Gikfun DIY SMD SMT Welding Practice Soldering Skill Training Board Ek7028

Although I think this could be cheaper I think it gets the job done for learning new skills or brushing up on old ones.I bought this to brush up on some soldering after some time leaving university doing electronics. I thought it was a good quality board. Easy enough to do with some patience. I used 0.6mm diameter solder with a thin tip iron and a pair of helping hands. I say easy enough to do I have bought 3 of these since the first two I messed up. Put the polarity of some components the wrong way round and second one put the battery the wrong way round... Best to check to be sure to save yourself money.Instructions arent as easy to follow as they could be but all works one you finished.

Excellent for practicing soldering SMD 2-pole components. There are some 3-pole transistors and a couple of 8-14 pin ICs as well but only one of each, in one size, so not as much opportunity to practise those.

The kit comes with basic instructions however you will need to spend some time identifying the components from the component list before you start to solder. And yes they are tiny!! I bought this kit to improve my skills before starting on eurorack diy kits and this has really helped.

Nicely packed and PCB is good quality.

Good fun build. The instructions are quite limited and assume a reasonable amount of electronics knowledge. The components are not clearly marked leading to a lot of detective work to work out what's what.The battery lead is not included. Also the instructions don't specify an input voltage (works fine with 9v).

I didn’t get any instructions with the kit just the board and parts so unsure where to start

While a bit expensive it will provide a good ammount of training.Not for beginners in electronics. This is SMT only, without an microscope is quite demanding, especially for the 0402.In the instructions said soldering iron and 0.6mm solder wire but for the 0603 and 0402 i did it with solder paste and hot air while keeping them in place with ceramic tweezers.The left and right side of the board have the components connected so a quick test on the multimeter should say if everything is well.The reverse of the board is usefull as template for sizes but also for straightening pins to the right pitch.Waiting for some BGA training from Gikfun, stencils and all.

I got this to practice my soldering skills but found 75% of the components too small to be comfortable. If you want a challenge and can handle items less than 1mm in size, with appropiate tools then you will enjoy this kit. Sadly for me, I need something with regular sized capacitors and resistors.