I've got 4 Arduino Micros and noticed that the micro-USB jack doesn't have it's mechanical lugs soldered (see images below). As a result, my colleague was accidentally able to easily rip the jack off of the board. Is this a manufacturing mistake? Any harm in soldering those 2 thru holes to give greater mechanical strength?
Thanks!
Yes.
I would just solder it to the pad. I can only see one hole and I would steer clear of it. Just make the joint soldered to where it should be.
Looks to me like a really bad re-work job on the board. The board had to be drilled when the old jack was removed because the via still had the mounting tab from the old jack. Solder sucker would not pull it out, so the worker drilled it and now the replacement jack has no place to solder the tab.
My pic isn't great, but it doesn't looks like rework--just like it wasn't soldered in the first place. Three of these from Digikey were like this...will check the one I bought from Amazon.
I would ask for your money back, it is not a new unit but a reworked probably used one.
Looks to me more like someone substituted cheap SMT USB jacks for the originally specified TH USB jacks. IIRC, Adafruit originally designed the Micro, and was aware of the ease with which the jacks can rip off boards (so they offer these: Micro B USB Connectors - Pack of 5 : ID 4023 : $2.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits )
Oddly, the 2 lugs extend into the plated thru-hole, but not all the way through (hard to tell from my pix). So...will just solder them--that should improve the mechanical integrity.
So this seems like a manufacturing defect. The Micros that I got from Digikey are missing solder in all 4 holes indicated in the image, and the ones from Amazon (that's what the image is of) only have it (barely) in the holes indicated with yellow arrows. I popped some solder in and the boards still work, but the connector is now securely attached.
Any of those places, and others, that show flux means they were added by hand.
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