The equipment you will need to build your own bat detectors depends on which type of device you are building, and how many devices you intend building.
Small tools - tweezers and cutters
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Good tweeers are essential. A pack of tweezers that will work for a whole workshop can be picked up for about £6 on Amazon.
A good pair of wire cutters is also essential for pippyg and pipistrelle builds, and they need to be good quality. I have accumulated 6 pairs of genuinely useless cutters, some from good brands (like iFixIt for example), all of which completely failed to cut through the leads of AAA and AA battery holders for pipistrelle and pippyg. And that is the only thing that needs cutting when building a device. So spend more than you think you need to, otherwise you'll be disappointed. |
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Silicone rubber electronics mat
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A silicone rubber mat offers static electricity protection for sensitive electronics components, is very frictional so that components are less easy to lose, and protects your work surface from heat so is a great place to transfer your PCBs for cooling after the hotplate melt. They can be picked up for about £5-£6 on Amazon.
A workshop build does not necessarily require a mat per person, it's easy to share a mat between two builders which reduces component costs for a workshop. |
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A hotplate for melting the solder paste
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Griff and pipistrelle devices need to be surface-mount soldred, they cann be hand-soldered with a soldering iron, so you will need a hotplate. An "entry-level" PTC hotplate that can process a single device at a time can be picked up for about £8 on Amazon. I have built hundreds of pipistrelle and Griff devices using one of these hotplates, they are the cheapest path into DIY bat detector builds. HOWEVER - these are potentially dangerous devices. You need to carefully and safely connect the live and neitral connectors of a mains plug to the exposed wires of the PTC plate. When plugged into the mains these hotplates will hit 100ºC in a matter of seconds, and rapidly hit 250º, which is their self-regulating temperature - they will stay at 250º until powered off, and will take many minutes to cool enough to touch. They warm up so quickly they can cause extrmely hot components to leap off PCBs due to differential expansion, in use they need to be turned off and on repeatedly until the surface temperature is about 150ºC to give the PCB, paste and attached components a chance to equalize temperature. BE CAREFUL!!
If you intend building multiple devices or running a self-build workshop, pick up a 200x200mm hotplate with temperature control, these are typically £50-£80 an Amazon. They don't require you to wire up live mains to the plate - big win! - but all the same warnings about temperature apply. BE CAREFUL!! |
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Soldering iron
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Griff and Griff Mini USB microphones can be assembled without requiring a soldering iron, but it is recommended that you have one if you need to make a repair or solder components to the PCB in areas where the solder melt was incomplete.
For pipistrelle and pippyg devices an iron is necessary in order to attach the battery holder to the PCB. USB-C rechargeable / battery-powered irons are great for workshop use, the fewer electrical outlets you need the better, but get one with good power output - the thermal mass of a battery compartment lead can be too much for inexpensive soldering irons and they fail to melt the solder. Note that when soldering the battery holder you can use a scrape of solder paste, so you can build any of these devices without needing solder wire. |
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An extractor fan with charcoal filter
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For a small number of single device builds using an entry-level hotplate you can get away with melting in a well-ventilated space, but if you intend processing multiple devices at a time, the melting solder paste will emit a lot of flux vapour, and that is something you don't want to breathe in. I just use an inexpensive PC cooling fan with a charcoal filter attached. I have not yet needed to replace the charcoal filter after over 100 builds.
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