What size of surface-mount components is good for a beginner?

The last TV show I followed was probably Hogan's Heroes, so I had to search the interwebs to find that one. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

(Who only watches TV in hotel rooms, and even then only when he's too cooked to read a book or slag people off on Usenet)

Thank you everybody for all the great advice!

I really appreciate all the input and I will try to pay it forward to someone else that needs help learning.

Ray

On Wed, 23 May 2018 14:01:09 -0400, Gone Postal

I basically never watch TV, but I have seen snippets of GoT on Youtube. Lotta killing. Some really great voices.

Uh, nope. Nutting like ignorant photographers and models. Let's plug those in, shall we?

A good micorscope it one of the keys.

I recommend an Amscope SE400z for the price of just under $ 200 shipped. With it and the 10x lenses I have no trouble with the smaller parts.

If th eparts are close together on the board, some kapton tape works well to shield the other parts. Just put a big piece over the area and take one of the xacto knives and cut out the tape over the part you want to use the hot air on.

Get some old computer boards and practice on removing and replacing the parts.

I am 68 and have no real problem working on the boards. My main problem is that I take off the glasses to look through the scope and have trouble seeing the parts to pick up and move from the holders to back under the microscope.

I normally use hot tweezers for small stuff (Rs, Cs, SOT23s) and an axe-blade tip for two-row IC packages. For inconvenient stuff such as PLCCs I usually just cut the leads with a scalpel (from underneath, so as not to damage the board). I do use hot air occasionally, but it isn't my go-to tool.

There are other cute tricks, such as threading some stainless steel music wire between the leads and the package of a big SOIC, and running the iron down the row while pulling on the wire. Works like a zipper.

I don't know if Amscope has high eye-relief eyepieces, but other makers do. Those let you keep your glasses on while using the scope.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Thank you both!

Sadly, $200 is very outside of my basic budget I'm have to with. If I get into this in much depth I will certainly consider saving up for one.

I now have a 0.5 mm tip for my iron and I've practiced using the sides for my regular soldering. As soon as I make some sort of fulcrum to steady my iron against I will move to the surface mount items and practice, practice, practice!

I've also been watching various You Tube videos on soldering SMD. I'm also starting to pick up on which ideas might work and which ones probably won't.

I've saved up a few boards to practice with that have a number surface mounted components, I'm planning to hit that this weekend!

Thanks a lot!

Ray

If you have a basic budget and don't know what you really need, then it is probably worth doing quick cheap experiments.

Look for head mounted magnifying visors. There are many available under many names, but here's one example:

I find them sufficient for my 7th-decade eyes.

Key points: - use with/without any reading glasses - variable magnification for different tasks/eyes - works at any orientation, e.g. peering horizontally into cabinets - cheap

...and inductors.

A demagnetizer on the table with the stereo microscope is essential. Yean, even Erem (swiss) needed the demagnetizer.

My $25 Swiss ones are 304 stainless. Look for "antimagnetic" laser-etched on the side. You can also get titanium ones. One useful tip is to take a miniature binder clip and slide it up and down on the back end of the arms to make adjustable self-closing tweezers. That way you don't lose stuff when you change your grip.

The $5 Aven antimagnetic stainless ones from Digikey are also OK.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs