Skip to content

Blinky Grid SMT and Blinky POV SMT

Learn and practice surface-mount soldering with Blinky Grid SMT and Blinky POV SMT!

Pssst! These are the surface-mount kits. The beginner through-hole kits are located over at Blinky Grid and Blinky POV .

Surface mount soldering?! That’s impossible!

While we won’t say that everyone can successfully solder surface-mount, you do not need extreme dexterity or super eagle vision. We’ve built a bunch of these with people who have never soldered surface mount before, between seven and fifty or so years of age–and everyone has been successful.

The seven year old girl, when working on her Blinky POV SMT, said, “This really isn’t that hard. You don’t have to help me. SMT is easy!” She wasn’t using fancy equipment, either!

We’ve written a few pages on surface mount soldering. Take a look!

Blinky Grid SMT

Blinky Grid SMT is a reprogrammable LED matrix. It has 56 LEDs and can display text and animations in a variety of ways, just like its larger, through-hole brother, Blinky Grid.

Blinky POV

Blinky POV is a reprogrammable LED kit that uses persistence of vision to create the illusion of text or a small picture floating in the air. It only has 8 LEDs. It can also act like a Larson Scanner.

So what? What makes these LED kits so special?

Just like the bigger Blinky Grid and Blinky POV, they can be optically reprogrammed. They require no special cables or knowledge of programming. Go to the Blinky Programmer website, enter in your text and animations, and hold your Blinky up to the screen. Click the Go button on the page, and the squares start to blink, transmitting the data to the Blinky Grid SMT or Blinky POV SMT. It’s as simple as that!

Both Blinky Grid SMT and Blinky POV SMT have the text “I can solder SMT!” on the PCB, and they comes with a pin and clasp so it can attached to fabricky things.

Purchase a Blinky SMT kit!

Blinky Grid SMT and Blinky POV SMT kits are now available in our online store!

The Blinky kits are also available from the Maker Shed!

Who is this for?

Blinky Grid and Blinky POV are excellent for people who want to start or practice simple surface-mount soldering, or just have a tiny blinky toy.

When you’re finished, you’ll have a fun toy that you can make show nearly anything you want, over and over again.

Other facts we’ve deemed important enough to be on the front page