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Your VPM-1 standard kit contains two printed circuit boards (PCBs): the main board and the sensor
board. The Stereo upgrade and Expression upgrade kits each contain one additional board. We will
start with the main board. About half of the components will be installed on each side of the main
board. The white silk-screen printing indicates which side of the PCB each component should be inserted
through. Each component will then be soldered in place on the other side of the board. Because of the
tight spacing on these circuit boards, it’s important to not over-apply solder to the joints; otherwise it’s
easy to create solder bridges between two components that aren’t supposed to be connected. Proper
technique for installing and soldering components to a circuit board is demonstrated through several
great resources on Instructables and YouTube under the search “PCB soldering tutorial.” The general
procedure consists of the following:
1. Install the part on the component side of the board, by threading the wire leads through the
appropriate holes in the board. For your convenience, the board has silk screen outlines indicating
where the components should be placed, along with text indicating the part number and the
component value.
2. Hold the component in place with your finger and turn the board over.
3. Gently bend the leads out at about 45 degrees to keep the component from falling out.
4. Install all of one type of component, bending each of the leads as they are installed.
5. Flip the board over solder-side-up, and solder all of the components in one pass. In soldering, the
key is to place the iron’s tip on both the component lead and the pad on the circuit board at the
same time in order to heat them both up simultaneously, once they are sufficiently heated, then
add solder onto that joint.
6. Clip the leads off with small diagonal cutters, right at the solder joint.
You will notice that we have installed several components on the PCB already. These components
are surface mounted, which are a little more difficult to solder. The square chip in the middle of the
board has been pre-programed with the software your VPM-1 needs to run. If you are interested in
changing the way your VPM-1 operates then you may want to look into modifying this software and
re-programming the chip. Instructions for this process can be found in the VPM-1 Owner’s Guide.
