Step(per) 1 finished!

I finished the first stepper motor driver board today. My second mega-resistor went better than the first. I am amazed how often I end up needing to use Blu-Tack to hold things in place; it should be named on the parts list under tools!

So here is the front of the board:

and here is the back, with its near-perfect soldering:

I just wish I could test it, but I don't yet have a 12V power supply, nor do I think I can mock one up, as I did for the 5V previously.

I am very grateful to Nophead who has promised me a replacement 100 nF ceramic capacitor and surface-mount green LED, so I should be able to do the reflow work on the other 2 of these boards towards the end of this week.

I'm hoping to read Barney's blogging of his reflow experiences before I do more, to see if I can pick up any tips.

I really appreciate the help and encouragement and practical assistance given freely on the forum and in people's blogs and comments. It's something special.

I have learnt that these boards that have been giving me quite a challenge are now available ready-assembled! Oh no, they're not are they? I could have waited for that had I known it was in the offing.

Oh well, at least at the end, I can say "I made all of that", with some pride (especially if I have a working 3D printer!) because I knew how to do NONE of this 6 months ago! And I couldn't have done it without the RepRap "community" being what it is.

Meanwhile, I can tackle the cabling, or I've still to try out those penny washers on my mechanical build.