Hello, this is my first post here, and I'd like to say thank you in advance for taking the time to help me out. I'm wrapping up my first project, and am frustrated that I cannot get my last connector soldered onto the board without the pads bridging together. This is a 0.4mm pitch, 30 pin, board to board connector. I'm using Chip Quik Low Melting Lead Free Solder Paste, and that seems to be working quite well, based on good results from a 0.8mm pitch connector. I'm using a toaster oven, and it seems to be working just fine for my needs.
I try to fix the solder bridges on the 0.4mm connector with my soldering iron, but no matter what I do I simply cannot get them fixed without ruining the connector. This may be a result of finding it impossible to apply the solder paste in the correct amount onto the pads; using a toothpick I run a string of paste over the length on each side of the 15 pins. Even this still seems like too much paste, and therefore creates bridging. After ruining several connectors and wasting hours of time, I'm getting a headache over this, and thought I would post here for help.
It stinks being this close to wrapping up my project. Thank you again for your time and help! Here's two pics of what I'm dealing with (the second pic shows the connector loose on the board, as I had to remove it using Chip Quick SMD removal alloy):