THT versions of SMD components

[tychob]

Your hobby is yours to enjoy as you wish... but I'm not sure you're going to get the validation you seem to want arguing the point here.

Its a simple pair of constraints it stems from. No code, and trying to avoid spending all my time on a computer. These constraints are not arbitrary, but come from the rest of my life. What I'm trying to do is find a set of tradeoffs that work with them. The just order PCBs approach violates constraint two, as all of the design effort is done on in CAD. Using microcontroller violates point 1. Unless you have a suggestion for how to use microcontrollers or FPGAs without writing software/firmware for them? Anything higher speed becomes a challenge due to the issue of providing proper grounding and signal integrity without having a custom PCB per iteration.

So far, the only path I've found that seems to be able to fit within those 2 constraints is pure analogue modular audio synths using 2.54mm packages + protoboard. Ignoring just about everything newer than the 1980s. But as you say, the DIPs + 2.54mm ecosystem is disappearing. Already stuff like OTAs are impossible to get in DIP packages. But maybe electronics as it exists today is not a hobby for me.

[sparkydog]

Later came the digital circuits and microcontrollers, which required one to learn assembly language. 
Nowadays is the time for SMT components, and worse, for the fine pitch or leadless components, some of which I believe are the work of the devil.

The point I am attempting to drive is that, thorough these past 50 years I have had to adapt.  Do I always like it? Do I enjoy that any DSP can provide a much better filtering function, than anything I could ever accomplish with opamps? No, many times the answer is not really. But I recognize that the world has moved on.

In which case, is there any point for a new beginner to even try to progress beyond what circuits can be achieved on a breadboard with passives and a 555? It feels impossible for anything you can do with circuitry to be better than the software domain. So a dev board furfills all the needs.

Even if we're at the point where you can put together "hats" like LEGO® bricks, that's never going to be as "tidy" — or as small — as a custom PCB. It probably won't be as cheap or as robust, either. Besides, there are projects for which an MCU is overkill... and speaking of "robust", for some of the projects I'm tinkering with I specifically don't want an MCU because it's so many more things that can go wrong. Then there are projects for which there isn't a pre-built module (at least, not one that isn't prohibitively expensive). None of which considers that the whole point of a hobby is to have fun.

I don't think THT is "dead". I especially believe that hobby PCB design isn't dead; in fact, the proliferation of low-cost prototyping outfits suggests just the opposite! I'm willing to consider that if one wants to "try to progress beyond what circuits can be achieved on a breadboard with passives and a 555", one may be hard pressed to avoid dipping one's toe into the SMD pool, but so far I've sketched out several projects that haven't required any components not available as THT on boards I build. (To be fair, some of those use pre-built Arduino boards that use SMD, and one wasn't really practical in the size constraints I had without resorting to SMD, but the point is, leaving aside that one size-constrained issue, I could build all of those projects without ever soldering a single SMD component myself.)

...and some serious hard-core folks still build projects using vacuum tubes. The hobby scene is not the consumer goods scene.

[Electro Fan]

At least for me, I'm not going to adapt to embedded engineering. If that is the future than I don't see a way to enjoy that as a hobby. But thats me as a burned out professional software developer who doesn't want to touch another line of code when I leave work.

If the software guys are full up on code, how do you think the hardware guys feel? 

[John B]

I don't really see the dichotomy. In fact, a hobbyist has the best of both worlds because they don't need to answer to the accounting department, and you have more flexibility in construction. Here's a few things I've found over the years:

Generic large transistors/ICs/voltage regs etc, in TO-220 packages are often cheaper than their SMD equivalents. I also prefer to mount them vertically on a heatsink, which can often save on PCB space too.

For low power resistors, caps, small signal diodes etc, I don't see why you'd bother with THT anymore. SMD is far cheaper and you can still use them on a perfboard if you wish. Ever tried to shop for leaded MLC caps? Less choice, far more expensive.

Use THT  for high strain components like pin headers, terminal blocks etc

I end up surface mounting many THT parts anyways, eg soldering down a TO-220, giving it stability and some amount of heatsinking. Plus your old DIP chips can be surface mounted using an SMDIP footprint. Without the holes through the PCB, there's more room for traces on both the top and bottom layers.

It came in handy a year or so back when I needed to use an MCP23017, but there was only the DIP versions left, the SOIC were constantly out of stock, and the dregs that came on the market sold instantly.

[schmitt trigger]

...and some serious hard-core folks still build projects using vacuum tubes. The hobby scene is not the consumer goods scene.

I am one of those guys.
And nothing is more satisfying than marrying some hollow state devices to modern devices.
-Case in point: I acquired some Soviet era Dekatrons. To display different patterns requires a microcontroller. But to interface to the tube’s unique high voltage drive, I am also using discrete thru-hole components.
The best of three worlds!

[Watth]

So you want THT because you want to test your circuit first. Does it mean like with a breadboard?
Also, what will be you final mode of fabrication: custom PCB or perf board?

[glowredman]

Back from vacation, time to tackle this again!
Thanks for all the replies

I think I will split the project in parts:

• ESP32 + sensors: allows me to write a basic program to get data from the sensors and send it to my server
• WIFI -> LoRa
• solar power: this is probably the most difficult step (for me) because I need to verify that the design from the guide provides enough energy to power the weather station all the time
• building an enclosure and potentially creating custom PCBs: either using the designs from the guide or my own

As for SMD vs THT: I think I'll just get as much as possible in a THT format and everything else will improve my (non-existing) SMD soldering skills