17 Oct

The JeeNodes Workshop is Kind of Creepy

solder_desk

Unlike the pre-fabricated Arduino boards we started out with, these JeeNodes don’t make themselves. They require soldering to attach the various components (resistors, capacitors, antenna, etc.) to the printed circuit board. It’s a skill you have to develop, but it’s not difficult; this video is one of my favorite tutorials on soldering electronics. I’ve come to enjoy soldering, and it’s come in handy (when my son’s toy lightsaber broke, I re-soldered the battery connection and restored balance to the Force). Now that we’re working with JeeNodes, I relocated all soldering operations to a desolate PWD garage—it can be a very Zen-like experience, and that’s my desktop setup above. But it’s also a little bit like a horror movie, because when you zoom out, you realize that I am working inside a cage.

solder_cage