John, please note that i do not intend to make fun over the boys of SPARK FUN! It is just VERY difficult to surpress a bright smile if I manage to get onto pages like that. I appreciate your comments a lot. If you are eager to see something even more strange, then visit
http://www.lrr.in.tum.de/~acher/bga/index.html This guy has built a apparatus that enables him to solder bgas! Unfortunately the site is in German but the pictures speak for themselves. Regards Ulrich > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- > Von: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Im Auftrag von John Day > Gesendet: Dienstag, 11. Juli 2006 00:42 > An: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement > Betreff: Re: [time-nuts] Low Cost GP-IB PCI card? > > > Actually I think you will find that if you read > the site carefully they have given up on the > toaster oven and are now using a fry-pan, albeit a non-stick > electric one. > > Like many of us involved in doing small prototype > work with the new, and very small SMD devices, we > often have to think laterally about how we do > things. I have also used the mylar film stencils > (also cut by http://www.pololu.com ) and they > work very well. Although I have probably never > used one more than two or three times, > prototyping is like that. For small boards I tend > to use a small lab-type hotplate I stole from the > guys in the chem lab. We used to use it for > soldering flanges onto waveguide, but it got put > in the back of the cupboard and now does a > sterling job of reflowing solder cream. > > To assist the surface tension sometimes on these > boards you do tend to use a little bit of liquid > flux. On many of the tiny pads there is so little > solder that it doesn't do the job, the flux tends to help! > > For small hand assembly work many of the > traditional aids just don't cut it. You cant > afford to do a stainless steel stencil for 10 > small boards. Conventional screening frames are > often more trouble than they are worth. Many of > the small infrared ovens you see advertised in > the trade press and on ebay are about as useless > as .... well I am sure you get the idea. > > However there are some really nice dispensing and > handling systems at bargain prices on ebay these > days. Those tiny suction hand-pieces for picking > and locating SMD parts are really really useful. > > Choice of soldering irons is important too. Many > of the "hobbyist" haven't realised that if you > spend money you get something worthwhile. I had > been using Weller for years, and some Pace, but > my favourite was always a beaten up old Metcal > that I am not sure how old it was. I just > recently went out and bought a brand new Metcal > MX-500 series station with the talon tweezer > style handpiece as well. It is worth a small > fortune and then some, but with the right tips it > makes touching up of boards, and even removing > and replacing 0402 and 0201 components under the > microscope a pretty simple task. > > Just don't laugh at the toaster oven, it actually > does work - I have one myself - but I tend to use > the hot-plate most often these days. > > John > > > > > > At 11:48 AM 7/10/2006, Ulrich Bangert wrote: > >Hi Said, > > > > > Works great with frequency counters, power meters etc. Have not > > > tried SRQ. > > > >Works great with a SINGLE instrument that talks from time to time. > >Anything that is only a bit more complex needs different measures. > > > > > One other factoid: the SMD chips seem to be soldered by hand, my > > > card had a lot of solder flux on it. > > > >If you want to read the absolute truth and nothing but the > truth about > >smd processing at SPARK FUN, go to: > > > >http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/ReflowToaster/reflow-hotplate.htm > > > >and be prepared to have a lot of fun. That's no joke! The boys are > >really doin it this way! > > > >Regards > >Ulrich > > > > > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- > > > Von: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Im Auftrag von [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Gesendet: Sonntag, 9. Juli 2006 19:46 > > > An: [email protected] > > > Betreff: Re: [time-nuts] Low Cost GP-IB PCI card? > > > > > > > > > > > > In a message dated 7/9/2006 04:56:51 Pacific Daylight Time, > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > writes: > > > > > > >>I found that USB-GPIB controller. Looks like BSD and Linux are > > > >>supported. > > > > > > > > > > > >> > > > >> > http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=549 > > > > > > > > > > > > Hi, I bought one on Ebay, they work quite well. They used > > > to be $99 > > > > at > > > > Sparkfun, now they raised the price, and it is out of > stock... > > > > > > > Have you tried using SRQ or other features than simple > > > > read/wait/write sequences with it? I found with one > of the old > > > > RS-232-to-GPIB converters that anything beyond reads and > > > writes was > > > > hard to handle. > > > > > > > John > > > > > > > > > Hi John, > > > I typically only use the basic (polled) features of the GPIB, > > > sending commands manually to the unit (*RST, *IDN, etc > etc), or what > > > is even better I put > > > the units into "TALK" mode, that way they spit out data > > > without any need to > > > poll. Then I simply use Win Hyperterm (yuk) to capture the > > > data to a file, and > > > analyze that later. > > > > > > Works great with frequency counters, power meters etc. Have not > > > tried SRQ. > > > > > > One interesting aspect about this "Abdul" card is that it has a > > > built-in GPIB connector that plugs into the instrument directly. > > > It's a curse and a > > > blessing: it hangs out of your instrument without any > > > mechanical support etc, and > > > extends your instrument length, but at the same time it saves > > > you a >$50 GPIB > > > cable. BTW: the card is now being sold on Ebay again. > > > > > > One other factoid: the SMD chips seem to be soldered by hand, my > > > card had a lot of solder flux on it. It's best to clean this off > > > with Flux remover > > > (Acetone type etc) for long term reliability. > > > > > > bye, > > > Said > > > _______________________________________________ > > > time-nuts mailing list > > > [email protected] > > > https://www.febo.com/cgi-> bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >time-nuts mailing list > >[email protected] > >https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list > [email protected] > https://www.febo.com/cgi-> bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list [email protected] https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
