That is a spectacularly awesome tutorial! Thanks!
Do you use an ESD wrist strap? Where are you supposed to clip the ground if one is used?
Also, I'm worried about overheating the diode with my soldering iron. I have a Hakko 936, I have overheated so many components in the past that it's not even funny.
So, first the diode pins and board are tinned, they are touched together, then you apply the iron until the solder flows. What if it takes longer than a second for the solder to flow? That could mean I need a new tip for my iron... I'll get one. But it could also be my lack of skill... I can't find any skill on eBay for under 5 bucks though.