Elenco Practical Soldering Kit

This soldering set looks like it has no problems yet. But I can't confirm this because I do not have a soldering iron, and this set did not come with one. It did come with solder and a packet with info about soldering, and it even came with a quiz with answers.

Me and my Grandson had a wonderful bonding moment as I helped him learn how to solder and identify to components. It worked on the first try. He turned it into a "Ghost" hunting device for him and his friends when they make their funny videos.

Instructions are very clear and easy to follow with valuable information about resistors, capacitors, etc. Very nice

After soldering all of the components to the board, the lights and sound didn't work properly. The troubleshooting instructions gave hints of what to try for various scenarios. After following these instructions, I was able to get it to work. The practice pads and lots of extra lead-free solder were very helpful too - very learner-friendly.

PRO:My Grandson is 7 and he's never soldered before so I worked with him very closely initially to be sure he didn't get burned.. there was only one close call where the iron slipped out of his hand as he got careless pulling it out of the holder but thankfully he didn't get burned so I was very glad that close call was just another learning experience for him. As we built it I enjoyed teaching him about what the difference components do in the circuit, which are polarized and which are not, and what the proper sequence is for getting a good solder joint. We stared off learning about tinning the tip and taking care to pre-heat the pad and lead before applying solder to the card surface etc.. and it was a very good experience over all.. He was proud of his work as was I and it was a great team project.CON:There are several things that could be improved in the kit instructions tho.. for example where they show the LED's they don't mention that the longer lead of a new LED is the positive one, nor was that polarity marked as "+" on the silk screening on the card. What is on the card silkscreen is a circle with a flat edge. The instructions said the flat edge of the diode should go towards that flat side, Problem is the actual diodes in the kit have no flat edge so you were sorta left guessing if you didn't know that the longer lead is typically the positive one. I also found it odd there were two R4s and two R6s in the kit as well but suppose the second "R4A and R6A" resistors are to be substituted in later to change the frequency and demo de-soldering.Were not done building the kit so I may have more comments later, but overall I'm happy I got it, and am looking forward to doing more of these kits with my grandsons in the future. The next one in line is 6 years old and it's a little bit too early for him to try this I think.

This kit has you solder resistors in place, only to realize you need other resistors to continue, helping you practice de-soldering and replacing. I was at first frusterated by this, as I've done many other kits that were straight forward. But I quickly realized this is a true learning kit. It teaches you to solder, then de-solder what you put on. It works well when fully assembled and the instructions are full of useful information, much better than any other kit i've done (I've done alot of kits). This is truly a good beginner kit, full of good information. 10 out of 10 would recommend to any noobie looking for basic soldering experience. Large solder pads, teaches you to desolder, it has it all! After all my hard work, the siren works and the lights flash. Great buy for anybody looking to learn soldering or for a fun project to work on.

The kit an accompanying instruction booklet proved to be a meaningful lesson. I went through mine carefully in two evenings. The project itself can be completed much more quickly, but it's purpose is best served by taking time to become familiar with the resistor color codes, try out the solder mask, practice solder wicking, and develop good technique.A very similar kit is available that includes the soldering iron. Although I suspect that version of the kit is a great value for many students, I bought a much more expensive soldering station for myself and so I appreciate that I could buy the kit without the iron.The kit includes a variety of component types that will introduce a student to the things they will find on other kits and products they will want to build. Specifically it includes resistors, electrolytic capacitors, ceramic capacitors, diodes, transistors, an integrated circuit device, and a potentiometer as well as wire for jumpers, repairs, and leads for the speaker and battery.The low-quality potentiometer quickly failed due to moderately rough handling by my kids. The turning knob has to be torqued to get it to contact internally. I don't fault the kit for that. Providing a more rugged potentiometer or panel-mount at higher cost wouldn't add anything to the purpose of the kit.I would buy more of these for anyone I cared for that wanted to learn to solder electronics. Beyond this, I would consider a kit that teaches SMD techniques. Personally I have no interest in soldering SMD by hand, but it's an important skill for the goals that some people have. My own interests are more toward Manhattan-style construction. Each person has their own reason for wanting to learn to solder electronics, but this kit is a good start for any of them.

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