Guest Blog - basicxman

(Thanks to basicxman for submitting the writeup below - Jim)

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Attention to those who hack NXT,
Soldering. I have almost pure hatred for it, even simple PCB wiring with no tiny SMD's. Plus, I don't even know how many times I've burned myself :-) Anyways, SchmartBoard offers a solution, and a great one. I can't believe I didn't think about it before. http://schmartboard.com/index.asp?page=products_accessories&id=124 These new 'solder rings' are simply slid over a wire on a PCB and then a quick tap from a soldering gun/iron and you have a perfect solder joint.

Also, if any of you don't know about SchmartBoard, I advise you check out their website (http://schmartboard.com/index.asp?page=products) which allows you to create easy-to-solder PCB boards. They also have monthly contests (and a big annual one) for those who create custom SchmartBoard modules. It seems this would be a great idea for those who hack NXT. This would allow people to post up their hacked NXT designs, custom sensors, custom peripherals, etc... and allow other roboteers to use the schematics and order a board.

Plus if you want to start learning electronics and reading/writing schematics the same company SchmartBoard, has created a new social network called SolderByNumbers. It is currently in development but is going into beta very shortly, the link is http://www.solderbynumbers.com/ So let's get hacking NXTer's!!!

-basicxman