I was in the RCAF as a Comm/Radar Systems technician and I took the High Reliability Soldering course developed by NASA. We were taught to put a small dab of liquid flux on the connection, and put a little solder on the tip. That solder then acts as a heat bridge as it comes in contact with the lead and the pad. This heats up the connection quickly so that you can apply solder to the opposite side of the work and minimize the possibility of heat damage to components and board. With 2 sided boards and plated through holes you must ensure to dwell long enough for the solder to flow to the other side. Also, on the subject of bending leads, leads are bent to be in centre of holes so they don't stick to the sides when trying to remove them. Not a big worry for most hobbyists however. Love your channel. Don't let the smoke out.

@groovejet33

2 жыл бұрын

And remember NOT to turn it upside down or all the Electrons will fall out. He he he

@satibel

Жыл бұрын

I've seen a bunch of commercial boards which have short leads (like the ones on buttons.) bent on opposite ways, so like 1 up 1 down on a capacitor, or up down up for transistors, it's still fairly easy to remove (either bend the leads straight with a screwdriver or the soldering iron, or twist the component out), but holds well when soldering.

At the term "very very quiet" my heart ached. May your beloved mother continue to rest in peace. Please keep posting

I love these kit building uploads. I bought a load of the last clock you did and I build them whilst watching the video. It's kinda like painting along with Bob Ross. Very therapeutic.

The scissors comment was very good. The nicks in the blade would snag on the cloth mom was cutting. 1st and last time I did that.

@crimsun7186

5 жыл бұрын

You should also never use scissors that are cutting cloth to cut paper, as the cellulose in the paper dulls the blade.

@johndii2194

5 жыл бұрын

@@crimsun7186 I heard that speech too, Never understood that one. Sewing scissors for sewing or life and death situations only. CHECK.

@TRS-Tech

5 жыл бұрын

It must be my age but as a kid I found that destroying mums best scissors directly correlated with a sudden increase in backside temperature :-D

@piratetv1

5 жыл бұрын

I got in so much trouble for that as akid

@TRS-Tech

5 жыл бұрын

@@piratetv1 That's half the fun. Running away from Mum's slipper LOL. You learn so much in those years. After picking bits of glass out of my forehead I learnt that neon's need a current limiting resistor - I was lucky really as I had nothing protecting my eyes. It could have been a life changing event !!!!!!

Just finished a similar clock kit. Instructions were available as a pdf from the listing. My first attempt at hand soldering tiny SMD resistors and LEDs. I’m pleased to say it works nicely

I experience unhealthy levels of catharsis and satisfaction from watching you work. Please don't ever stop making these videos.

Bought this clock kit after watching your video. Mine gained 1 minute per hour lol. I pulled the crystal and the RTC out and put a DS3231SN chip for arduino on the back. Keeps perfect time now. I really liked the display so wanted to make it accurate.

@electron-1979

5 жыл бұрын

That's a more accurate chip, for sure! Great mod!

We don't get many videos where Clive makes something, instead of destroying something. Either way, you're both entertaining and informative as hell.

Bigclive I thank you for your channel. I find your voice relaxes me. Helps me calm down when stressed out. Then since my mind is calm. I’m learning the things you are showing me. Learning them with high retention. You have made my life better. This is an older video. I have watched many. I try to like each one I watch so I know if I have seen it before. Keep doing what you are doing. Here in the states. We are all stressed out. You are helping those that have found you. Thank you so much!

I'm always amazed by your prestidigitation. You're soldering that PCB in thin air, while most PCBs tend to travel away from me during soldering while they lie on the table.

@TheFoodnipple

5 жыл бұрын

I need 5 hands fukin on a board and he uses four fingers, wtf

@petehiggins33

5 жыл бұрын

I think it's an excellent word.

@olavl8827

5 жыл бұрын

I know! Since I started watching Big Clive I have tried on a few occasions to solder like him with only two hands, but that just resulted in burning my fingers and, shall we say, less than pretty solder joints. He makes it look so easy but it's not.

@neilt

5 жыл бұрын

It's lovely to see Clive manipulating and soldering just the way I did when I started work in the electronics industry 44 years ago!

@ricknelson947

5 жыл бұрын

anlumo1 As a field technician, you very rarely have ideal conditions for proper soldering. So you have to learn adapt and overcome. Clive demonstrates this expertly. You don’t need me to point that out. Keep working at it. Eventually you will stop burning your fingers all of the time. However, I don’t ever recall a demonstration from Clive, holding the project in one hand, soldering iron in the other and a piece of solder between the lips. The key for me is having a long enough piece of solder and a great pair of readers to see well enough to be accurate.

Kits are a lot of fun, I just finished, perhaps the hardest kit I have seen on Ebay, finished her yesterday, installed the 5 required 1220 cells and pressed the button, and to my absolute amazement, she came to life and I have a working digital watch, all SM construction, the processor had such fine legs on it that I thought I would never get them separated as the solder refused to come away, it was bridges of Perkins County (where I live, not Clint,) and I pumped enough heat into that ST micro device that I figured it would never have survived the torture. Well took me a full day, I believed I was saved by ordering one of those little brass shavings thing for my soldering iron (ordered a new one of those to so I had some better equipment to finish the project. I did manage to break one of the holes away on the clear plastic frame but some glue fixed that. I wore her now for a couple of days, but she is rather fragile and I don't see her as an everyday watch, but one to wear when I am visiting others of the geek religion. Here she is, order one, they are only 10 bucks and tons of SMD practice for your price! They even tossed in 1 extra resistor and cap, I needed one as I got carried away with the resistors and had to remove one to replace it with a more powerful one, screwed it up, thank god for the exxtra. Here is where I got her: www.ebay.com/itm/SCM-Transparent-LED-Watch-DIY-LED-Digital-Tube-Electronic-Watch-DIY-Kit/362388419401?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 Oh and I don't think I would even wear her outdoors if it looked like heavy fog or rain because there is no way in hell she is water proof. Hope the batteries last a long time, man 5 friggin batteries for one little watch!

That was strangely relaxing, watching Clive putting something together rather than taking something apart!

Shenanigans ensues when the enthusiastic starter solders the displays on first.

i am always impressed by your finger dexterity - holding parts with a few digits while holding the solder with the other. Well done. And I think everyone's preferred soldering methods are their own. Use other people's ideas for yourself as needed - no need to "correct" another's work when the circuit works.

Speaking of "spares". I once owned a TekTronix 512 oscilloscope, back in the 1970s (around 1976). It was already an "antique" at that point. One day, the 2nd-channel pre-amp failed. So, I open up the case, and it was beautifully built inside. But, to my astonishment and delight, there was a rack of spare tubes inside the cabinet. Replaced the blown tube from the pre-amp, and it ran for many many more years...

Display shows 15 31. Clive: "This must be the date." - 31th of Trizember or how do you call the 15th month?

@muimasmacho

5 жыл бұрын

Casimir Konrad : Here in the South US, we call that _"extended duck hunting season."_ Twelve months just ain't enough.

@draketungsten74

5 жыл бұрын

February 31 even.

@blogtodeath4736

5 жыл бұрын

@@muimasmacho It is for the poor Ducks

@gorillaau

5 жыл бұрын

@@blogtodeath4736 It's not long enough for the rabbits. Rabbit season comes after duck season.

@highpath4776

5 жыл бұрын

Actually extended months or days can be useful for shift work, or time operations where the job starts at 20:00 Day 1 , for calculating pay or resource avaliblity to have job finish at 27:00 Day 1 can be simpler than have 04:00 Day 2- less calculation and easier to mentally check

Nice work as always. Looking forward to seeing some “Big Clive” electronics kits! “Fun builds from the isle of Mann!” I’d buy some.

When you mention how cold your house is, you always remind me of the classic Goon Show episode "Treasure of Loch Lomond". "You must be cold, come in and sit by this roaring candle".

For those looking for one of these, search: DIY Black Digital LED Desktop Alarm Clock Electronic Learning Kit Module K0T0 on eBay

@bdf2718

5 жыл бұрын

Not found (on .co.uk version of ebay). Others (which appear to be the same thing or very similar) came up, but with a different module ID (or no ID at all). Removing the module ID also resulted in some interesting alternatives. Various sellers offering something similar to Clive's but with a ring of LEDs around it (which might indicate seconds or might just be disco lights, the photos indicate disco lights but that could be a test mode or something). The description of one of them implies it is programmable via the USB interface (maybe Clive's is too) or maybe it just infects your computer with a virus when you try to program it. The description of one of the ring o' LEDs jobbies had this jem (amongst others): "In the previous version, many children's shoes said that the alarm time was too long, but many children's shoes said that the alarm time was too short. When the boss was in a dilemma, he decided to make the alarm time adjustable!" Search for "Rotating DIY DS1302 LED Electronic Digital Clock Kit 51 SCM Learning Board 5V"

@TheSpotify95

5 жыл бұрын

Found some at just over the £7 mark. Interestingly they also do one with a 6 digit display, for about £10, which has seconds as well, so that might definitely be worth getting to see how it fares up against the 4 digit variant.

@THCjunky

5 жыл бұрын

aliexpress is cheaper

@joshuabest100

5 жыл бұрын

Search dot matrix clock diy you will fond them

@scottmarshall6766

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Lake! - 6 Green ones left after I got mine. 9.97usd

These videos help me sleep cuz his voice is so calming

19:50 it's not burnt fingers, it's digital heat-sinking.

@SpydersByte

3 жыл бұрын

lol. nice one

I just built a clock kit last night... my 2nd. I do so enjoy kits. I can't wait to build more.

@swanningabout

5 жыл бұрын

Don't wait then. But ten thousand kits and build constantly

@Cadwaladr

5 жыл бұрын

@@swanningabout Kits Georg is an outlier and shouldn't be counted.

@randynovick7972

5 жыл бұрын

Aye, Strawberry. I have a similar kit to Clive's on the bench right now, and it's all surface-mount stuff (my first surface-mount kit!) and I'll probably dig into it over the weekend.

Came here for the flashing L.E.D.'s..... Stayed for the expanding colon! Thanks Clive, I was halfway through my dinner when that one hit

0:30 "As with many Chinese-y kits, This one comes from the UK!" MindBlown!

an enjoyable time spent with clive cheers buddy

I love the way that you usw both hands to solder the way that you do Clive.. i do it the same way .....ambidextorous..

Thanks Clive. That's a nice little clock and fun assembly.

Those kits are a lot of fun thanks for sharing Clyde

I bought one of the big new analogue clocks that goes whizzing smoothly round without looking like it's stopped every time you glance at it. It's brilliant: I've lost track of the number of white plastic gears that have totally vanished in my kitchen while trying to keep the ticky kind working both uphill and downhill! :)

I can recall those days I was hating mini-USB connectors. After a short while micro-USB jumped in, and I started loving the mini ones.

I recently bought one of the other clock kits that you built before and I've got it on my side table. I read a lot of reviews of it, and people complained that it only has 24 hour time, which is what I prefer, and it only displays the temperature in Celsius, and I guess this is America, but it's still not a big deal to me. Additionally, it comes with a QR code that points you to a website with build instructions that are all in Chinese, but it was easy to figure out with the pictures. The only thing I really didn't like about it was the beeper, so I "adjusted" it by jamming a pointy object inside it and wiggling it around until it became much quieter. Good times.

@hene193

5 жыл бұрын

Cadwaladr Best way to make those beepers quieter is to put a tape on it.

@gregorythomas333

5 жыл бұрын

I just remove the beeper since the clock is just for time not alarm.

@muimasmacho

5 жыл бұрын

Cadwaladr : I did an ebay search for _"Jamming Pointy Object"_ ... and i can't even begin to imagine how you toggled the beeping component into silence mode without dicking up the whole project. Those thingies are HUGE!!! It appears the black ones offer the most bang for the buck. Just sayin'

@pfeerick

5 жыл бұрын

I use the pointy cutty things to silence them... they make no noise at all after that! xD

@gregorythomas333

5 жыл бұрын

@Mui MasMacho Just get the Asian ones...they fit better :)

my uncle Abed loves you clock kit guides :D for home automation... Americans, don't worry, he doesn't have a pilots license

Ok here I go again rambling on; I watched part of this yesterday, fell asleep in the middle. So I started over again, just woke up and missed a bunch of it once more! How many times must I watch this great video before I can see it all? Guess my age of 67 years is catching up to me.

I always use a wee bit of masking tape to hold components in when soldering - works well (can even reuse the same bit of tape a few times)

Clive, you've still got to do the one with the audio visualizer mode It is much simpler to program and only does the time and temp, and the temp is displayed much less often than the time. Use the flat LEDs on it, spraypaint the whole front, and then sand the front off the LEDs, it'll make it much more readable

Love these kit build videos!

Had to watch this one again, my wife has passed on and the brightness is a complaint of the past. My daughter loves this clock so I am going to take the gel paper off to return the brightness to it. We like the auto holiday display on it since it displays both US and China celebrations, the one that gets me is tomb sweeping day I head to the cemetery to clean my wife's headstone and whipe down my side as well since the undertaker put my name next to her for future reference. Sort of pisses me off though now I am listed as dying in 2020 on different grave finding websites. Some researcher's simply suck at their job.

I have had this kit in my house for 1 year! I should make it.

I really like these kit building videos

I like the home cold too. 18c right now with the dehumidifier on. I don't feel the cold till it gets about 5c and even then I prefer it cold. I dislike heat and summer. It is always easier to warm up than cool down.

@simontay4851

5 жыл бұрын

Yes, just put more layers on to keep warm. Keeping cool in summer is not so easy.

I love that kit ! Going to try to find it :) Thanks clive!

So far I've built all the clocks you've built on this channel - I should make a wall display or something ;).

Good to see you placed all the passive components on the board first :)

@bigclivedotcom

5 жыл бұрын

I should have mentioned about leaving active components to last.

Many, many thanks for doing another kit-build video. I think they are my favourites! I seem to have a bit of a passion for clock kits, so I will have to get hold of this one! I wonder should you socket the micro-controller if you can then reprogramme it--get rid of some of the annoying behaviour in the process? However from the looks you would need to dremmel out holes for the higher-standing IC if you did. As it happens I just got from China a 100% SMT clock kit where the whole display matrix is made from something like 340 discrete LEDs. They will be a true pleasure to solder down I am sure! I think I might wait until I can get a TS80 with its finer bit specifically for the job. Those little irons seem to have an excellent reputation and sit just at the extreme top end of pocket-money prices. The difference from the TS100 is that it will run from a 'QuickCharge 3' compliant USB power supply, which is handy. Sadly, on looking I cannot seem to find this specific kit on eBay--would you mind putting in a generic link to it?

@TheJimbr

5 жыл бұрын

www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=DIY+Black+Digital+LED+Desktop+Alarm+Clock+Electronic+Learning+Kit+Module+K0T0&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=DIY+Black+Digital+LED+Desktop+Alarm+Clock+Electronic+Learning+Kit&_sacat=0

Alberta Canada here my friend. love those mittens .. =35 on a good day here in winter . love your vids my friend

the DS1307 is a good chip and keeps time perfectly if it runs from a good 32kHz crystal - limited only by the behavior of the quartz, such as its temperature coefficient which is normally optimized for 25°C operation in a wrist watch. That said I once got a batch of 20 counterfeit DS1307 from eBay which I wanted to use in a student lab. The chips were mostly not running at all, some of them went red hot after a short while. Yes, there are more advanced alternatives which now even have the crystal embedded and also correct for the temperature coefficient by adding extra timer ticks when needed (the crystal is slow when running at higher and lower temperatures). The quartz crystals also come with specifications for different load capacitances when bought from reputable manufacturers - the ones off ebay are usually unspecified, but normally the frequency deviation caused by the capacitive mismatch is negligible.

I've been close-cropping soldered components on boards for over 50 years. NEVER had a problem with solder cracking as a result.

Square pads are typically pin 1 on IC packages. I think they are positive for electrolytic caps. Yes, printed or even copper screened labels on the solder side are best.

On some of the older PCB software packages, the square component pad indicated pin number one (1). It could be changed to a round if desired, left as is or made into a rounded rectangle. Sort of dates back to Circuitmaker, (32 bit). I left them square and made the remaining pads on ICs rounded rectangles to ensure they were installed the right way round.

I found that the last one you did with the clear acrylic tends to drift also, the alarm was set to go off 15:03 every day and drifted to 15:08 over 6 months, I thought I was going mad but I verified it on every other clock I have

Looking forward to seeing the results of your time-keeping tests. Mine gains about 1 minute an hour using an USB phone charger and still gains to a lesser extent when left on the backup battery.

0:63 on the 31st of the 15th month, fascinating

That's my gripe about the default Pad and Trace sizes for KiCad. Early on, I spent 3 days tweaking KiCad to define a whole set of "hobbyist" size footprints for all common components and increasing the default trace sizes. Well worth the time when etching your own boards. That skinny crap is fine when you're sending the Gerbers off, but doesn't even begin to cut it when you're laser-print transferring.

In most PCB/SCH design packages, the square pad just means 'pin 1' of the component for purposes of netlisting and is usually pre-set in the supplied libraries. Since there appears to be a transistor driving the sounder, it would depend on whether it's NPN or PNP to determine the polarity (if any). Most likely, in this case, it's NPN, and the square pin should be negative.

"Let's build a kit" Fuck yeah

I think once this arrives on the slow boat to Canada sometime in March, I shall build it _without_ installing the piezo buzzer. Don't really need another alarm clock... and the device won't beep like a microwave oven every time a button is pushed. I guess it would also be possible to add extension wires for the buttons and install them on the rear of a wood case.

@jochem_m

5 жыл бұрын

a particularly sickly microwave oven at that...

14:42 "Magnetic peeper"? LoL I have a new favorite descriptor. :D

I wonder if the reports of bad timekeeping come down to people not putting the memory battery in it at all?

@damedaE90

5 жыл бұрын

Ummmm no.. Mine just didn't count properly at all... See kzread.info/dash/bejne/qZ6e3JNvk5rOoqQ.html

@bdf2718

5 жыл бұрын

If it was gaining or losing time, the battery should make no difference.

@spicy110

5 жыл бұрын

@@bdf2718 what I meant was people leaving on standby or something and not realising that it was resetting the time everytime and thought it was just losing time I don't know lol

@bdf2718

5 жыл бұрын

@@spicy110 I got the impression, from what Clive said, that it was crappy timekeeping rather than resetting to random crap every time they unplugged the power source. But I wasn't giving sufficient allowance to how stupid people describe technical problems. I've listened to enough stupid people describe technical problems that I know how far wide of the mark they can be. I think I was taking it at face value because Clive said it. Then again, if they can manage to solder one of those things together with no instructions, surely they can't be *that* stupid. Can they?

@spicy110

5 жыл бұрын

@@bdf2718 hmmm interesting! I used to sell TVs and hi-fi and 99% of the time the problem was the knob holding a controller! 😂 but you make a very good point about them being able to put it together! The plot thickens! 👍

Bought one and found it had TINY surface mount resistors etc. Surprisingly, even with my 66 year old eyes, it works!

Its so nice to hear someone say 'solder' ... compared to the American sodder !

My mum used to work in a knitwear factory may years ago and spent about half a weeks wages on a pair of scissors. She still comments on the time my father cut a bit of carpet with them, weren't quite the same after that. Mother bought another pair but they were not the same quality am surprised they had us kids after that incident lol

It’s 2:00am the wind is howling around 50-75hm and the temp is -39c or -38.2f not including the windchill.. welcome to northern 🇨🇦 where we Canadians know a thing or two about starting & running frozen generators so I can watch BigClive soldering up a clock in his toasty warm house😡 Cheers from HudsonBay Ontario Canada.. I stockpile electronic kits during the summer months ..so after my responsibilities are done(plowing/chopping/de-icing frozen bits) I can build kits during long cold winter-nights..some of the kits I build now end up as gifts for my family members during 2019 yr😂

30:32 - It's called *Planned Obsolesence* ! And when tightening the frame screws follow AvE's advice. Tighten it up until you hear it crack, then back it off 1/4 turn.

@bigclivedotcom

5 жыл бұрын

I sometimes do that with cheap plastic electrical fitment faceplates.

Is there are kit that connects to home wifi and gets time from a time server? Analog would be wonderful and if it fitted into the standard clock module (1 x AA) used in wall clocks, that would be a bonus.

Hi Clive. The DS1307 is a good clock clip but it's normally let down in cheap kits by the poor quality crystals supplied, which I suspect in most cases are production rejects. The DS3231 clocks with a compensated resonator on the chip are far more accurate. I've built a few Home made Arduino based clocks with the DS3231 and they keep very accurate time. I have one on GMT in my radio room with a coin cell providing backup that has never had the time adjusted since I buit it a few years ago.

these pad sizes... I remember the lead bending bridges. Do not get me started. Some people really like it all aligned , flush and colour coordinated!

This clock reminds me of my grandpas old radio clock which sometimes displays 11:63 or 13:71 etc.. quite interesting

Aha, I actually have one of these kits, with blue display, bought it ages ago, from China, I think it was 6 or 7 quid. I shall do a solder-alonga-Clive :) Happy Days

@TrasteIAm

5 жыл бұрын

thats not a bad idea, Clive should do a solder-along live session of one of these cheap and abundant kits. might require a two month heads up so all have time to order and get their kits from China though. :)

@JerryEricsson

5 жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/a5iNm8mticiumM4.html

12:00 - "I'm just going to place this on momentarily..." AutoCaptions: "I'm just going to place this on Mormon Charlie..."

the "Bruh" feature looks particularly interesting

If you use an external flux, the carry-over method works quite well. Using that method really depends on the situation like soldering inside a guitar where a third hand would be great. External flux was a revelation for me.

for the PB switch opposite the battery holder, insert into PCB, trim the leads, then solder the component in place adding enough solder to just fill the hole. this makes it easier to produce a solder joint that is flush with the the PCB.

If you ever get into the market for a new Soldering Iron Setup, I personally and highly recommend the Hakko FX-880D. Works a treat and replacement tips are inexpensive as hell :)

26:09 - One nice thing about the TS100 is it will work with anything from 10 to 24 volts (specs say 12 to 24, but it actually works down to 8.7 or so - although it heats up very slowly). That means you can use just three lithium cells in series and have a very portable kit (it will draw about 1.2A at that voltage, so cheap 14500s might not work; you'll probably need 18650s). It heats up noticeably faster with four (~14.8V), though. And at 24V it goes from room temperature (~15 ºC) to 300 ºC in about six seconds (and you can get really cheap boost regulators to get 24V out of three or four cells). Another nice thing is that the base of the tip (is that an oxymoron? or a cock joke?) doesn't get hot, so you can hold it about 5cm away from the tip, which is great for -fiddly- -frittery- precision work. For what you do on the channel, you'll probably want a BC2 tip, and then maybe a C4 and / or D24 for larger stuff. P.S. - If / when you decide to try out the one you have, don't be surprised if the "calibration" instructions don't match the manual. They seem to have been written for an older firmware. The current (OEM) firmware sequence to do calibration is: 1. Power off. 2. Let the tip cool down to room temperature (and don't hold it - the handle should be at the same temperature as the tip). 3. Power up. 4. Press B once to show temperature and voltage (if you don't see the voltage, you have an older firmware; upgrade or follow the manual). 5. Hold A *_or_* B (not both at the same time like the manual says) for about 3 seconds (the iron should then show "Cal_V"; if it shows "Cal_X", either the tip is defective or the handle and the tip were at very different temperatures). 6. Hold *_both_* buttons at the same time (not a single one like the manual says) to go back to standby mode (or click one of the buttons to go to other set-up options - holding down both exits the menu from any "page"). If you're using the Ralim firmware, ignore all that, of course, and just follow the instructions on the website (the current version is bugged and always displays ambient temperature as 0 ºC, though).

I designed one of these for my first pcb project, mine had an atmega328p and DS3231. Had same problem with ghosting due to driving the display straight from the microcontroller. Seems the transistors on the gpio aren't fast enough for good multiplexing that many leds at the same time. For next version I just used a display driver IC and it was obviously perfect and had brightness control etc.

Brill! Another BC kit build.

I really love spending a good 45 mins with big clive

Great video Big Clive

I litterally just got this kit in the mail this week! perfect timing! get it :|

Clive, you have to try the ts80... I have the same soldering station you have ... and just bough the ts80 ... it’s literally unbelievable ... Would allow you to use quite a bit lower of a temperature too ... NICE! You seem to mention it too ... the ts80 has a much better tip design though, people showed how it outperformed the ts100

Looks like fun! Ordered one!

I still have two "Aurora" LED clock kits to assemble, they look pretty good, it's just learning to tell the time by deciphering colours to numbers that gets confusing... :P

I've always used 63/37 solder because I'm picky. It also works better because it goes from liquid to solid faster resulting in cold solder joints being almost non-existent.

fmt is probably format it is amazing that the clock works despite all the soldering required. fortunately it is a level 1 kit using through hole parts not surface mount

Solder ASMR before sleeping :)

I like this kit, there is also a 5 display unit version, which is SMD though. But it has slightly morr advanced functions on it.

LOVED THIS ,, more vids like this please Clive

Hi Clive, i love my TS100 I also got off fleabay a USB powered LCD one and it works brilliantly up to 400o/c and its pretty cheap. take care the noo . Mac

Well... I just had to buy one myself. I'm sure I won't be able to assemble it as elegantly as you have :-)

Clive, have you checked out the NIXT VFD tube clock on Ebay? Its a great kit to assemble and its so unique. I've made two so far (broke one by dropping it). It looks like Nixie tubes but its a vacuum florescent display.

Hi Clive! you seem to know your stuff, I'm quite concerned about a unit I just bought, I just plugged in a Marsona 1200, a sound generator/ sleep aid from the 1970s, its new old stock but when i plugged it in it had a background hum before I actually turned the unit on and after about a minute it started to make a crackling sound/ produced a slight plasticy smell. I unplugged the unit right away and the crackling settled/ the smell stopped. I don't intend on plugging it in again but I'm concerned it might be still dangerous?

Clive, I've been guilty of carrying solder with an iron, but I always butter my joints and components with flux. I guess I have developed this technique do to bad experiences in my younger years of lifting traces and pads. I've found that if I carry solder over to a buttered joint, it reduces the chance of damage to the PCB, as I allow the wet tip of iron and solder to heat the joint via the solder, and the flux keeps joint clean. Of course, cleaning flux off after is a thing.. Also, this would only work if you add additional flux, which I never solder without using. Am I wrong?

In my experience, cropping leads very short doesn't matter when using quality leaded solder. I used to do it all the time and never had any problem until i went for high temp lead-free solder, as it's all they wanted to sell here for a very long time. It cracks very easily, especially if there's vibration and wide temperature variations. The DC-DC step-down converter i made 2 years ago for my car had cracked solder joints on most of the cropped leads in about 6 months. Cracks were aligned with the direction i cropped the lead in, so i guess compression too close to lead-free solder joint create tension, while leaded solder is soft enough to just displace. It's my hypothesis anyway.

What would be involved with adding an atomic time receiver to these, or is there a kit that includes one?

I've even heard of a soldering iron that used the heating element AS the temp sensor. One way of doing it is to drive the iron with a bridge circuit, another is to sample the resistance of the element while skipping a power cycle. trying to figure out exactly how to do it makes my little brain hurt.

thumbs up from canada!

Have you done any work on the vaccum tube clocks? I have one and has trouble with lighting some numbers. Can't seem to find other replacements. Or may be the board.

I made the battery mistake too on the other clock you made with the 7 segment leds and clear case. It lost a few seconds an hour

When I build these kits I usually extend the thermister so it sticks up and out of the case so the temp is more acurate, if it is under the case it will pick up the heat from the clock and the temp function becomes useless.

"Just squish them down with your fingers and ram them in." Yeah, right, Clive.