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Unread 17-08-2013, 12:48
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Jon Stratis Jon Stratis is offline
Mentor, LRI, MN RPC
FRC #2177 (The Robettes)
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Rookie Year: 2006
Location: Minnesota
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Re: Off season skills: Learn how to Solder

We do something very similar as part of our summer camp. Each kid spends two days (for a total of 4 hours) at each station. It's not as focused as yours sounds - we spend time talking about the robot and how the electrical system goes together as well as making the our own kits (the camp is for prospective members, not just anyone).

We get our kits from http://www.apogeekits.com/ - I've had an excellent experience with them every time - twice now the kit we had at the top of our list wasn't available in the quantities we wanted, and they offered a different (more expensive) kit at a discount to match the price of the original order. (Note: I have no affiliation with them other than as a customer with 3 orders over the past 3 years)

We have the kids practice soldering initially with small scraps of wire. They typically end up making themselves little "electrical bracelets" with different colors of wire they can wear the rest of the camp.
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2007 - Present: Mentor, 2177 The Robettes
LRI: North Star 2012-2016; Lake Superior 2013-2014; MN State Tournament 2013-2014, 2016; Galileo 2016; Iowa 2017
2015: North Star Regional Volunteer of the Year
2016: Lake Superior WFFA