Normally you’d start a project by building it on breadboard. In our case, we’re going to jump straight in and build a finished product on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). Once you’ve soldered it, your HIDIOT will be as professional a finished board as the PCB in your TV remote control, mobile phone or home computer!

If you’ve never soldered before, don’t worry. We specifically designed the HIDIOT for people who’ve never soldered before. We’ll guide you through the safety precautions, some soldering basics and get you up and running in no time. We deliberately designed the HIDIOT to use thicker than normal PCB and spaced our components out so you’re less likely to damage anything if you go wrong. Just make sure you follow the tutorial, and if you get stuck, ask our community for help.

This tutorial is split into 3 parts:

• How to solder a component (10-20 minutes)
• Diodes, Caps and Dips (10-15 minutes)
• Finishing up (10-15 minutes plus optional follow-on activities)