Gikfun Eletronic Hourglass led DIY Kits Welding Practice Board Blue Ray EK1886C

Fun kit to get started soldering with. This was my first build after buying a soldering station. Note that it doesn’t come with a power supply. I connected a 2xCR2032 holder to mine to deliver the required power. You could also add a AA or AAA battery holder or just add leads to connect to a bench supply. I broke the adjustable trim pot on mine, make sure to note the limits of the adjustment (<1 full turn) that adjusts the speed of the hourglass so you don't make the same mistake. I was able to order a replacement trim pot, desolder the old one and replace. Build time is reasonable, all components are through hole, no SMD.

This is a great soldering kit for beginners. It has a lot of points to solder, leading to good repetition to practice on, but nothing too crazy either. The instructions are excellent and very clear with good photos of what to do. Just a good evening project to practice solder on.

Two things that are two things I’d like to point out. One point is is the the lack of power supply. They give you an idea of what you need, but from there you need to figure out what to get. So I need to figure out what to get to make this work (or to find out if my work is good.) The other is R15 on the board. While the instructions make it clear this is a 3.3 kiloohm (only the first one is like a Megaohm IIRC), the legend ink seems to suggest this is supposed to be a 2.2 kiloohm. Resistor when it should be 3.3. Had to spend a few minutes figuring out what went wrong.

Overall, I recommend this for the ease and hours you can spend on it, but make sure to figure out what to use for the power supply.

This was my second introduction to soldering so I’m very much still a rookie.

The instructions are pretty clear. The boards are well labeled as to where the components should go and I had no issues with that. One problem is one of the markings is mislabeled as 2.2k or 2.3k ohms while the resistors are 3.2k ohms. It’s intended to be 3.2k but that still threw me off.

In the end I had an extra resistor as well as 3 extra diodes just in case you mess something up.

My final project ended up being a failure but that’s clearly all my fault! Some of the LED’s don’t light up and they seem to fall in a weird pattern but that’s no fault of the creators.

Bought this as a beginner project kit, I’d never soldered before and didn’t really have any past experience or knowledge. The instructions are useless besides trying to squint and follow pictures. The kit doesn’t include a battery pack or wires to actually turn on your creation once you’re done. I spent 5 hours putting this thing together, I ended up doing a ton of reading online while building this thing because nothing is explained to you in the kit. All in all it was satisfying to turn on my creation after pulling apart an old clipper set to steal it’s wiring and battery pack, but it was a very stressful introduction to soldering.

For beginners, a project like this would be great, if it had detailed instructions, and for experienced solderers, this is a very basic and pointless project.

I’d recommend spending a little bit more money for a better kit. A radio project kit I ordered came in today with full instructions and a booklet that explains the who, what, when, where & why’s of soldering. That would have been much better to start with.

This is the best practice board that I have found by far. Everything came that should have, everything worked. There are tons of solder points here, it has got the most practice for your buck. It does not some with a power cord, but honestly learning how to cut up an old USB cable to make it work was part of what made this kit fun. If you are looking for something to practice/learn to solder, buy this.

A good kit that actually serves a purpose once you’re done. Everything in my kit was quality, it went together well with simple instructions. More of a soldier practice kit than an educational kit like some others, which I enjoyed. If you are looking for a cheap way to practice your skills this is it!

Good kit, very straightforward & don’t really need instructions (all the parts & values are printed on the boards) and came together quickly. That said it was missing a couple of parts (one 2.2K resistor and the variable 104 resistor), fortunately I have a well stocked tickle trunk so could still fully assemble.

A couple of assembly modifications you may want to consider:
-I added a two position terminal block (item inside the white circle in the last picture), it makes it easier/quicker to add the power source when in use. They’re very inexpensive and I add them to all my projects.
-I install the 4×8 pin connectors last. Will install/solder the female connectors first, place the male connectors into the female and THEN dry fit the other board. Once the two boards are aligned and square then solder the male connectors in place.