SMD soldering kit

[tautech]

This thread is worth study before venturing into SMD and particularly the video in this post by the OP:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/so-surface-mount-it-is/msg1442590/#msg1442590
It's not how most of us would use paste but you can clearly see it works pretty well. 

[kizmit99]

Do you think that this kind of solution is any good?

As tautech mentioned - the link you posted seems extremely over priced...  The link he posted seems cheap enough to give them a try...

My experience is that head mounted magnifiers cause me to become ill.  They may work great when your head-down actually soldering, but (at least for me) when you look up to read the placement docs, or try to dig out the next component to place, the magnifiers are still in front of your eyes and the result (again, for me) can be *very* disorientating and leads (pretty quickly) to a feeling of motion sickness.  Obviously the lenses can be flipped-up, taken off, etc - but doing (and remembering to do it) every time can quickly become quite annoying.  Again though, at the price in the second link it may be your most cost-effective approach and worth a test.

Just an observation, and only offered in an attempt to help - you almost seem to be wanting to spend big money on something.  If your real goal is to simply get some experience and practice at SMD hand soldering, just spend a few bucks on a few kits and give them a shot.  If the parts are too small for you to work with without magnification, at least you will have an idea of how much help you need, and whether it will just be magnification and light.  I don't think it's been mentioned, but you also need fairly steady hands to pick up, place and actually solder the parts down - if it happens that you don't have the steadiness to accomplish that, then magnification isn't going to help much.

[ataradov]

Another good and cheap way to go is to get one of those helping hands https://www.ebay.com/itm/Helping-Hand-Hands-Tool-Jewelry-Repair-Fly-Soldering-Iron-Clamp-Magnifying-Glass/400649836028

But don't use it as it, it is trash. But if you modify it a bit, it becomes a very useful tool. I used this for months before I've got the microscope and it worked perfectly. And I still use it for some jobs. Sorry for the quality of the pictures.

The only downside to this is that it really needs a lot of light. So if your environment is dark, I would get some of those car ring lights like there https://www.ebay.com/itm/80mm-COB-LED-Car-Angel-Eye-Halo-Ring-Light-Bulbs-Light-Rings-Decoration-White/263099470248?epid=2112352266 or https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Pair-COB-DC-12V-60MM-LED-Car-Motorcycle-Angel-Eyes15-SMD-LED-White-Ring-Light/231512530649 and try to attach them to the metal part of the lens.

I've actually got the lights, but never got to making them work.

[hermitengineer]

Looking at the size of the SMD components, trying to put that together with a soldering iron would be considered masochism.

That depends on whether the package codes indicate metric or imperial.  I do 0603 imperial pretty easily.  Now, one time I accidentally clicked the wrong "buy" button and got some 0402 metric caps.  Those cute little metallic grains of sand could sit between the pads of the intended 0603 spot without touching either pad.  Using THAT size would be a bit of a challenge, even on correct pad sizes.

[level6]

For SMD I use an Amscope 7X-45X with double boom arm. I also use a 0.5X Barlow lens with this microscope to provide more distance between lens and work. With this configuration I have around 7.5 inches of clearance to work with. I also bought the LED ring light, which provides plenty of illumination. I can work with SMD for hours with no eye strain and total clarity.

https://www.amscope.com/7x-45x-simul-focal-stereo-lockable-zoom-microscope-on-dual-arm-boom-stand.html
https://www.amscope.com/0-5x-barlow-lens-for-sm-series-stereo-microscopes-48mm.html
https://www.amscope.com/white-adjustable-144-led-ring-light-illuminator-for-stereo-microscope-camera.html