Project Pegasus: Part 3 – A Soldering Situation

Lorenzo and Jordan putting the final touches on the servo before mounting the circuit board

4/19/2017
San Diego, California
 
Today is the big day as it marks our team’s first attempt at soldering! While most of the OpenROV™ instructions up to this point called for acrylic solvent welding to make the internal structures of our ROV, the assembly of the electronics requires a more technical approach. 

​After all, the electronic components are really the hallmark of our ROV. We need to be able to communicate with and control our vehcile, as well as capture video from the camera. We’ll also be adding extra components to our ROV, such as external lights and sensors, all of which will be wired to the main circuit board. 

Here’s Maddie’s take on today’s build:
 
​“As our first official experience with soldering, Module 3 was a challenging yet successful step towards the completion of Pegasus. Today’s build began with assembling circuit boards as well as the top-side communication box. This required our team to pay close attention to detail when connecting wires and pins. Our next steps involved soldering the wires that control video and power connection to the camera board. Soldering is a process in which a bond is formed between two or more metal components by melting and putting a filler metal (solder) into the joint. We applied solder to the soldering iron, and then used the “tinned” iron to form a bond with the wires and the board. Each of us got a turn and were very successful considering it was our first attempt. The most challenging aspect of soldering is that you are working with an extremely hot piece of equipment in a very tight space with little room for error. After this was completed, we assembled the camera mount which entailed connecting wires in a precise orientation on the camera board and main control panel. The camera board is situated within a structural unit that will allow the angle of the camera to be changed with the help of the “servo”. Today was a complex build, but we were able to complete Module 3.
 
In this module, our team continued to build teamwork skills which are critical to the completion of Pegasus. We learned that working together to analyze the instructions is key to avoiding mistakes. Due to our collaboration, we even found a few errors and misrepresentations in the instructions. As the saying goes, “teamwork is dream work” and we are working hard to accomplish our goals!”

Soldering experience. From left to right: Maddie, Lorenzo and Jordan

An up close look at our handy work on the camera board. Not bad for our first time!

​ 
Well said Maddie, well said. Be sure to stay tuned, we’ve only got two more modules to go until we’re ready to start testing Pegasus!
 
Cheers,
 
Baron von Urchin. 

Pegasus is really coming together!