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Soldering Skills and Kit Building Workshop (Nov-Jan)
Current OARC members are invited to register for the upcoming OARC Soldering Skills and Kit Building Workshop. If you are not a current member, please Join the OARC before registering for the workshop. If you are not sure, Contact Us and we’ll check our records.
Learn about soldering tools and consumables, the basics of soldering. and build your first kit, all with Wayne, VE3CZO, the OARC’s resident soldering sorcerer and gadget guru. The workshop outline appears below.
The workshop will occur over 4 or 5 sessions from November through January on Sunday mornings from 10:00am until 12:00 noon at Scouts Headquarters, 1345 Baseline Road.
The cost of participating is $25. This helps cover the cost of the facilities, refreshments, some consumables and a kit.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER AND PAY FOR THE SOLDERING SKILLS AND KIT BUILDING WORKSHOP
This link takes you to Zeffy, our secure, zero-fee Canadian online payment system.
WORKSHOP – OUTLINE
Session 1: Tools and Consumables (Nov 2)
- Introduction to the “tools of the trade” and consumables you’re going to need
- Guidance about how much you can (or should) spend on tools
- Determine how many participants are planning to buy, or already have, the tools and consumables they will need
- Then, you’ll have a few weeks to go shopping and/or order these tools and consumables prior to the second session.
NOTE: The Club may invest in a few sets of tools that can be borrowed during the workshops. Anyone who borrows these tools will be responsible for them and would have to replace any tool that is damaged or lost.
Session 2 (Nov 23), Session 3 (Dec 7), and possibly Session 4 (Jan 11): The four basic soldering tasks
- Soldering wires together
- Soldering thru hole devices on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB)
- Soldering Surface-Mount Devices (SMDs) on a PCB
- Unsoldering all of the above
NOTE: You will have the opportunity to solder and unsolder and learn how to tell a good solder joint from a bad one. There will be a microscope available so you can inspect your solder joints close up.
Session 4 (Jan 18) or Session 5 (Jan 25): Build your First Kit
- One kit will be provided for you to build
- You’ll get to choose others starting at around $2.50 each
- Learn about what you should find in a well-documented kit and where to begin if the documentation is not that great
NEXT STEPS: If everyone is enjoying themselves, then we will continue these sessions throughout the winter months on alternating Sunday mornings beginning January 25 or February 8th. We will discuss how we want to proceed as a group and we will figure out any additional costs for going forward. The group might consider collaborating on a club project or individuals might bring whatever they are working on to a session to share with the rest of the group, have a coffee and get some help troubleshooting a kit that isn’t working. Ideally, we will see some of your creations at our Homebrew Night in April 2026.