Started work!

At last, after so many miserable weeks of delay and disappointment due to stuff not being delivered on time. Only on the little microlectronic device rather than the instrument panel itself, but that’s much better than just wasting time doing nothing constructive at all.

I was originally going to head over to Malbec and install the new transponder cable on the Savannah but our latest postie is arriving much earlier than the old ones used to and before I could leave, she’d arrived and delivered the final package of electronic parts that I’d ordered including the copper strip board. So I decided that I’d get cracking on some electronic assembly work instead and leave the transponder cable to another day.

Here’s a shot that I took a short while ago of my ‘work bench’ in front of my computer screen on my computer work station.

I’ve soldered in the Arduino Pro Mini microcomputer plus a few more components and the LM1815N integrated circuit is in position ready to be soldered in also. I was a bit shaky to start off with but I’m getting better at handling the little components and the soldering as I slowly master the necessary techniques.

I was lucky because I already have a pair of magnifying goggles and a little 15 watt soldering iron that I haven’t used for ages. In fact it still has a UK plug on it. I was also amazed when I was searching for something yesterday in my atelier to come across two little tools that I didn’t know that I had for cutting the copper strip between adjacent holes on the circuit board.

That’s one of them in the photograph with what looks like a small drill bit in a little blue handle that you hold between your thumb and forefinger and spin in the hole on the board where you want to cut the copper strip. I just tipped them into a bag with lots of other ‘junk’ when I left the UK and they’ve been in my atelier ever since. I only now know what they are for after reading information on the internet about how to do this project, so what a coincidence and how useful!

I’m going to do a little bit more now although I’m not sure that I’ll be able to finish the whole job this evening. I’m finding it challenging because of the intense concentration needed to ensure that I position everything exactly where it should be according to the layout plan that I prepared earlier, but it’s very interesting and also very satisfying.

I just hope that it works when I’ve finished and that I won’t have made a mistake that will make it fry itself when I apply 12 volts to it! Oh well, got to get on… 😉