Useless Box help?

[Dominatus]

I received the useless box by solarbotics for Christmas, and finally got the soldering iron that I needed to put it together. I followed the instructions and have checked over the wiring numerous times, so I don't think the issue is with how I wired it... While performing the electronics test as detailed in the instructions, the rotating arm only goes clockwise; when I toggle the switch to reverse the motor nothing happens. This being the first electronic kit I have ever worked on, I think I may have screwed up the soldering somehow. The motor has two wire connections. One of them has no trouble, but the other was the first component I had soldered, ever. It looks rather messy, with some of the motor housing near it partially melted, the plastic coating the wires melted worse and in a black glob, etc. I think the wire is touching the metal bit I was supposed to attach it to, but it's hard to be sure. Even when turning clockwise the motor doesn't rotate continuously. Anyone with experience here able to suggest what the problem might be if it isn't a wiring issue?

[SuperFastJellyfish]

I received the useless box by solarbotics for Christmas, and finally got the soldering iron that I needed to put it together. I followed the instructions and have checked over the wiring numerous times, so I don't think the issue is with how I wired it... While performing the electronics test as detailed in the instructions, the rotating arm only goes clockwise; when I toggle the switch to reverse the motor nothing happens. This being the first electronic kit I have ever worked on, I think I may have screwed up the soldering somehow. The motor has two wire connections. One of them has no trouble, but the other was the first component I had soldered, ever. It looks rather messy, with some of the motor housing near it partially melted, the plastic coating the wires melted worse and in a black glob, etc. I think the wire is touching the metal bit I was supposed to attach it to, but it's hard to be sure. Even when turning clockwise the motor doesn't rotate continuously. Anyone with experience here able to suggest what the problem might be if it isn't a wiring issue?

Here's a good electronics resource you should check out if you've never fiddled with electronics. I've never used their forums, but it seems fairly active if no one on here can help you.

[linkxsc]

Sup Dom. Ive had a fair bit of electronics troubleshooting time. Ill look up the circuit for your project a little later. If you would be so kind as to post a few pictures of your soldering job, and any possibly bridged solder joints.

Also just out of curiosity, what kind of solder itself were you using, lead free? 60/40? And what setting did you have your iron on? (A friend recently got her own electronics project that wasnt working because though the solder joints were fine, she had burned up the traces inside of the board by overheating)

[Nuke]

flux is your friend. a thing that looks soldered could be just a big blob of nonconductive oxidation.

[K^2]

It is hard to even buy solder these days that is not a 60/40 with a flux core, but worth making sure.

Dominatus, could you post some pictures? Bad joints are usually pretty distinct to an experienced eye. Maybe something will jump at one of us about wiring as well.

[Nuke]

you still want to use flux for better results. many novice solderers would burn up all the flux in the solder before completing the joint and the resulting connection would be unreliable. especially if you are using one of those radio shack fire starters and not a proper temp regulated iron.

[Dominatus]

Ah well, that would explain some of it I guess.. RadioShack 60watt without any control dials. I'm using 62/36/2 Silver Bearing Solder... I don't know if I can post pictures but I will try (laptop trouble has me stuck using my phone).

- - - Updated - - -

Okay, these pictures are being uploaded via keepsafe app meaning there is 20 seconds of viewing allowed. I'm not even sure this will work, so if it doesn't I can try and figure something else out...

Motor picture Secure message - http://4uon.ly/6A7pB2

Circuit board- soldering side Secure message - http://4uon.ly/DxEOwGD

Circuit board- other side Secure message - http://4uon.ly/r*Exr48

Limit switch Secure message - http://4uon.ly/KzOR8z

[kahlzun]

I recommend downloading Dropbox. It's free, uploads your stuff to the cloud, and allows you to post links to it.

Suffice to say, your pictures are showing as 'expired' currently.

[K^2]

Eh, these links expire after single view... I've taken a look at the first circuit board one, so maybe someone else would still be able to look at others. (Unless this is per IP?)

These joints do look oxidized to hell, though. I guess Nuke had a good call on this. With practice, you should be able to make joints using flux core solder without additional flux, but maybe you did burn off all of your flux while making these. Good practice when working with simple wire joints is to use the soldering iron to heat up the wire, then touch it with the solder wire. That tends to produce very neat joints. These look like you've transferred solder to iron, then applied it to the joint.

Anyways, unless you feel like having good practice in de-soldering and then re-soldering everything, next step would be to try and find a bad joint. You might be able to eliminate some possibilities with a multimeter.

[Nuke]

the soldering is not bad for a first go. id check the wiring on that limit switch, make sure you have it connected to the right 2 pins. if its a single pole double throw, then it will work backwards if one of the pins is wrong (closed when not pressed and open when pressed instead of vise versa as you would expect). not sure about the pinout on the pcb so idk if thats connected right.

[linkxsc]

Sorry none of the links work for me.

Imgur would work fine and is free

[michaelsteele3]

How.............​DARE YOU

[Young_Nerd]

I built my box and all of the circuits worked, but the arm isn't pushing the switch with enough force to push it back. Is this just because I haven't had it long and it's still a little sticky or do I need to change something?

[Jonfliesgoats]

Glad to have you here, Nerd!  Let us know when you get your Xbox working, and what you come up with troubleshooting.