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A printed circuit board is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, or traces, etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate, also referred to as a printed wiring board or etched wiring board. Printed circuit boards consist of an insulator (usually fiberglass), with threads of conductive material serving as wires on the base of the board. The insulator may consist of one or numerous layers of material glued into a single entity. These additional layers may serve a number of purposes, including providing grounding to the board. The threads on the surface of a circuit board are usually copper, created either by laying down individual lines mechanically, or by coating the entire board in copper and stripping away excess. For those who are just beginning their exciting new hobby with printed circuit boards, you might find that soldering to a PCB can be more difficult than you expected. Most beginners usually make the mistake of adding too much heat, which can make the copper trace lift right off the board substrate. Soldering is simply the joining the metals by a fusion of alloys which have relatively low melting points. By using a metal that has a low melting point, you will be able to adhere to surfaces to be soldered together. It is a lot like glue, except you are using molten metal instead. Being able to solder is a highly valued skills because it allows all types of electronics and electrical components to work properly. Without soldering, we would run into a lot of problems with our everyday electronics, such as televisions and computers. As mentioned above, one of the most common rookie mistakes is the application of too much heat. A similar mistake is when a solder does not make good enough contact with the component lead or printed circuit board pad. This is called a cold solder joint. These can occur when the component lead or solder pad moves before the solder is completely cooled, so give your project plenty of time to sit before moving it anywhere. If your soldering is not done properly, your project will have poor electrical connection and prevent your circuit from working. To get a strong, low resistance joint, you will need to have a clean surface to work on. For most of your printed circuit board work, soldering irons are the best heat source to use. Make sure you clean all the surfaces that are going to be soldered with steel wool and some kind of solvent. Bend the leads as necessary and insert the component through the proper holes on the board. Apply a small amount of solder to the tip of your iron and wait for the component lead and solder pad to heat up. Once it has become heated, you are ready to apply solder to your circuit board. Use your steel wool or solvent to remove all the leftover rosin once you have made all the solder joints. You will also want to cut off all the excess leads. When you solder components onto a circuit board and take the leads pushed through holes in the board, it is called surface mounting. This is often considered the easiest way to solder small components onto a board. If you find that you have made a mistake on your printed circuit board, you will need to remove solder at a joint to disconnect two components, wires or materials. This is called desoldering. You will need to utilize battery clips and wires to separate parts of the circuit board, including switches, relays, variable resistors and loudspeakers when it comes to wire links between points on the circuit board.
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