To show to those OM being sceptic on the fact SMD soldering can be simple when knowing how to do it, please get a look at one alternative procedure well known and widely used in labs (and by Andy Green), described with sharp pictures at this address:
http://warmcat.com/milksop/soldering.html The way used by Cash, KD5SSJ, seems to be very interesting to me either. And I'll test it as soon as possible. To avoid the paste-drying-in-the-needle problem I suggest to stick the needle in a rubber cap. In this way there is no air in contact with the paste at the top of the needle so it can't dry'n harden. Perfect for this use are e.g. those caps used on glass bottles containing antibiotics, other pharmaceutics, chemical products or the like. That rubber (formerly caoutchouc) is chemically inert and of the right consistence to not permanently occlude the needle, therefore being perfectly airtight. I use rubber with syringes containing screw-blocker enamel, with that little cyanoacrylic-glue tubes (instead of that scrappy original caps) and it works great. Every time I remove the rubber caps I've no surprises and I don't need to use pliers! ;-) vy 73s de Andreas - ik2wqi
