Dylan Smith wrote: > Things like SOIC are really easy to do with a soldering iron. 0.5mm gets > tricky and 0.4mm is about three times as hard as 0.5mm (from both the > perspective of managing to etch a board with 8/8 rules reliably, and > solder the chip to it). I've found for discrete components, 0604 is just > about the right tradeoff of size to hand solderability. (Again, solder > paste and hot air makes it easier).
If you don't want to invest hundreds dollars to hot air soldering station. You may consider purchasing of a gas soldering iron. With the cheapest one (~$15) you will get soldering tip and glow. Soldering SMD with soldering paste and a glow is an adrenaline adventure, but it's possible. Glow has about 1300°C, you have to find the place with a temperature ~300°C. With a bit more expensive gas soldering iron (~$50), you will get a hot air tip with platinum catalyzed burning. Flue gas has ~600°C, regulated soldering irons allow further temperature decrease. Even it is still a bit risky with comparison with a professional hot air station, but already acceptable. You can use polyimide (e. g. kapton) adhesive tape (~$15) as a temperature protection and also as a good indicator of overheating - kapton softens above ~350°C and starts to singe above ~400°C. And finally, you can use a flat-iron from your laundry as a poor-man's preheating unit. -- Stanislav Brabec http://www.penguin.cz/~utx _______________________________________________ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user