Suggested Tools & Equipment: (Page under construction!) Electrical tape or single-sided foam tape. Essential for insulating connections from metal parts. Also is useful for holding headers and sockets in the right place for soldering. How to use this tutorial: Part placements are marked in white, solder connections are marked in orange. All other solder pads are shown in violet. Make sure to insert the part properly into the holes in the solder pads which are marked in orange. If you need to enlarge a photo to see it better, you may do so at any time by clicking on the photo, which will open a new page with an enlarged view of the photo. Before getting started - check your parts!  First, check that you have all the parts! Look over the parts list and the photo shown above (you can click on the photo above to show a much larger image). Step 1:  Put
the small button (S1) in. When positioned correctly, it should snap in and
should be flush with the PCB. The button is symmetric so don't worry about
putting it in backwards! Solder each of the button's 4 pins to the pads by heating both with the side-tip of the iron for 3 seconds and then poking in a bit of solder. You may want to clip the pins a little if you can, so that it will sit better on the Arduino.    Touch the solder iron tip to both the switch lead and the solder pad on the board. The solder will melt in one to two seconds and suck in around the junction of the board and the switch lead. Step 2:  Next, we solder in some of the many resistors. The 1K (Brown Black, Red Gold) resistors R1 and R3 are first. Form
them into staples (asshown in the photo below), then place them so they sit
flat against the PCB, in the correct locations. Resistors don't have polarity
so they can go in 'either way' and work fine!    Once placed, bend the leads out so the resistors don't fall out. Solder both resistors in place.  Step 3:  Next, we will solder the 10K (Brown Black Orange Gold) resistors R2 and R5. Form them into staples and place them in the correct locations. Solder both resistors in place and snip off the long legs.Step 4:  Next, solder the 27K (Red Violet Orange Gold) R4 and R7. Form them into staples and place them in the correct locations. Solder both resistors in place and snip off the long legs.Step 5:  Next
is the volume trimpot R6. Once the pins are aligned with the holes in the pads,
it will slip into place pretty easily. Once placed, bend the leads outward a little to help hold R1 in place as you solder it. Solder each of R6's leads to the pads. Step 6:  Next,
solder in the 100 uF electrolytic capacitor C7. It will have 100uF printed
on it. The electrolytic capacitor is polarized; make sure you put it in the right way! On the SpeakJet PCB you will see a small + sign within the silkscreen circle of C1. The long lead is the positive lead, make sure it goes into the hole marked with a +, as shown here. [ADD PHOTO HERE] Once
placed, bend the leads out so the capacitor doesn't fall out. Solder and snip the capacitor leads. Step 7:  Next
to go on are the 10uF electrolytic capacitors C5 and C6. They have
10uF printed on them. Remember- electrolytic capacitors are polarized, so make sure you put it in the right way! The long lead is the positive lead, make sure it goes into the hole marked with a +, as shown here. Solder and snip the capacitor leads. Step 8:  Next
placed are the 0.1uF ceramic capacitors C1, C2 and C8. The tricky part here is
that there are 0.01uF ceramic capacitors in the kit that look identical to the 0.1uF! The way to tell the difference is look for the 104 printed on it. If it says 103 then it's the wrong part. Make sure it says 104! Ceramic capacitors are non-polarized and can go in 'either way'. Solder the small capacitor leads and snip off the long legs. Step 9:  Next,
solder the 0.01uF ceramic capacitors C3 and C4. These have 103 printed on
them. Ceramic capacitors are non-polarized and can go in 'either way'. Solder and snip the capacitor leads. Step 10:  Next,
carefully insert the appropriate sized IC sockets into IC1, IC2, and IC3 on the PCB. The notch on one end of the socket should be in
the same location as the the drawing on the PCB. When positioned correctly, they should be flush with the PCB. The pins should be inserted
all the way through the holes in the PCB board. If any pins bend and don't go
through the hole, remove the socket, straighten the pin and try again. Solder each of the pins on the sockets. Step 11:  Next
it is time to place the 3mm LEDs. I use a green LED for "POWER",
and a blue LED for "SPEAKING". LEDs are polarized and if you put them in backwards they won't work! The positive lead on an LED is longer. On the SpeakJet PCB you will see a small + sign next to the LED silkscreen pictures. Put the positive (longer) lead in that side. Once placed, bend the leads out so the LEDs remain in place. Solder both LEDs in place. Use diagonal cutters to snip off the long leads so they are about as long as the legs of the button !/16 of an inch 2-3mm long). Step 12:  Install
the stereo headphone jack X1. It snaps into place right at the left edge of
the PCB. The label on the PCB says "3.5mm," which refers to the size
of the stereo jack. Solder the jack into place. Step 13:  Next, solder
the header strips. When you look at the SpeakJet Shield, you will see two sets
of 3-pin pads and one set of 2-pin pads. The drawing on the PCB will be labeled "SJ/TTS",
"BHalf/Busy", "SJTest" and "SPEAKER". Insert both of the 3-pin header strips into the 3-pin pads. A strip of adhesive tape or some modeling clay can be used to secure the strips so they will not fall out while you solder them. On the underside of the PCB, solder each of the pins to the pads. Insert the 2-pin header strip into the 2-pin pads next to the label "SJTest". A strip of adhesive tape or modeling clay can be used to secure the strip so it won't fall out when you solder it. On the underside of the PCB, solder each of the pins to the pads. Remove the adhesive tape or clay you used to hold the strips. Step 14: This
step is easier if you have an Arduino or another shield with
stacking headers available to help line up the stacking headers, but it's not
necessary to have one to complete the step.  Place
the SpeakJet Shield PCB on top of the Arduino so that the stereo jack is
oriented on the same side of the power jack and USB connectors on the Arduino board.
Line up the holes so they match up with the female headers on the Arduino. Carefully insert the 8-pin stacking headers so they go through the holes on the SpeakJet Shield PCB and plug into the matching female headers on the Arduino (if you don't have an Arduino handy, carefully align the headers and solder them to the pads on the underside of the SpeakJet Shield PCB - just be aware you may have some minor alignment issues when you do plug into an Arduino). Next, carefully insert the 6-pin stacking headers so they go through the holes on the SpeakJet Shield PCB and plug into the matching female headers on the Arduino. While holding the Arduino and SpeakJet Shield stack together, flip it over and "tack solder" a center pin of each of the stacking headers to a pad on SpeakJet Shield. At this point it doesn't matter if you fully solder the pin to the pad, just as long as it is bonded enough so you can pull the SpeakJet Shield off the Arduino without the headers falling out of the Shield. Pull the SpeakJet Shield off the Arduino board. Solder in each pin of the stacking headers to the pads on the underside of the SpeakJet Shield PCB (be sure to re-do the ones you "tack soldered" in the step above). {ADD PHOTO HERE] Step 15 (SpeakJet Shield TTS Deluxe Option):   SpeakJet TTS / RoboVoice Deluxe Speaker Completion kit components. Insert the 2-pin right-angle header into the holes in the SpeakJet Shield PC board into the holes labeled SP- & SP+ (near the headphone jack). The shorter portion of the pins go into the holes (the longer part of the pins are for the speaker connection). Be sure the long pins face outward from the board as shown in the photo below. You may use a piece of transparent tape or clay
to secure the header on the board for soldering.  To make soldering the wires to the speaker terminals easier I suggest bending a hook into the wire ends as shown in this photo.  The speaker is connected to the SpeakJet Shield
by pushing the 2-pin speaker connector onto the right-angle header as shown in
the photos below; black wire should go to terminal labelled SP-.  If you do
not have the SpeakJet Shield
TTS Deluxe kit, you will need to add your own
speaker, use headphones/ear buds or plug in an amplified computer speaker set.
More information on adding a your own speaker can be found in the adding a Speaker to the SpeakJet Shield tutorial. The photos in that tutorial may differ somewhat from this version of the board, but the steps are the same. Step 17: The
first "smoke test!": Carefully plug the SpeakJet Shield
onto your Arduino. Supply power to your Arduino. The green "Power" LED should light as shown in the photo below.  If the "POWER" LED lights up, you have done well! If it does not light up, perhaps you may have installed the LED backwards or you may have a bigger problem with your board. If you have a multimeter, check for 5v across the terminals marked GND and +5 on the general purpose connector by the earphone jack. If you do not have 5V there than perhaps you need to check that the Arduino has been properly powered or there is problem with connections at the "stacking" connectors. Check that all these pins have been properly soldered and there are no solder "brdiges" between pins! Step 18:  If your board failed the test in the previous step, STOP HERE. If you cannot determine the reason for your boards' failure, do not go onward with this step - serious damage may occur to your boards components and your Arduino if you were to continue! You may contact me by email if you cannot find the problem and need further assistance with repairing your SpeakJet Shield kit. Next
insert the IC's into their appropriate sockets. The chips have a
notch in one end and that notch must line up with the notch in the socket and on the silkscreen. Step 19:  Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at email DroidBuilder.com. © 2012 Galen Raben/DroidBuilder.com |
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