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| Are hand-solderable packages disappearing? |
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| coppercone2:
oh the humanity the PCB place might need to buy some drill bits if we don't migrate to pure black tile construction |
| georges80:
--- Quote from: coppercone2 on February 09, 2022, 12:36:39 am ---oh the humanity the PCB place might need to buy some drill bits if we don't migrate to pure black tile construction --- End quote --- Actually, I've found I'm used a LOT of vias with SMD parts - especially with the thermal pads of many of your 'black tiles'. These are small diameter vias closely stacked that I'm sure the PCB house dislikes versus the old thruhole monster diameter holes. SMD is here and here to stay. Learn to deal with it and you'll find assembly is very quick and easy with hot air or an oven or a hot plate. I'm sure I can solder an equivalent 'pin' count PCB faster with SMD than if it was thruhole. The result is smaller and better suited to dealing with high speed signals and/or high current paths. There are definite advantages with SMD - the industry didn't go that way just for the hell of it. Looks at some modern SMD FETs and it is boggling the current density they can reach by having got rid of dangling legs. I'm 60+ with my 60+ eyesight and I have no issue with QFN parts with 0.45mm lead pitch. Decent solder paste and a hot plate takes care of things easily. A reasonable lighted magnifier and good to go. The only place I use thruhole is larger connectors that need mechanical support or the occasional electro-mechanical passive. cheers, george. |
| Watth:
--- Quote from: Bassman59 on February 08, 2022, 05:17:59 pm --- --- Quote from: Hawaka on February 07, 2022, 08:03:31 pm --- Are you feeling the same trend as me or am I just very unlucky that all the parts I want don't have a "regular" package? --- End quote --- This trend -- and the associated complaining from hobbyists about how these newfangled SMT packages make life difficult -- has been going for what, forty years now? --- End quote --- Yes, soldering SMD is not that hard, and I say this as a hobbyist that does not do it frequently. It can take some practice, but with hot air it's quite feasible. Many video tutorials are available. The risk is over-heating the component, but I've experienced that they can be quite tough and survived even my worst attempts. SMD soldering can be quite a zen activity, too. |
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