3D Xmas Tree for Raspberry Pi Assembly Instructions

By The Pi HutOct 4, 20170 comments

Below you'll find instructions on how to assemble our 3D Xmas Tree for Raspberry Pi. There are two versions of the tree:

Pre-Soldered Kit/RGB Tree - This version of the product requires no soldering, you'll just need to cut your Xmas tree out of it's PCB frame and slot together... simply skip down to step 8 below.
Soldering Kit - We recommend you leave your Xmas tree in its PCB frame until soldering is complete, as this makes it much easier. There are a few steps below where correct orientation of the components is crucial, please read and re-read the steps before applying any solder!

If you've not soldered before - we advise checking out this awesome guide by Raspberry Pi

Warning - Do NOT place the Xmas Tree on your Raspberry Pi backwards... Bad things will happen! See step 10 for orientation advice.

Step 1 - You'll want to bend your resistors and place them along the bottom of the tree. Make sure you place them over the "header" text of the PCB, as shown below.

Step 2 - Flip the PCB over and solder them into place. Then snip away those pesky legs! We recommend a good quality pair of Diagonal Micro Cutters for this.

Step 3 - Now for the GPIO header, push into place so that the black header is on the same side as the resistors, as shown below. Ensure that the header is at a clean 180 degree angle to the PCB (otherwise you'll have a wonky tree!). Flip the PCB over & solder the 40 pins securely into place.

Step 4 - Time to add the 3mm red LEDs! Orientation of these is very important, if you solder a LED the wrong way around, it won't work. Take a look at one of your LEDs, you will see a long and a short leg. With the PCB held upright, make sure that the shorter LED leg is always at the top. (This is where keeping the tree in it's frame comes in handy). Ignore the top "Star" for now, we'll add that later.

Add your LEDs to the front of the tree - where ever you see a gold number (see photos below if you're unsure). Then turn the PCB around and double check that all of the shorter legs are on top and solder them into place. Once they're soldered on you can snip off those legs! Ignore the top "Star" for now, we'll add that later.

Step 5 - Repeat Step 4 on the other side of the PCB, again ensuring that the shorter legs are on top. Flip, solder & snip!

Step 6 - Now for the star! Add the white LED to the top of your tree - You'll want it on the same side as the resistors (see the photo below if you're unsure). Make sure that shorter leg is on top! Flip, solder & snip!

Step 7 - Now for the "wing headers". These will come in one long strip that can be easily cut into rows of 7 pins

Orientation of these is also very important. We've written "header" on the side of the PCB these need to sit on! Make sure the shorter pins sit on top of this text, with the longer pins poking through the PCB and you can't go wrong (see photo below if you're unsure).

Flip the PCB over and solder them into place. Ensure that they're at a neat 90 degree angle, or you'll be left with a wonky tree!.

Step 8 - Soldering complete! Using your snips, carefully cut away the small tabs holding your tree in it's PCB frame, being careful not to damage the tree.

Step 9 - The final step! Now we just need to slot our two "wings" into the mid section of the tree. Thanks to some PCB kung-fu, you don't actually need to apply any solder to these! We've added specially sized, specially spaced, offset holes that give a tight enough fit that no solder is needed!

Note: the wings don't have to go on a set side, so you can't get this part wrong :)