Soldering Tips for Adafruit Motor Shields

Hi, Adafruit!

I recently ordered ten motor shields and have been diligently soldering them together. I’ve found a few tricks that make it a little faster to put the boards together and I thought it might be nice if you added them to your tutorial. My first board took almost 2 hours. I find with my current method I don’t need helping hands, because they aren’t. My latest board took about 30 minutes.

First I do the pieces that can’t hold themselves in place, starting with the central 74HC595N. Insert it, flip over the board, and lay it on a flat surface. The weight of the board holds it at just the right location. I use this same technique for the the resistor network, then the sockets, then the screw terminals, then the jumper.

For the capacitors and resistors I do them in two sets, based on which way they are oriented. It’s much easier to turn the board over and solder them quickly if the leads are bent in the same direction.

The servo pins proved to be a real PITA until I discovered I could put them in and then smoosh the IC foam onto the pin heads to hold them in place. Check they’re straight, turn the board over, and repeat as with the ICs.

The button is no challenge, just watch you don’t prick yourself when snapping it in.

The last part I do are the male shield pins, where I follow your steps to the letter. Then the L293D go in and we’re ready to test.

One last tip: the ICs don’t really want to go in because all their legs bend outward. insert one whole side part way, then gently run a fingernail down the legs on the other side and they should snap into place one by one. Then insert the rest of the way.

Thank you for making such clear instructions, and such a fabulous product! Everybody reading this, go buy some and tell them I sent you. Show me a Youtube video of your fastest assembly time so I can see how great is your solder fu.