great, then pulled the radio itself back out of the box and put it back in a project case as it just didn't like being in the same box with the amp and PS, plus I managed to tighten the OLED to tightly and broke the screen, my other one had the GND and VC reversed, didn't notice that till the magic smoke escaped. Luckily I had another but it was to weak, so I took one from another project and replaced the weak one. I am now back in business with two great speakers and a small amplifier in the box with the power supply, and the radio itself sitting atop the box. Works great, I listened to it all afternoon yesterday after returning from hospital where my good wife was subjected to tests finding some major health problems in her stomach. We are nervously awaiting the results of biopsy of the area to return in 3 to 5 days. Overall, though the project has been a blast to work on, thanks a million!

[jessicacarter]

Nice, makes SMD look like it's something I could eventually do! Next video though, I'd recommend not putting in a command for 'she who must not be named' (that's what we call Alexa when talking about her but don't want to trigger her!) since she responded to you turning off your studio lights, "Did you mean bedroom light?" haha.

[pleasecho]

Louis Rossman's got nothig on you. Good video. What iron do you use and what temperature?

[Evilduckcreations]

Great video, Ralph! I'm ordering one of the clock kits today. One question--where did you get the soldering iron tip with the concave section in the middle? Is it made for a special iron? (I know Hakko makes one but they are hard to find in the USA.)