> Is anyone here doing their own reflow-based SMT assembly ? I'm seriously considering it. More and more parts are only available in SMT, and it would be nice to do quick turn PCB assembly by milling a PCB then assembling it. Some parts are impractical to solder, while I haven't run into much call for BGA parts, I do use a lot of things with thermal pads under them that are tricky to hand-solder.
> Every so often I see an intriguing BGA device, but I wont design with it > because I have no way to solder, rework, test, or inspect them. > Despite my age and worsening eyesight, I'm still able to hand-solder 0.5mm > pitch QFP devices, so unless someone has thoroughly wrung-out SMT assembly in > their garage and is willing to provide some tips, I'm sticking with > hand-soldered. I am so far, my binocular microscope and good lighting help a lot. However, putting down a bunch of paste dots and parts and soldering them all at once is attractive. I'm looking at both hot plate soldering and a reflow oven. There seem to be two camps of DIY reflow ovens, one is to buy a cheap Chinese purpose-built reflow oven like a T962 and upgrade it, the other is to buy an even cheaper toaster oven and modify it (whizoo.com <http://whizoo.com/> offers controllers, parts, kits, and instructions). However, I'm still in the "thinking about it" stage, nowhere near "thoroughly wrung-out". However, I'll share my experiences once I have some. > For those of you who are unsure about hand-soldering SMT parts, the typical > 0805 package is very easy to solder with a good pair of tweezers and a > fine-tip soldering iron. True. This can be done with flux and old fashioned solder wire, or solder paste. It can also be done with a hot air gun. I find a decent board holder is a big help, and a simple toothpick is a handy tool. Bigger 1206 parts are no problem, and I've managed 0603 without too much pain. SOIC and 5050 parts are easy, and the various QFP packages are generally possible. > The parts are so much cheaper, take-up less PCB area, and require far-less > storage space that I avoid thru-hole parts wherever possible. Back when I made my own boards, I would have been thrilled about SMT. My absolute least favourite part of board making is drilling holes. - John -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/00E9CDE2-3948-4362-B6E4-BD6219297251%40mac.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.