What size SMD resistors and capacitors?

[cowasaki]

I bought a bunch of 1206, but have found them annoyingly large on a pcb - about the same area as a vertically mounted resistor...   now designing with 0805s.

I was looking last night at how much it would cost to buy another SMD parts container or three and get the parts to switch. I might get 0603 parts as well. They are so cheap in kits and it’s handy to have various sizes for repairs anyway. The smallest ones are insanely small though.

[IconicPCB]

0603 does not give you that much advantage over  0805 in terms of packing density.

0603 can be a challenge to productive assembly by hand

A good engineering compromise would be 0805

[cowasaki]

0603 does not give you that much advantage over  0805 in terms of packing density.

0603 can be a challenge to productive assembly by hand

A good engineering compromise would be 0805

Yes, I agree.  The 0805 should be about the best size to use.  But for under £10 I can get a kit of 0603 for repair spares or those boards that you want to make very small :-)  I bought a great little case for storing small SMD components and just managed to find a company selling them in multiples.  I think another 3-4 should do it :-)

[schmitt trigger]

I agree with blueskull; one can do some very minute work but is a PAIN in the REAR END!
Takes out all the fun of assembling a board.

Plus if you have to troubleshoot and  re-work it is even tougher still.

For me, (in my mid-60s) 0805 and the occasional 0603 are the norm.

BTW, back in my teenage days, when I assembled some vacuum-tube circuits, I did use 3, 5 and 10 watt wirewounds. Soldered with a solder gun like these:

[IconicPCB]

A small secret....

Before You get a bunch of 0402s get a heart attack.  Seriously.

And survive it.

You will be prescribed a beta blocker which will help steady the body.  No shakes no worries when it comes to soldering grains of sand.

[CatalinaWOW]

I think this is actually proportional to age:

16-24 -> 0402
24-38 -> 0603
38-50 -> 0805 (I'm in that one)
50-65 -> 1206
65-dead -> 3W wirewounds.

I think this shows a valid trend, though I am in the last category and would recommend 0805.  Another limit that is a little soft is around the 0603/0805 boundary it gets really hard to make your own boards.  Even with the really cheap board vendors I like making my own since I am a slave to instant gratification.

[james_s]

I use toner transfer to etch my own boards occasionally. Not so often anymore but I still do it now and then. If I'm not sure it will work, only want one of them, or I want to build one today then I'll etch it myself. Otherwise I send 20 bucks to China and wait a few weeks.

[ferdieCX]

Altough I wear glasses since I was 9, I can solder 0805 by hand using a lighted magnifier lens without problems.
I prefer to use only passive components and diodes in SMD. According to the list, I should be using 1206.

[Kremmen]

I am in the official 3W category but in practice 0201 is no big deal. Did some just now with no issues. Actually, the biggest obstacle is the tweezers. Mine work nicely down to 0603 but for 0201 i really need something sharper.
IconicPCB has a good hint While my ticker is doing all right so far, i do have a bit of blood pressure and as part of the medication for that i take beta blockers. Hands are steady as bedrock No problem whatsoever to position the miniscule grains.
That said i do prefer 0603 and when needed, one size up and down.

[james_s]

My problem with stuff smaller than 0603 is not so much working with them but keeping track of the parts. It's very easy to breath too hard and blow them around the board, or try to pick one up and have it shoot out of the tweezers never to be seen again.

[nanofrog]

Yep. My swearing when I had to solder 0201 came from the tweezers. They just don't let go of the parts when contaminated with solder paste.

FWIW, liquid or paste/gel flux will do the same thing IME. Fortunately, rinsing tweezers frequently can minimize or even avoid this issue.

[jgalak]

Thanks everyone.  I ended up standardizing on 0805 and bought some assortment kits (resistors, capacitors, inductors).  I'll get other sizes as/when necessary.

[phil from seattle]

I think this is actually proportional to age:

16-24 -> 0402
24-38 -> 0603
38-50 -> 0805 (I'm in that one)
50-65 -> 1206
65-dead -> 3W wirewounds.

Funny. I'm weeks away from 65 and have no problem doing 805s. 603s with a bunch of swearing. But, I'm still building a manual PnP machine...

[IconicPCB]

0805 is the new 1206

[nanofrog]

Small may work most of the time, but there are instances where the smaller packages can't handle the power requirements (i.e. 1/8W for 0805, though 1218 or 2512 can handle 1W).

FWIW, I'm also fond of MELF where low inductance, low noise, and high stability are required (up to 1W in a 2.2mm diameter x 5.8mm long cylinder).