Pi Pico VGA Soldering Tips

If you haven’t soldered surface mount modules before, the Raspberry Pi Pico supplied with the Pi Pico VGA Terminal might look a bit challenging. Like most things, if you know what you’re doing, it is actually pretty easy. Here’s the method I use;

  1. Take a couple of resistor lead off-cuts
  2. Bend in to a staple shape about 2.54mm (0.1″) wide
  3. Poke these staples through from the underside of the PCB in opposite corners
  4. Bend them apart slightly to keep everything lined up
  5. Solder opposite corners and a couple of other pads to keep things in place (Do NOT solder the pads with the staple though).
  6. Remove the staples
  7. Continue soldering the rest of the pads
  8. Stand back and admire your work!