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Unpacking

Motherboard

1K STATIC MEM Board

8800 CPU Board

8800 Front Panel

Summary of Assembly Steps (see pictures and captions above for details.)

1. Tack all IC sockets in place by soldering pins on diagonal corners of the sockets.
2. Ensure corners of sockets are fully seated.
3. Install bypass capacitors, solder and clip leads.
4. Install jumper wires.
5. Install electrolytic capacitors (note polarity)
6. Solder remaining pins of IC sockets.
7. Add rework for PROT line.
8. Install voltage regulator and heatsink.
9. Install Resistors.
10. Install Crystal, Zener Diodes, Transistor, etc.
11. Remove solder flux with flux remover such as MG Checmicals Heavy-Duty Flux Remover.
12. Install ICs.  I chose to leave out the ICs for now.  I will install them when the final assembly of the Altair 8800 Kit is complete.

Tools used:

• Metcal Soldering Iron, with STTC-136 Chisel Tip.
• Optivisor binocular magnifier.

Supplies used:

• Kester 0.031" diameter 63/37 rosin core solder.
• Chemtronics No-Clean Solder Wick, 0.110"
• MG Chemicals Heavy-Duty Flux Remover.
• I substituted machined pin sockets for stamped contact 14- 16-, and 40-pin sockets supplied in the kit.  I did this because I like machined pin sockets better. The sockets I used were made by Mill-Max, my favorite socket company.  You can get them from Digi-Key, Arrow Electronics, and many other places.  I ordered mine from Arrow because their prices were much better than Digi-Key.  The only thing is that they have minimum orders of 1 tube of sockets.  If you want to order single-unit quantities, Digi-Key is your best bet.