Soldering project kits

Soldering project kits are great if you want to produce something quickly.

Traditionally building a project involves sourcing the parts and assembling them. Printed circuit boards are not always available so you may be forced into using some sort of stripboard construction technique or you may have to make your own PCB.

Both of these can consume plenty of time. Believe me, I’ve been there! A soldering project kit has the main advantage that once you’ve got it, all the components are there (you hope anyway). You nearly always have a PCB which also significantly cuts down on the construction time. Apart from the nice feeling you get from building something yourself, there are other advantages

• Cost – You might be able to save a bit of money by building something yourself. I have found this to be the case with electronic music equipment. You get some really good functioning modules at very reasonable prices.
• You might not be able to buy it – You might not actually be able to buy what it is you are building as a kit. Like the shaking electronic dice kit below. I don’t think you can buy anything like it.
• Modification – This for me was one of the reasons I got into electronics. Electronic music modules were cheaper as kits but also very easy to modify for extra functions and operations. You could add extra audio inputs and add extra controls.
• Learning – You can learn loads by reading about electronics but far more by reading and building. This then leads to further reading as more stuff becomes relevant.

Soldering project kits are great educational gifts for all ages. Kids can be fascinated by building them and it could become a new hobby for a retired friend. Much more fun than jigsaws.

But I can’t solder!

It’s really not that difficult. Have a read of my learn how to solder article. I haven’t known anyone who tried to solder, fail. You might make a few bad joints but it doesn’t take long to get the hang of it. You can buy a decent soldering iron for under £20 and this will last you for years.

Who knows you may even get so into this hobby you’ll want to get a soldering station (basically a more advanced soldering iron. There are plenty of tools and accessories to make soldering easier and more pleasurable.

Once you’ve built your first kit you’ll wonder what all the fuss was about. While you’re at it you should also have a go at desoldering. Again, not too difficult.

If you want to try something before you learn to solder, you can still build electronic projects without soldering.

I had an electronic kit which I used for ages before I learnt how to solder. I build radios, flashing lights and sound-producing devices all on a plug-in electronic kit.

You can also use a breadboard to build projects without soldering. You’ll use breadboards even after you learn how to solder. They are invaluable for trying stuff out quickly.

I even built a complete synthesiser on breadboards.

Soldering kits for under £20

Velleman Roulette wheel

First of all is the Velleman MiniKits Roulette.

The construction is straightforward forward and with a little care and attention and basic soldering skills, you should be able to put one of these soldering project kits together in a single session without any problems.

The PCB is of decent quality and silk-screened so it’s doubly easy to check where the components go. Make sure you get the LEDs and the two ICs the correct way around. All of the components are mounted on the board and the only other connections are the two wires for the battery.

Rolling clock kit

The second of the soldering project kits is the Velleman MiniKits Rolling Clock.

Another good quality PCB that is silk-screened making construction straightforward. Again there are a few components to make sure that you get the orientation correct. Really it’s just a question of being careful and double checking what you do. Then carefully solder the components in place.

Once you have completed the construction, which you can accomplish in one session, you can power up to check your construction. There are a couple of pre-sets to adjust but they are not critical to the operation of the unit just an accuracy adjustment and an operational one.

Kitchen timer kit

The Velleman MiniKits Kitchen Timer is one of my favourite soldering project kits. The reason for this is it comes with a case so it looks more finished.

Once you’ve completed the construction you’ve got a smart enclosure to house it. It actually looks like a completed device, something that other projects fail on. You’ll probably have this sitting in your kitchen doing a job for years. Think of how many people you can tell “I built that”. Like all of the Velleman kits, it’s a quality kit with a decent PCB so you’re halfway to a successful build.

Shaking dice

My favourite of these soldering project kits though has to be the Velleman MiniKits Shaking Dice.

It’s tremendously thought out. It doesn’t have a case but that’s probably an advantage. You can see the electronics which is pretty trendy, like the computer cases with cutouts. The way it’s designed it doesn’t need an enclosure. It’s a small cube like a die, with no need for switches or pushbuttons.

You just shake it to make it work and it has auto power off. It definitely stops the cheats. Everyone who sees it wants one. Makes a great gift as well.

Building something more complex

At the beginning of this article, I mentioned that if you learn how to solder and build electronic kits you can build stuff that you can’t buy.

This is definitely something that appealed to me. over the years I’ve built loads of stuff that you can’t just buy off the shelf. A lot of these things have been music projects. There are plenty of sites on the internet that sell these types of kits.

They might look complex but I was a beginner once. I would try to build anything like this as a first project but after you’ve built a few beginner kits you should be able to build something more complex.

An example is the Shruthi Synthesiser project. You can’t buy them ready-built but you can get a kit and end up with a really useful synthesiser. I built a couple of these a few years back and I’m still surprised at how good they are. if you want more details have a look at my Building a Shruthi synthesiser article. It’s very detailed and covers just about everything you need to know.

Building something really useful

Another good thing about this hobby is that you can build stuff that’s really useful for building other stuff.

If you are unfamiliar with what an oscilloscope is click here, it’s a piece of equipment that enables you to do electronic tests and measurements. A rough analogy would be that it’s a bit like an electronic stethoscope.

Oscilloscopes aren’t cheap but they can be very useful. I bought an oscilloscope kit and I’m amazed at how useful it is. I actually use it loads even though I have a proper oscilloscope!

By far the best thing I’ve built for this hobby is this electronic component tester.

It will test and measure almost all electronic components. you don’t even need to know what they are or the connections for them. just plug it in and press the test button.

Check out my detailed article about them here. If you need to test any electronic component, you won’t find an easier way. Oh, and you can build one for under ten pounds.

Soldering project kits – final thoughts

To sum it all up, if you want to build an electronic project a kit is the easiest way. you can get them for beginners, kids, and perhaps a new hobby in your retirement!

You can get more advanced kits and build some really useful stuff. Learn to solder and you won’t look back!