SMD

[Electronics-Repairman]

Ok troops I'm finally giving into SMD, I want to build a pulse generator where component placement is important, so going for it everything is SMD, glad I have a large bench magnifier, and a good set of tweezers. This could be a steep learning curve

[Matje]

Ok troops I'm finally giving into SMD, I want to build a pulse generator where component placement is important, so going for it everything is SMD, glad I have a large bench magnifier, and a good set of tweezers. This could be a steep learning curve

Don't worry too much, I found it easier than expected, at least for semi-sensible sized parts - no 0402 here.

One thing I noticed: I find it easier to work with magnification glasses (attached to your head ;-) instead of a bench magnifier, because these give you more freedom of movement and view. Probably a personal preference to be tested by every person for themselves.

[GreyWoolfe]

I second Matje.  I have a desk magnifier and a headset magnifier.  I use the headset more than the bench magnifier.

[TheBorg]

I try to do 0603's at the very minimum, 0805's if I can fit them.

But hand soldering 0402's is always fun! 

Get a decent iron with a decent tip and you'll be fine

[Electronics-Repairman]

Thanks everyone I'll bare all this in mind

[jay]

With some magnification hand soldering 0805's and SO packages is actually quicker and easier than TH stuff when you get used to it. I often do mixed SMD & THT boards in my hobby prototypes.

[sacherjj]

Hopefully you have a solid color hard surface over your work area.  My home lab area was above carpet.  Anything smaller than 0805 that was dropped was just considered a loss.   

[hlokk]

I only recently attempted soldering SMD for the first time. I got 1206 resistors figuring they'd be the easiest to solder, but they're too large from spanning between veroboard tracks. 0805's werent much harder to solder at least.

Wasnt as hard as I thought though. Sometimes a bit fiddly holding parts down steady but not too bad. Daves tip of 0.5mm solder and a chisel tip iron worked well   

One tip though is if you can, particuarly on IC legs, try pressing the solder tip so it touches both the leg and the solder pad. Touching just on top of the leg and hoping it would "heat through" required longer iron times which prob heated the chip more (although for resistors, touching the top of the contact worked well. Dont forget the flux paste (I found a pen easy).  Good luck!