On Thu, Feb 07, 2008 at 11:34:31AM -0800, Kirk Wallace wrote: > > I was planning on assembling the boards myself. When you say "I'd go > with through-hole parts.", do you mean the terminal blocks, or all > parts? I thought now would be a good time to get used to through-hole > parts going away.
I've converted to 99% SMD, partly to save the labour of bending and snippping all those component leads, partly so I can use both sides of the board, making a neat little unit. A soldering iron tip with a solder-holding hollow allows me to solder all 11 pins on one side of a PQFP in one second. > I thought SMT screw terminals would be a long-shot, but I have some > surplus telecomm boards here that have some beefy double row pin > connectors in SMT, so I thought I'd ask. But as you say, these are > inside a housing and probably cycled a few times, worst case. Even a largish SMD Atmel micro I'm looking at has a metal pad underneath, which must be soldered or glued down, to ensure the package stays on the board. (Pin pads are shrinking all the time.) I have some SMD pinheaders, but wouldn't dare use anything but through-hole for lotsa amps and connecting stiff cable. I did try gently bumping the pinheaders off the surplus PCB. They'll withstand normal handling. Must try a destructive test. > That's good news about the holes being inexpensive. I was thinking I > should go with a single side board to avoid holes. There may be someone more convenient closer to home, but I've been happy with www.custompcb.com . Up to 500 holes, for the base cost. For prototyping, double sided and single sided at the same cost, so no issue for just a few off. The silver plated pads are a delight for SMD components, because they're so flat. Oh, and I can just send Eagle files, which suits. Just my experience, FWIW. You'd have to have similar in the northern hemisphere. Erik ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
