Most excellent advice John. I haven't gone to the microscope
yet, but a magnifier with a circular fluorescent is a standard
feature on my bench as is a cheap over-the-eyeglasses magnifier.
I have a hot air rework station I got from Sparkfun which
enabled me to remove the existing resistor on my K3 to install
the KPod power mod. It is also great for shrink wrap tubing.
The difference between today and the old days is that then you
got one component per package. Now you get many functions in one
package. The new synth board for the K3 is a fine example. Darn
few packages, but lots of function.
73 Bill AE6JV
On 1/9/17 at 6:08 PM, [email protected] (John Pitz) wrote:
Guys, don't let SMT parts intimidate you. With a little practice it
isn't difficult. Especially if you know how to make a good solder joint
on a through hole part The hardest part is getting magnification.
There are some very affordable stereo microscopes available, you will
probably want 20x magnification. On Amazon I have seen prices in the
$137 range on a quick search. I was able to convince my eye doctor to
prescribe a pair of low vision aid glasses, not quite 20x, that work
really well for the larger, 0603 and .5mm pitch 100 pin QFPs. These
things have coke bottle lenses and they put the soldering iron a few
inches from my nose ;) If you are into making your own circuits you
will find that 0603 parts, as well as SOT23 work well on .1 pitch
protoboard, if you are creative enough.
Other helpful hints: Buy the finest diameter leaded solder you can find,
no need to make your life any more difficult on this scale with lead
free solder.
Buy a flux pen. Sometimes a little bit of extra flux will help.
One advantage of SMT parts is they are VERY inexpensive, at least
resistors and capacitors, and you can store an awful lot of them in a
small space.
Other resources are Schmartboards, these are used to adapt SMT ICs to .1
lead pitch perfboard. Sparkfun and Adafruit are great resources as well
if you want to operate at a slightly higher level of abstraction then
the base hardware level.
If you ENJOY building it yourself, don't let small parts intimidate you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Frantz | Truth and love must prevail | Periwinkle
(408)356-8506 | over lies and hate. | 16345
Englewood Ave
www.pwpconsult.com | - Vaclav Havel | Los Gatos,
CA 95032
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