Turn your Ender-3 3D printer into a robotic soldering machine for through-hole PCBs — powered by open-source software and hardware.
👉 This project is still being developed, sign up to be one of the first to know when it's released!
Solder Sidekick™ is an open-source project that converts a standard Ender-3 3D printer into an automated through-hole soldering robot.
It uses a simple web interface where you upload your drill files (from your Gerber PCB files), configure your component settings, and generate the G-code needed to precisely solder each pin.
👉 Launch the Solder Sidekick™ Web App
- 🔥 Automates tedious manual soldering
- 🔥 Reduces human error
- 🔥 Great for small-run production and prototypes
- 🔥 Designed to be affordable, modular, and extensible
Soldering lots of through-hole parts by hand is time-consuming, tiring, and error-prone — especially for small businesses, makers, and prototype builders.
Until now, solutions were either:
- Very expensive (industrial selective soldering machines) 💸
- Very DIY and unreliable 🛠️
Solder Sidekick™ solves this by offering:
- An easy-to-assemble hardware kit
- An intuitive browser-based software tool
- Low-cost conversion based on an Ender-3 (a widely available 3D printer)
While Solder Sidekick™ is open-source, sourcing the parts and machining the custom soldering iron tips can be difficult.
Buying a full kit from our Shopify store makes your life much easier:
- ✅ All hardware parts included (except Ender-3)
- ✅ Included custom machined soldering tips
- ✅ Semi-assembled kit saves you time
- ✅ Supports the project!
👉 Notification Sign Up for when it's released!
Want to test out the Solder Sidekick™ right away? We include a custom breadboard-style PCB in each kit as a sample project — great for demos and getting started.
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This board is:
- Based on an open-source design by Soldered Electronics
- Modified to include "locking pin" footprints for easier soldering
- Branded with the Solder Sidekick logo
You can find the gerber and drill files for the example PCB Breadboard in this repository.
📎 The breadboard PCB is licensed under the TAPR Open Hardware License v1.0, with all original and modified work credited and preserved.
👉 Learn more or browse the design files: PCB Breadboard
Ready to bring your Solder Sidekick™ to life?
Follow our step-by-step setup guide to:
- 🧩 Assemble your kit
- 🧾 Prepare your PCB drill files
- 🧠 Generate G-code using the web app
- ❓ Browse FAQs and troubleshooting tips
👉 Start Here: Solder Sidekick Setup & Guide
Whether you're soldering your first board or tuning your workflow, this page has everything you need to hit the ground running.
To get the most out of your Solder Sidekick™, we recommend picking up the following essentials:
🖨️ Compatible Printer Solder Sidekick is designed specifically for the Ender-3 3D printer. Other printers may require custom modifications.
🧵 Recommended Solder We suggest using 0.6mm solder for optimal feed performance and joint coverage.
Note: These are Amazon affiliate links. If you make a purchase, a small portion helps fund the development of the Solder Sidekick™ project — at no extra cost to you. ❤️
This project is community-driven and open-source!
- 🌟 Sponsor Solder Sidekick™ on GitHub to help fund development
- 🔧 Contribute code, documentation, or testing
- 📣 Spread the word!
If you want to develop or run the web interface locally:
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Clone this repo:
git clone https://github.com/RinthLabs/SolderSidekick.git
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Install dependencies:
npm install
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Start the development server:
npm run dev
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Open your browser at:
http://localhost:5173/
📢 Pull requests are welcome! Feel free to open an issue or contribute a new feature!
This project is licensed under the MIT License — free to use, modify, and share!