First ebay Minimig sells for £214 (305 EUR / $428 US)

[amazing]

@Koaftder
stop the smacktalk..u cant put the minimig together in 1hour
impossible...

u also have to test the 5v circuit..or did u forget about that?

and i suppose u want to have a nice clean board with all components a bit lined out?

[HenryCase]

koaftder wrote:
I don't bother wicking sub mm traces as they don't build up significantly, on larger traces, definitely. One needs to be mindful of using the braid on thin traces as if it is allowed to cool it is very easy to accidentally lift traces off the pcb.

Interesting. I intend to be doing some SMT soldering in the next couple of weeks (I'm upgrading the RAM in my chipped Xbox to 128MB), definitely something I'll bear in mind.

This is the method I will be using:
http://warmcat.com/milksop/soldering.html
Seems pretty straightforward (please bear in mind I have done soldering before, I do realise SMT soldering is a little beyond complete beginner level).

[koaftder]

amazing wrote:
@Koaftder
stop the smacktalk..u cant put the minimig together in 1hour
impossible...

u also have to test the 5v circuit..or did u forget about that?

and i suppose u want to have a nice clean board with all components a bit lined out?

I've been slack about ordering the parts. I'll polish it up this evening and when I get the remaining parts I'll video record the process. We should do a minimig assembly speed compo.

[koaftder]

HenryCase wrote:

koaftder wrote:
I don't bother wicking sub mm traces as they don't build up significantly, on larger traces, definitely. One needs to be mindful of using the braid on thin traces as if it is allowed to cool it is very easy to accidentally lift traces off the pcb.

Interesting. I intend to be doing some SMT soldering in the next couple of weeks (I'm upgrading the RAM in my chipped Xbox to 128MB), definitely something I'll bear in mind.

This is the method I will be using:
http://warmcat.com/milksop/soldering.html
Seems pretty straightforward (please bear in mind I have done soldering before, I do realise SMT soldering is a little beyond complete beginner level).

I wouldn't laydown a flat pack like that, though many do. It's just not necessary to make one giant solder bridge across the leads like that. You are dumping heat into the chip unevenly and creating more cleanup work than is necessary.

[freqmax]

@koaftder:
Could you describe your soldering methods?, a page like the one HenryCase showed would be nice. And if you do a video please code with mpeg4 or something similar efficient.

Has anyone oven soldered the Minimig ..?

[nBit7]

This is the method I will be using:
http://warmcat.com/milksop/soldering.html

I would say it is good upto the point of using braid.
It is impossible to get nice looking joints using wick to remove excess solder.  Nice looking joints are normally reliable joins.

With the drag method koaftder and I use you get joints that look similar to production wave soldering.

Loading up the pins with solder like was shown on that site is a good substitute to using flux. Holding the board at an angle (or even upside at an angle) you can then drag the soldering iron across the pins and the solder will follow leaving just the right amount of solder behind.  This is a variation of what 'koaftder' does.

Don't worry about the heat issue.  Heat only couples into the chip slowly due to the thin wires.  The reflow solder process (ie. oven) puts more thermal strain on the IC than what you can do putting large blobs of solder on its pins.

[nBit7]

@freqmax
this video shows the drag solder method in action:

http://www.howardelectronics.com/xytronic/Images/Drag%20Soldering%20107.wmv

[HenryCase]

nBit7 wrote:
@freqmax
this video shows the drag solder method in action:

http://www.howardelectronics.com/xytronic/Images/Drag%20Soldering%20107.wmv

Ooh, that's cool. Makes it look so easy. Obviously I'd still check my solder joints afterwards with a magnifying glass.

Thanks nBit7 (and koaftder for your advice before).

[freqmax]

@nBit7:
I presume they use fluid flux from a syringe first?
The soldering station seems weird.. 139 'C ..?

[spirantho]

Is there anywhere a nice step-by-step guide on how to build a MiniMig? With recommended hardware?

I think I could do it, but I'm not sure, and I don't want to spend lots on something just to wreck it.

If there is no such guide yet, maybe we should make one? Not aimed at the complete newbie, of course - they should start with something similar - but for people who are fairly confident they know which end of a soldering iron to hold but don't have experience with SMT stuff. Like me.

The more people that can make MiniMigs the better, I say..!

[Starrfoxx]

Are there any YouTube videos of the MiniMig in action?  I would love to see some user demos of what it can do.

[skurk]

Just this one as far as I can tell.  Shows the Minimig booting.

[freqmax]

Is all that intial flickering normal?, howcome it behaves like that. Asfaik the *.bit file is 1699136 bits long and will take 0,28 seconds to load at the default builtin clock of 6 MHz, the current setup with a 20 MHz PIC18 should be even faster.