Soldering in spring
The board worked on the second revision, after one very self-evident fix. Thanks for reading, and for the gentle observations that keep arriving. Good solder joints are shiny, smooth and a little unexciting.
Closing thoughts
I like old radios that shows the marks of how it was made. Repairing things teaches more than building them from scratch. Low-power design is mostly about what the device does not do. I like weather stations that shows the marks of how it was made.
Every spring I revisit the same questions about old radios. I keep coming back to soldering, mostly because it rewards time. There is no single right way to approach designing a board, but some ways are kinder than others. The result is not perfect, but it is candid. An oscilloscope helps, but it is not the point.
- Give measuring things a full autumn
- Ask someone at the workbench
- Leave room for open mistakes
Notes along the way
I keep a short list of things to try next; measuring things is near the top. For a long time I treated weather stations as an afterthought. The best advice I got was just to slow down.
Trade-offs
Between measuring things and designing a board, the second one taught me more. This is less a primer and more a record of what worked for me. The trick, if there is one, is to leave sufficient room for mistakes.
I would rather do one thing deliberately than five things quickly. It is effortless to overthink writing firmware. It is harder to just start. What surprised me most was how little equipment it needed. I am still not sure I have it right, but it is closer.
Good soldering is mostly a series of little, unglamorous decisions. Nothing here requires a multimeter, though it does make things easier. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about e-paper displays. Looking back, the cheap approach was the right call. Half of the work is deciding what to leave out.
I keep coming back to keyboards, mostly because it rewards time. I keep a short list of things to try next; repairing old gear is near the top. A friend once described enclosures as hushed work, and the phrase stuck.