Using microcontroller sockets?
Go to the Microcontroller (socketed) page instead!
Test your controller. Before soldering your controller, you’ll want to flash firmware to it to ensure it works. Desoldering a controller is a lot of work, so test its functionality before soldering it! You can find the instructions on how to flash your controller on Flashing Firmware.
Orienting your controller. Your controller has a top side and a bottom side. The top will have its chip and most other components on it, while the bottom is usually bare (and will often have a logo or other graphic on it). On Aurora kits, the controller will always face with it its chip facing toward the keyboard PCB, so the controller’s back side is facing toward you.
Using a nice!nano? You'll notice it has two more holes than there are socket pins. Leave the top two holes empty, right next to the USB jack - they're a little smaller than the other holes, so it's easy to spot. They're for connecting the battery, but a larger pin on the controller serves the same purpose, so it's not needed on Aurora kits.
These are the header pins included with your controller. Some controllers will also include a third, much smaller set of headers - they're not used on Aurora kits.
There are two ways to go about it: soldering the headers onto the controller first, or soldering them onto the PCB first. I usually insert the sockets onto the PCB, insert the microcontroller on top of that, and solder the pins to the controller first.
It's doesn't matter much which way to orient the tall parts of the pin headers. Here, we placed them with the tall parts facing toward the PCB, but if you don't have a holder for your PCB, it's probably easier to have the tall parts facing up.
You can tape the controller with assembled headers so that it won't move around.
If you had the tall parts facing up, you can skip ahead to the bottom a bit to check how to cut the leads down to size. If not, you can continue here.
By default the header legs will stick out quite far, so you can cut them shorter using flush cutters.
Hold the leg with one hand while you clip it with the other - you don't want a rogue leg flying into your eyes!
After clipping the legs, you can opt to reflow some of the joints if you think you cut it too close to the joint. Cutting legs puts pressure on the joint, which can cause cracks in the joint.