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GPIO Hammer Header (Solderless) Male + Female + Installation Jig Reviews

4.6 Rating 199 Reviews
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These headers are possibly my favorite product, installation takes minutes and prevents the need for soldering the 40 pins individually. I can solder fairly well but when I discovered this I had to try it. Goodbye inadvertent solder bridges and the mild but ever present worry that you might heat the board too much. Hello minor worry that you might break something by hitting it with a hammer (spoiler: you wont) I highly advise the jig, its a couple of pieces of plastic that hold the header and board very well and make installation a breeze. Soldering is a great skill but for the small cost of a few of these you can have your boards talking in moments.
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Posted 8 years ago
Wesley Archer
Unverified Reviewer
I bought the GPIO Hammer Head (Male) a few weeks ago, as I wanted to see what the fuss was about. Don't get me wrong, soldering is a good skill to have when using the Raspberry Pi, but it does grow tedious, quickly. Installation without the jig is tricky (just like the Pirate Monkey Ninja Robot guys say in their description) so the next time I needed to install the hammer headers, I bought the installation jig which is much, much easier! It took me less than 2 minutes to assemble the jig and fit both the male header (to my Pi Zero) and the female header to my new Scroll pHAT HD. Soldering would have taken me a lot longer. If you are thinking of buying the headers without the jig, I wouldn't recommend it because one slip can damage your Pi.
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Posted 8 years ago
It is good to have one at home, if you have a Raspberry Pi Zero, because the need for a GPIO header can come suddenly. It is so quick and easy to assemble the header that it can be done when you need it to be done, not much planning involved. Only a word of caution, to carefully keep the header aligned during assembly, because the first time I used one of these, it was leaning a bit to one side, since the plastic piece that you apply the hammer to is not by itself keeping the header straight. It was easy to remedy so it is not a problem if you are checking the angle of the header during the process. The electrical connection is reliable.
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Posted 8 years ago
So quick and easy to do - just follow the video. My soldering is not very good but this was perfect to get my Pi Zero up and running. Also feels much safer than soldering. Just one suggestion - are you planning to make a single row socket header (say for adafruit Capacitive touch hat)?
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Posted 8 years ago
A must have for the Pi Zero W, to avoid soldering
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Posted 8 years ago
Relatively easy to use product that helps placing GPIO headers, cheap solution for a one time use if you don't have soldering gear. Only downside is that the acrylic part that sits on top breaks easily (and I hammered gently). Very important to keep that piece steady and leveled with the pins while hammering. It has more to do with that than being gentle (I guess I wouldn't have broken anything if I paid more attention to leveling)
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Posted 8 years ago
Not cheap, but it is a "must have" tool for Zero for lazy people like me. :)
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Posted 8 years ago
Love these little beauties! Takes but a few seconds to hammer them in, and if you change your mind (or fit the wrong one - ahem) you just jiggle a plectrum around a bit and bingo! it's off again! Brilliant! I'll deffo be using these things again, what's not to like. Oh, parcel arrived super-quick btw and the free Pimoroni coaster was a nice touch too, thanks!
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Posted 8 years ago