General > General Technical Chat

Come in through-hole components your time is up!

<< < (5/13) > >>

Red Squirrel:
Like I said if you have the right equipment (which you have) it's not as hard.  I'm talking about someone who may not have all that equipment. With just a solder iron (even a crappy fire stick with a thick tip) and regular solder, you can do through hole much easier than SMD.

rstofer:

--- Quote from: Red Squirrel on May 06, 2017, 10:43:23 pm ---Like I said if you have the right equipment (which you have) it's not as hard.  I'm talking about someone who may not have all that equipment. With just a solder iron (even a crappy fire stick with a thick tip) and regular solder, you can do through hole much easier than SMD.

--- End quote ---

Yes, through-hole is easier to solder but if there are no through-hole devices, it just doesn't matter.

It turns out that a large tip works well for drag soldering.  A fine pointed tip is almost worthless.
I think my tip is a 1/8" chisel type and it is all I have ever used.

Flux is the only thing that is really required that the beginner might not have.  It isn't required to use solder paste.  In fact, for drag soldering, it isn't even used. 

For the 'no extra equipment' approach to SMD, drag soldering works well.  Just put flux on the pads, place and hold the component and drag a bit of solder off the tip.  Add a little more solder and drag some more.  It's truly easy!

Flux is the key!

OK, add SolderWick.  It is inevitable that there will be solder bridges.  Put some flux over the affected pins, lay the braid across and hit it with the iron.  The problem with SolderWick is that it will sometimes take too much solder off.  Expect to have to apply more flux and drag a bit more solder.

SMD is easy, it doesn't have much of a startup cost and there is no reason to hang back because, sooner or later, you will be left behind.  We're simply out of the DIP business.

VK3DRB:
I usually use visual aids - microscope, Vision Mantis or a 5X Inspector Gadget. But a very handy device is a decent mobile telephone with a magnifier app. The app illuminates the object and you can vary the magnification. A good phone will have a nice macro.

http://www.altronics.com.au/inspectagadget/

Electro Detective:
I'm all for newer technology  :-+ 

Has any company produced through-hole SMD adapters ?      ;)

mtdoc:
I still struggle with the idea of needing to switch to primarily SMD / PCB work for one-off prototypes or projects.  If building several of something it is no doubt more efficient but I just don't see that for my hobbyist use - at least not yet.

I used to think it as needed for anything but low frequency projects until I learned that dead bug and Manhattan style prototyping can work well for any of the speeds I'm likely to require in the near future.

The lack of through hole ICs has forced me to learn to solder surface mount using adapter pcbs. Repair work has as well.  But otherwise I have no need for it on a regular basis.

The biggest drawback for me at this point is that I have absolutely no interest in spending time in front of a computer screen doing PCB layout. I spend way too much time on a computer for my day job. One of the main reasons I've taken up electronics as a hobby is to be able to build things with my hands and get away from the computer

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page

There was an error while thanking
Thanking...
Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod