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7.2 Building the ECF80/EL34 PCB
Before we begin, let's talk for a moment about installing valve bases.
Use some masking tape to secure the valve base to the board prior to soldering.
The key is to
make sure the valve base is level
: if you have a base that is soldered in on an angle then your
tube will also lean over! Generally, you'll want to solder from the underside of the board. We
suggest that you use just a little solder to secure each pin to the board: perhaps just start with
two pins which are opposite to each other to make sure the base stays level — then you can add
more solder to the pins. In the end you can fill up the entire valve base hole.
Be very careful not
to let any solder bridge to the next pin as this will cause a short!
We recommend you then
'touch them up' from the top, then back once again to the bottom — and all should be well.
When you do the touch ups just give them a very short bit of heat and a very small bit of
additional solder.
We start with the PCB itself:
