“I like rapid prototyping and don't have soldering equipment. I bought the cheap male PINs without installation jig. I used two female connectors of an old 40 PIN female cable and a screw clamp to squeeze them together instead of using a hammer.”
“BUY THE JIG! (really)
I had quite an ordeal with this and definitely could have soldiered it faster, however I was cheap and thought I could get away without buying the jig (hence 4 stars to be fair). Below is my advice if you end up in my scenario without any tools and didn't buy the jig (but maybe also helps if you don't get on with the jig):
Don't bother trying to push it in because it requires too much force, the board will just bend and there isn't enough area on the board to hold in the middle. Don't try to hammer the whole thing in at once unless you have a vice to clamp the board sideways (as you can guess I tried all these things)... If the only tools you have are:
Your hands
A small hard blunt object for tapping (i used the metal handle of a fork)
A table
1. Lightly tap the individual pins in while holding it in your hand (couple pins at a time, lots of taps, low force) Initially the result looks terrible - it's OK... you should end up with:
The pins will push through the plastic aligner and end up at different heights
The wider O part of the pins will probably end up pushing all the way through the board making the whole thing loose (this is actually better at this point)
The plastic aligner will have migrated up the pins and there will be a larger gap
However it's unlikely you will bend any of the pins or put any force on the board this way :) ... ONWARD
2. Place the pi face up on a hard flat surface with a soft piece of card under the pins so you don't mark the table or whatever it is.
3. Lightly tap the tops of the pins again (but against the table this time so that they line up flat)... we're basically just pushing them through the plastic aligner at this point.
4. Use something thin and hard but not sharp e.g the prongs of a fork to (gently) push the plastic back down the pins all the way to the board (do a section at a time not the whole thing).
The little Os on the ends of the pins will be sticking out too far so that the header is a bit loose still
We want those O's go back into the holes of the board now so they are tight and only barely sticking out (see pic on pihut)
5. Again push the plastic down a section at a time with slightly more force (carefully) onto the table, this will push the plastic AND board over the pin Os.
Repeat no.5 carefully while checking the pin positions on the underside until they are both inline and at the desired stickey-outey-ness.
Despite the difficulty I managed to line it up perfectly with this method. Also - forks are the best!”
