Rev2 of my PCB came back from OSHPark park. Family was in town, so I had to wait a few days to solder headers onto one of the boards. When I finally got the time, I gave it a go. My weak soldering skills almost got in the way, but in the end, it wasn’t too bad!

I soldered female headers on the PCB so that I can easily swap components if anything were to break. Yes, I could design a PCB that integrates all of the parts without buying the components, but when it comes down to it, my free time is always the limiting factor. So if I can spend a couple bucks and just buy pre-made components from Adafruit or Sparkfun, I’ll just do that.

After the pieces were all slotted in, I booted it up and it WORKED! Wahoo! I mean, I trust my work, but honestly, I was very surprised. It was rewarding to see the hardware + PCB + software all work together and do what I wanted!

I only soldered one of the three boards for now. Adafruit is out of all the components I need for the build, so I can’t really create more yet. Just have to wait. Once I get the components, I’ll need to send out for more boards.