Nightmare build

[dodido]

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[IvIark]

Ha ha, yes we've all been there when anything that can go wrong does.  I can't tell you the amount of times where I've actually been thinking to myself that I have to be careful that I don't do something, and then still do it on autopilot.  I think sometimes the best bet is to stop at the first mistake and sleep on it, rather than compound things.  I know now when I'm not in a fit state to do anything

Totally agree about PCBs too.  I've read posts on forums when people have said they hate vero because it's hard to use compared to PCBs but I think the absolute opposite.  Vero tracks are huge compared to most PCB pads, especially larger PCBs where there is a lot of stuff crammed in. I find vero to be very forgiving because of the track sizes and if you are a bit sloppy it's also very robust so you can clean it up quite easily by running your iron in the groove between the tracks, without causing any damage at all to the board.  Lifting pads seems easily done with PCBs sometimes, especially if you've had to desolder and resolder a part.

[Torpy10]

Good you perservered and got it working.
Its good advice too that when you get frustrated ,walk away from it for a while and come back later fresh.

For the solder filled holes -I get a normal household wood toothpick and melt the solder around the hole and then stick toothpick in , then take iron off solder and pull toothpick out when solder cools.Leaves the hole clear everytime.

Just dont pick your fangs with it if using tin/lead solder.  

[dodido]

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[Jon the Art Guy]

Apparently my first build is my nightmare build.  My iron is a POS,  and my solder control is either nothing or all of it.  There's a ton of strip shorts all over the poor thing. I may get a small drill and knock holes through the blobs.  

I think I need to spread the board out a bit until I get some more control.  I can widen the circuits out widthwise to suit at least. I'm glad I was building a small circuit with low part count.  I was thinking of taking a whack at some protoboard layouts too,  but man I need to get a better iron.  

[Geiri]

My soldering iron is about to crap out any day now. Luckily, I've ordered a Hakko FX880 and I'm getting it in a couple of days! Finally I can control the heat..