| General > General Technical Chat |
| I can't stand seeing or using non-SMD parts. Am I sick? |
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| mariush:
--- Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on September 26, 2019, 01:24:25 am ---Expounding on why I prefer SMD to through-hole: To build a board with through-hole components: * Pick up part * Bend (or straighten) leads to fit through holes * Insert part through holes * Repeat for all parts * Turn board over (hoping nothing falls out) * Solder leads one at a time * Clip excess leads (and hope you don't get one in your eye :o) * Optional: find all of the stray clipped leads that went flying To build a board with SMD components: * Tape stencil to board * Apply solder paste and squeegee it across board * Remove stencil * Pick up parts with tweezers * Place on board * Repeat for all parts * Put board in oven and reflow I find the SMD procedure to be both less tedious and faster to do. The through-hole process assumes you don't have a wave soldering machine, which most hobbyists don't. --- End quote --- The problem i have with this is that sometimes you just want to quickly put something on a semi-permanent circuit board so you can get a prototyping stripboard (ex: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32851976239.html ) and solder parts ... 0603 and 0805 and 1206 are doable but others not so much. Also ... sometimes you don't get stencil with your circuit board esp. if there's multiple small designs you make and if you're not doing lots of boards the solder paste can dry out or become hard to use after some time, and it's recommended to be kept refrigerated so you have to be careful where it's stored in the fridge etc etc... so you have to mess around with adding isopropyl alcohol.... |
| exe:
--- Quote from: NANDBlog on February 24, 2020, 12:19:49 pm --- --- Quote from: exe on February 24, 2020, 11:38:40 am ---BTW, how do you prototype smd parts? --- End quote --- You design a board quickly and order it on 2 days service. --- End quote --- That will break the bank :(. Btw, what services do you use for such a fast manufacturing and delivery? |
| tszaboo:
--- Quote from: exe on February 24, 2020, 01:12:25 pm --- --- Quote from: NANDBlog on February 24, 2020, 12:19:49 pm --- --- Quote from: exe on February 24, 2020, 11:38:40 am ---BTW, how do you prototype smd parts? --- End quote --- You design a board quickly and order it on 2 days service. --- End quote --- That will break the bank :(. Btw, what services do you use for such a fast manufacturing and delivery? --- End quote --- Yeah, I tend to think about this differently. Paying a 200 EUR extra is not that expensive, if you can avoid a day of downtime in engineering. Boards are typically Eurocircuits or Multi Circuit Boards. Most of my prototypes are built for RF purposes, or temperature related questions (constant issue with ATEX). And for both of these you wanted to have the same layer stackup as the final boards, so breadboarding is out of question anyway. And while design problems typically occur, they are usually swapped digital lines or some other simple PECKAC and for that you need production prototypes. If I need a prototype for home, then ordering from China is not a big deal. Maybe I have to wait 2-4 weeks to get it, but I dont have urgent projects anyway. |
| SiliconWizard:
--- Quote from: KaneTW on September 25, 2019, 03:10:23 am ---The only time I use TH parts is for when I need the mechanical stability. Everything else is SMD. --- End quote --- Yup. Same here. There's still a whole range of connectors for instance which I don't trust mechanically when they are 100% SMD, and favor those that have at least two anchor points that are TH, preferably three. Back when I was still occasionally making my own PCBs, which were single-sided only (never bothered making double-sided PCBs, too much hassle), I used to mix SMDs and TH components to ease routing, as the SMD/TH mix would allow having parts on both sides with almost no need for straps - I'd call that 1 1/2 sided :-DD With all the cheap and fast PCB services out there now, I don't bother anymore. |
| tom66:
--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on February 24, 2020, 02:29:30 pm ---Back when I was still occasionally making my own PCBs, which were single-sided only (never bothered making double-sided PCBs, too much hassle), I used to mix SMDs and TH components to ease routing, as the SMD/TH mix would allow having parts on both sides with almost no need for straps - I'd call that 1 1/2 sided :-DD --- End quote --- This is still practiced quite a lot in the industry. Look at power supplies, SMD one side, through hole the other side. SMD and through hole parts act as bridges as necessary, with jumper wires minimised if possible. |
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